More 2008 Session Leaders
A few more session leaders:
Frank Gruber, AOL - Shiny New Objects, a Review of Tools
Etan Horowitz, Orlando Sentinel - Twitter in Journalism
latest photos:
July 15, 2008
July 13, 2008
Session Leader Update
A few more session leaders to add to the mix:
Marketing/Comms Track:
David Alston - Monitoring
Geno Church and Spike Jones - Movement Marketing
Paula Berg - Social Media in a Changing Industry
Journalism
Tommy Duncan & Chuck Welch - Hyperlocal
Community
Jim Johnson & Bob O'Malley - Politics
Erik Hersman - TBD
Technical/How-To
Leah Jones - Finding It/Search
Ted Murphy - Monetizing
Mark Jaquith - Advanced WordPress
Jeremy Harrington - Basic WordPress
Josh Hallett - Flickr
July 10, 2008
Sometimes Smaller is Better
To say we experienced some growth last year would be an understatement. However bigger is not always better. It's always difficult to provide content that a room full of 300 people will all benefit from. That's why we've always split into the diverse tracks.
Many past BlogOrlando attendees will tell you, sometimes smaller is better, as in the smaller sessions they sat in provided some of the best content and interaction.
We're trying to do the same thing this year, that is offering a diverse array of topics.
Going Back to the Well?
One of the things I struggle with when planning sessions is going back to the well again. What I mean is inviting the same people back to lead sessions. For a while I was really trying to avoid this since folks may look at the session leaders and say, 'Well nothing new here, he/she had a session last year....'
Then I thought about it some more and realized it doesn't really matter that much. Why? Well the format is generally a discussion and not a 'presentation'. In that sense the topic really is driven by the room. The session leader's job is to keep things going and provide some inspiration. It's not the same person giving the same powerpoint you've seen three times before.
With that said I want people leading sessions that can do a good job of this. A great example is the hyperlocal session. For the past two years I've always had Tommy Duncan be one of the leaders. Last year's session was great and really was an open discussion that went in a number of different directions.
If I was overly-concerned about 'going back to the well' then I'd look for somebody else to lead that session this year. Buy you know what, Tommy and Chuck Welch are probably still some of the best choices and can lead discussions....so I'm asking them back.
Now look for a few 'repeat performances' from BlogOrlando past. If you don't like it, you can have your money back :-)
2008 BlogOrlando Registration is Open
Registration is now open for the 2008 edition of BlogOrlando. So go do your thing:
July 09, 2008
Session Leaders So Far
Like last year we're breaking things down into different tracks, but adding one. The tracks will be:
Marketing/Communication: Those folks again.....yes PR/ad focus
Journalism: Old-school and new-school, with some multimedia thrown in
Tech/How-To: Mixture of how-to's on podcasting/video and things like WordPress
Community: Mixture of local Orlando stuff and broader community items
New Media/Old Media: Film makers, musicians embracing new tools
The following people have agreed to lead sessions, exact details will be coming soon....but we're getting there quick:
Marketing/Comms Track:
Chris Thilk - Movies/Entertainment & Social Media
Phil Gomes - Internal Training
Joe Thornley - TBD
Journalism
Nik Willets - Photojournalism
Community
David Parmet - Social Media & Education
Brian Oberkirch - Using Social Media for Local Good
We're working on other topics like:
- Media law for bloggers
- Investigative reporting, information requests, etc
- Blogging basics
- WordPress (Basic/Advanced)
- Podcasting/Videocasting
- Monetizing your blog
- Politics
- The Orlando Scene
to name a few.......more coming soon.
Where to Stay for BlogOrlando 2008
Once again the question comes up, where should I stay? Same answer as before and before:
The events on Friday and Saturday will be taking place in the downtown/Winter Park area. Perhaps poor planning on my part, but finding a cool meeting location that offers free wifi like Rollins and is close to the theme parks is difficult.
One option is to pick a location and stay there the entire time, the other is to switch hotels for the weekend. Switching hotels might be tough to do though. Here are the pros/cons:
Downtown
Pro - close to the action on Friday/Saturday
Pro - cheaper hotel rates
Pro - Might be able to car-pool to Disney
Pro/Con - You have to drive to Disney on Sun but it's weekend traffic
Con - You miss some 'on property' Disney benefits
Con - driving anywhere after a long day at the the parks
Disney
Pro - close to the parks for the weekend
Pro - 'on property' benefits
Con - you have to drive to downtown for the evenst
If you're going to stay downtown I would suggest the Embassy Suites on Lake Eola or if you want a cool place the EO Inn. If you're staying at Disney there are plenty of hotels to choose from.
