I had a call a week or so ago from someone who was facing a dilemma. She had the budget to attend one conference and couldn’t make up her mind between the Ragan Social Media Conference in Vegas (March 5-7) or the SNCR New Communications Forum in California’s wine country (April 22-25). It took me a minute to answer, since the question posed a dilemma of my own. I’m very involved with both organizations and they both are shaping up to be terrific conferences.

After a minute of consideration, though, the answer was obvious: “If you’re new to all this, go to the Ragan conference. If you’ve been doing it and need to figure out how to take it to the next level, NewComm Forum is for you.”

The agendas of the two conferences make this clear. At the Ragan conference, I’m teaching a preconference sesison on RSS and a postcon on emerging trends. My conference session is on social media in crisis communication. Most sessions are like this, focusing on the fundamentals. Given the rapidly increasing interest among organizations in social media, there’s a huge need for this kind of conference. Ragan CEO Mark Ragan tells me registrations are at record levels. His excitement is understandable.

The session titles for NewComm Forum would likely cause newcomers to social media to shake their heads in confusion. But those who have been there and done that would be thrilled to attend sessions with titles like…

• The Science Beneath the Art of New Communications: Measurement & Evaluation
• Progressive Online Fundraising, Development & Communications Programs ??? Present & Future Models
• The Latest Findings from the SAP Global Survey of Social Media???s Impact on Culture & Business
• A Look at Online Media???s Impact on Public Opinion Formation

I’m doing a session at NewComm Forum on employees as the brand and a podcating precon. I’m also on a panel or two.

Both conferences are packed with great speakers and networking opportunities. It’s great to have such a wealth of professional development opportunities now that social media has been around for a while.

Whichever one you choose, be sure to find me and say hi.