Blogger Greg Verdinos writes about the irony of the Nielsen BuzzMetrics clients-only CGM Summit 2006, held last week:

“The agenda is cram packed with sessions covering all aspects of Consumer Generated Media CGM including an overview of where we are today, why people do this stuff, where CGM is going in the future, and how exactly marketers can leverage and measure this powerful channel,” writes Verdinos. “Ironically, the confirmation email I received for the event includes this warning:

“Off The Record: the CGM Summit is off the record, so please no blogging, reporting, recording or broadcasting.”

“How can you host an event about consumer generated media and not let your consumers, um, generate media?” he asks.

It’s hard to imagine the Buzzmetric on Nielsen’s Summit being anything other than negative or non-existent.

Compare this to Gnomedex, a small conference that generates buzz beyond its size because show organizer Chris Pirillo designs the event to be friendly to bloggers, podcasters and vloggers. It’s a challenge, but Pirillo tries to make sure that there are power outlets and WiFi to go around. As a result, he gets several hundred people reporting on his conference.

Show organizers need to recognize that publish or perish applies to bloggers and podcasters, as much as it does to academics. If you go to a conference and can’t publish, you’re paying money to be kept from your work.

Shows that welcome and support blogging, vlogging and podcasting will face logistical challenges and tougher audiences, but they will be the shows that generate Internet buzz and capitalize on it. Shows that ban blogging, vlogging and podcasting are likely to struggle to get any media attention at all.