July 07, 2008
BlogOrlando 2008 - September 25-27th, 2008
The dates for the 2008 edition of BlogOrlando have been set, Sept 25-27th. Of course the big change is the main event is moving to a Saturday.
In the past I always debated about the Friday/Saturday thing, but this year we have some external forces....mainly the venue....we're just too big :-) In order to accommodate close to 300 people (like we had last year) we need to hold the event on Saturday.
Registration will be open shortly and we'll start to fill in the session leaders and schedule as well.
As I referenced in my previous post there will an invite only event on Thursday the 25th. The main event will kick-off Friday night with a reception and the full un-con and happy hour on Saturday.
If you're traveling in, then you can look to arrive on Friday and head back out on Sunday.
Of course we're always looking for sponsors to keep the event FREE. If you're interested let me know.
I know it's the same weekend as SxDS, but BlogOrlando has always been held at the end of September, and I wanted to keep that consistent.
More to come....
March 25, 2008
Initial Thoughts on BlogOrlando 2008
Cross-posted at Hyku.
Wow, I can't believe I'm actually posting about BlogOrlando 2008, but then again it's almost April. Quite a few friends have asked, "Are you doing BlogOrlando again this year?" Yes. At least as of now I am :-)
Back in 2006 when I planned the first event, you may remember that the original concept for BlogOrlando was a bit different than the actual event:
The original concept/title for this event was: Josh is Tired of Traveling Outside of Orlando so Everybody Come Here Con or JTTOOECH-Con. I wanted to get some friends to the area to meet, but more importantly spend some down-time at the theme parks with their families.
That private gathering of friends soon expanded to a public event that eventually became the first edition of BlogOrlando. Then things expanded even more with the 2007 event with almost 300 people taking part.
For 2008 we're blending the old with the new. BlogOrlando will once again be held on a Friday in late September. The main event cost (FREE) and format will not change, and perhaps expand, but there is a twist.
Reaching back to the original concept, BlogOrlando will now feature a private invite-only event on Wednesday. Just an intimate gathering of colleagues, clients, industry leaders, etc. Perhaps a limit of 30-40 folks. The topics will focus more on things like future trends, etc. I dare say Davos-like. The catch is, if you're invited to the Wednesday event, you are required to lead a session at the Friday event.
Here is a tentative schedule:
Wednesday:
- Invite-Only Event
- Special Event/Fun Thing at Orlando Theme Park for Session Leaders
Thursday
- Special Event/Fun Thing at Orlando Theme Park for Session Leaders
- Official BlogOrlando Reception
Friday
- Main Event
- Friday Night Reception
Saturday
- BlogOrlando Day at Orlando Theme Park
More thoughts soon.....
January 15, 2008
Perspective
From Leonard's blog post on SoCon08:
SoCon08, the Southeast’s top social media, social networking and Web 2.0, unconference.
Heh, I guess the 300 folks who signed up for BlogOrlando last year didn't get their money's worth :-)
December 10, 2007
BlogOrlando 2008
Yes as scary as it sounds, I've actually started to think about BlogOrlando 2008. I've shared some ideas with a few good friends and will soon announce the proposed format for next year's event. Stay tuned.
October 01, 2007
BlogOrlando 07 Final Thoughts
What else is there to say, that a number of you have already said. On the whole I think the day went really well. Not being an 'official' event I didn't really keep track of who 'officially' showed up, and who didn't. We had 290 registered and I estimate that around 225 showed up at Rollins College.
This event could not have happened without the help of a number of friends. I thanked them previously, but I really can't say it enough. Without the group of friends and colleagues I have, we would have had no session leaders. I have said before that all the session planning for this year's event took place in one morning. I sat down at my computer and e-mailed/IM'd a number of friends. In the span of a few hours we had almost the entire session roster planned.
Could things have gone better? Sure. We had issues with room assignments, but we have to remember that we're holding an event on a college campus, so we need to work around the schedule of the institution. The signs and nametags needed to be present/up earlier. We had an initial wifi snafu, but that ironed out quickly.
I definitely need to have a bigger room for the technical track, sorry again about that.
Some folks asked about audio and video of the sessions. Sure I'd love to do it, but I alone just can't pull that together. Perhaps next year we can get a local university (cough, UCF) to donate some students and gear to tape the sessions.
