MarketingProfs is "going live" next month with its first-ever conference. Since our business is all about delivering great content, what better person to kick off our conference series than Content Guru Gerry McGovern?
Gerry has longevity, perspective and informed opinions. If that makes him sound like a relic, well... "he's so not!" as my eight-year-old would say. Gerry has seen firsthand what works on the Web, and he sees it as his mission to share it with you.
Hope to see you in New York!
Ann: So, Gerry—do you remember the first time we met?
Gerry: My first memory of us meeting was (I believe) in a lift in some hotel in New York!
Ann: Right. It was at a conference in or around 1999, and you were speaking about Web content. What's different now about the Web industry?
Gerry: It's got older, greyer, more boring, less cool, and more profitable. I feel a real fondness for those years when I was worth millions on paper, and a real sadness that I didn't cash in. I'm afraid I believed in the future too much.
Today, the future has arrived, or at least part of it has. (Tomorrow, more will arrive.) What's different is that what's important is now real, and what was hype is history. It's great to see Web sites genuinely working, genuinely delivering value. The Web is only beginning to mature and there is so much wonderful potential.
Ann: Do you ever feel like a one-note band?
Gerry: It's a really bad situation right now. Every year, I get paid twice as much to say the same things I've been saying for years. I'm really worried. Years ago, I was lucky to get paid hotel and economy flight to say these things. Where have I gone wrong!?
Ann: What's your favorite part of your profession?
Gerry: Communicating. I absolutely love to teach. It is a great honor to have a group of people in a room listening. It's a privilege. To be able to help people—and to get well paid for it—is a perfect combination. I take it very seriously and always try to give my very best. When someone comes up to me and says, "I enjoyed that. I learned something," that makes it all worthwhile.
Ann: How'd you become The Web Content Guru?
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