Do you have friends that have really top notch experience, are thoughtful about their industry, and whip smart? Are they about a billion times more insightful than your average tech blogger? Does it kill you that more people don't know them?
Unfortunately, if you look at the people who actively self-promote, it's a pretty adversely selected pool versus the pool of people who don't bother. Usually, the people who filter themselves for a high bar of quality actually have more to share than the people who just shout in public to whoever is listening. That means, chances are, there's usually someone in a conference audience who knows more and would be much better than the people on the panel. The problem is, no one knows how smart they are.
I'm thinking of running a set of classes to get those people ramped up on social media and getting their name and more importantly, their experience and knowledge out their in the community--but in a specifically high quality, non-overly self promotional way. Think of it as leadership training for capable but reluctant leaders--but I don't want people to opt in to it. I want other people who know them well to be nominated. So, if you know someone really great that more people need to know because of their intelligence, experience, etc. e-mail me at charlie.odonnell@gmail.com with an intro. Feel free to force them into it... because we need new thought leaders and there are too many people out there that don't get a word in edgewise when we all know they have great stuff to say, and great experience to share.