I had thought about expanding the event to two days or at least a day-and-a-half, but I'm glad I didn't. One day is enough, and is all I can handle :-)
As in year's past, sometimes the best sessions are the smallest ones. I talked to a number of people that really enjoyed Alicia's session on separating your digital lives. It's the combination of a small room and group of folks that are really interested in the topic and are willing to share. I had concerns that the event might have been getting too big, that's why I created so many tracks. It was an attempt to get the groups smaller. I think in most cases this worked.
Unlike Chris Pirillo who thought that Twitter was a negative thing at Gnomedex, I thought Twitter worked well at BlogOrlando. Twitter ended up being instrumental in organizing and communicating with folks before, during and after the event. I even used Twitter as part of the giveaways.
This year we switched from dinners to more social events on Thursday and Friday. Yes, you do lose the close-knit feel of a group dinner, but when you have 100+ people coming you can't do a 'small' dinner. Most of the people I talked to had a blast at CityWalk on Thursday and then Slingapour's on Friday. The groups that wanted to go their own way and have dinner together were free to do so.
As with last year, the number of people who said they were coming to the social events and the number that showed up were almost 50%. No complaints here, it just meant more Universal $'s and drinks for those that did come :-)
What's the plan for next year? At this point I really don't know. I'd like to do it again, but this year's event took on a life of its own. I work for myself, so time spent organizing and running the event is lost billable time. Don't get me wrong, it was worth it, but it's draining. I've talked with a few folks at some organizations in Orlando who are willing to help out and that might be the trick...getting somebody else to handle much of the 'event prep' stuff.
During the event it was amazing to see the online discussion and the kudos coming in from friends around the US who all wished they were in Orlando....there is always next year.
What were your thoughts? What worked? What didn't? What would you like to see next year (if we do it again)?
BlogOrlando Thanks
There are so many people to thank for this year's event. I hope I don't forget anybody.
First off, big thanks to Chris Scott, Alex Rudloff, Danny Sanchez and John Rife for being the on-the-ground folks during (and leading up to) the main event. All their work behind-the-scenes in the weeks leading up to the event made everything go smoothly and made my job much easier.
This event of course would be nothing without the session leaders. They all gave up their own time to help the attendees learn more. Many of them also traveled from outside of Orlando (and Florida) to be here. Shel Israel, Tom Biro, Laurie Mayers, Jake McKee, Annie Heckenberger, Dave Coustan, David Parmet, Geoff Livingston, Chris Heuer, Benet Wilson, Mindy McAdams, Nik Willets, Danny Sanchez, Tommy Duncan, Chris Scott, Judson Collier, Jeremy Harrington, Mark Jaquith, Ryan Price, John Rife, Mark Trammell, Jim Johnson, Alicia Dorset, Connie Reece and Alex Rudloff.....the attendees say a big Thank You.
Hats off to Rollins College (Jennifer, Anne Marie, Katie) for providing the space and a big round of applause to Rochelle from Rollins IT for taking care of any wifi issues that popped up.
Billy, Andrea, Jill and Sara from Kennedy Space Center, thanks for the amazing tour for our session leaders and friends on Thursday.
Cindy Green from Universal Studios, thanks for the awesome time on Thursday night at Universal CityWalk. However a few key folks enjoyed themselves a bit too much if you know what I mean. I think Alex Rudloff will be sending your a personal thank you note :-)
Universal Studios also came through big with the Halloween Horror Nights tickets as well as the park passes. I know the folks that won them were seriously stoked.
Thanks to all the sponsors, Jennifer at the Orlando EDC, Susan at the Orlando CVB, Annie from GPTMC, Dan/Ted at PayPerPost, Chris from KUA, the whole gang at FPRA Orlando, Robert at ADS, Nick and crew at CNP_Studio for all the iPods we gave away.
Thanks to Chris Scott for organizing the happy hour at Slingapour's, although you guys didn't drink as much as I had budgeted :-)
A few personal notes:
Marijean, Mistie, Sherry and Geoff thanks for the live-blogging.
Nick, thanks for being the official BlogOrlando transportation coordinator and IT support.
Darby and Krisite, thanks for the registration help.
Betsy, thanks for coming down from Savannah, your enthusiasm really got to everybody, and sorry for poking fun at you.
Shel, you kicked things off with a home run.....Chris you batted clean-up and brought everything back home.
Joe thanks for making the trip from Canada, you gave BlogOrlando an international flair.
Constantin, some as Joe, thanks for coming.
John thanks for leading the session leaders around EPCOT on Saturday.
Alex H., thanks for making it down from Philly. Your insight into coworking and local initiatives really helped the Orlando Scene folks.
Alicia, watch out for snakes.
Everybody else that offered to help, thanks as well. I can't tell you how many people said, "Anything I can do to help?"
