Elisa Camahort has posted the candidates for the Room of Your Own slots at BlogHer this July so I thought I’d give a little more detail about the Business Blogging session I’ve proposed.
We’ve all gone to conferences where much of the audience is just as qualified (sadly sometimes more) as the panel of experts. But very little time is actually given for interaction between the panel and the audience. Usually, there is time for one or two questions, and that’s it. Not very satisfying for anyone really, but especially the audience — at least the panelists get the professional recognition for being on the panel.
The other problem (one that is handsomely addressed by BlogHer) is that all the conferences start to blend together — the same speakers seem to hop from one to the next, presenting pretty much the same material. Interesting the first time perhaps, but not so much the 2d, 3d, 4th time you attend a conference with the same players. And the same topics. Not really worth attending the sessions when you could save the airfare and read the same material on their blog or in their book.
Now, sessions aren’t the only reason for attending conferences — networking is a big part of why we go as well. For my part though, I really need to find value in both the conference program and the networking opportunities. It’s too expensive, both in hard cost and time away from billable work, to attend otherwise.
Hence the idea for a business blogging session that makes the audience members part of the panel. The focus is on "what worked, what didn’t" in your blog projects. What would you do again? What will you NEVER do again? We’ll learn from each other’s experiences to collectively build a set of blogging best practices.
A few folks will be identified in advance to kick off our discussion, however, the only difference between them and the rest of the people in the room is that they will have PROMISED to have something to share. Everyone in the room will have an equal chance to participate.
And that is the key word: Participate. We won’t have presentations or speeches. To the extent we can, we’ll post brief descriptions of the blogs that people want to discuss on the BlogHer site in advance so we don’t have to spend a lot of time bringing everyone up to speed on what a blog was all about. That way, we can focus on the discussion, not a ton of exposition.
I think this will be a lot of fun and look forward to reading your comments, either here or at the BlogHer site.
Hi Susan, reading your proposal here I get a good understanding of how and why, but not so clear on what. What is Business Blogging in the context that you envision this discussion?
Other discussions using this label have meant anything from turning a blog into a business to consulting with businesses on blogging to creating blogging networks. In bounding the topic, what would you consider managable for discussion in the time alloted?
I like this idea because it will help identify different ways to make blogs work. I don’t mean work in the sense that we associate it with advertising ROI, or marketing ROI, but with that feeling you get when your article or book or presentation actually resonated with the audience.
The ROI for ME, in my blog, is how well I connect with my readers. That I get business from the blog, without really trying, is secondary to its purpose. I write it because I like to and because others find value in it.
Thanks for the comments. To answer Mobile Jones’ question, the intent was to focus on blogs built to achieve a marketing purpose, so from her list, consulting with businesses on blogging, although it could equally well be an inhouse marketing person not just consultants.
How did a blog fit the marketing/business plan, help the company or person achieve the business objectives (whatever they were). What worked in the project. What didn’t work/what would you do differently? The outcome would be best practices/tips for other people trying to use blogs to achieve a specific business objective. Learn from others’ experience.
Definitely not about the business of blog consulting. First and foremost, the folks interested in doing this Room consider ourselves marketing people, who help our clients (and ourselves) figure out how blogs fit in the plan. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. If we do this session, I’m hoping we get at least one example of a marketer who advised a client AGAINST a blog and why.