A wrap-up post looking at the event from a content/issues standpoint is coming later.
September 29, 2007
September 28, 2007
Live Blogging from BlogOrlando
Quite a few folks are live-blogging from the event:
- Laurie Mayers/Crisis Commuications: Standing PR
- Jake McKee/Customer Relationships with the Rabid Crowd Standing PR
Shel Israel Discusses the Future of the Global Conversation
Guest post by Geoff Livingston
Our man from Silicon Valley Shel Israel keynoted BlogOrlando this morning at Rollins College. He took the stage after a phenomenal intro from BlogOrlando host and Hyku CEO Josh Hallett.
Shel starts up with "I'm a recovering publicist." Shel apologized for launching PowerPoint, as he said the primary tool of "Command and Control." He said that publicisists have been playing the audience (that is the attendees) for 60 years.
Paraphrasing Shel, social media -- or the revolution -- is about the power of conversations says Shel. He gave examples of the big box companies need to communicate en masse, leaving behind the common everyday Main Street conversation. As a result, a contentious relationship has developed. A cold war evolved over 60 years. Conversations could not scale en masse.
With the rise of the Internet that changed. Social media is a cult of generosity. Share everything you can with the world.
Social Media Has Global Impact
A result of his SAP surveys -- a project to determine the impact of social media globally -- Shel found that a great deal of impact is occurring:
.Many tools are available now available to people: Facebook, video blogs, regular blogs.
. Culture has great impact on a country by country basis. For example, Kenyans are more enthusiastic about social media than Germans.
. Countries like Ukraine, Czech Republic, the Easter block, Argentina are experiencing a burgeoning wave of social media. In particular these countries are enjoying waves of citizen journalism that are surpassing traditional media viewer ship.
. Blogging will no longer be exciting in ten years. It will be as common as email is today.
Cultures shape the nature of interaction in social networks. But wherever you are social media is extremely popular amongst younger audiences throughout the world. It's absolutely loved and growing in power. In Estonia, 98 percent of 25 year olds and younger are using social media.
The two percent have physical disabilities that prevent them from participating. Free broadband drives access, and people are voting online -- including the youth online via their social networks.
Another great social media moment Isaac Mao in China. The governments -- here and there -- don't get social media. They can't figure it out and are not able to monitor what folks are being said. Technology allows bloggers in controlled countries to move rapidly enough and avoid authoritative crack-downs.
There are 20 million bloggers in China. They meet-up, and gather. Hong Kong has a blogger meet-up, so will Shanghai. More than 1000 bloggers will gather during the Olympics at Beijing. They may change venues to avoid political issues.
"Social media is one of the tools that is changing freedom in China," said Shel.
Facebook and other networks are creating widespread diffusion of principles. People feel like they should be enabled to speek their point of view. The new generation -- as it rises -- will become the marketplace. Traditional acquisition will fall to the wayside. Social media will be needed to reach younger audiences.
Shel cites the Microsoft channel 9 experience with Robert Scoble as an example. The recruiting video they used humanized Microsoft (Read the book Naked Conversations if you want more on this and other great examples).
Take Aways
Moving forward, Shel says the biggest barrier is language. Right now Google Translate doesn't cut it.
The Long Trail (play off of Chris Anderson) from Silicon Valley's excitement to widespread diffusion. The time is getting shorter and shorter. Shel says we're a year and a half away from widespread excitement about video throughout the enterprise.
It's a tricky time for PR pros. Old school PR is still needed. The traditional role of PR. Participation within blogging though will make your social network is what will really distinguish your company. Over the long term by participating, by communications, by talking you and your company can become recognized.
September 27, 2007
BlogOrlando Thanks Delaware North Corporation!
Big thanks to Billy, Andrea, Jill and Sara from Delaware North Corporation for hosting the BlogOrlando session leaders at Kennedy Space Center today.
I'll be uploading my photos in a few days, but for now you can look at some from Chris and Judson.
September 25, 2007
Restaurant Options for Lunch at BlogOrlando
John Rife has put together a map of the local restaurant options for lunch during BlogOrlando. Each of the pins on the map is clickable. The yellow house is where we'll be for BlogOrlando.
Thursday Night at Universal CityWalk
BlogOrlando kicks off on Thursday night at 6:30 PM at Universal CityWalk. For directions to Universal and parking info check out the official CityWalk site. We'll be meeting up by the big Universal Globe which is near the entrance to Universal Studios Florida (you walk thru CityWalk to get there).
I'll be there handing out the passes to registered folks till around 7:30 then I need to grab some food and head to Blue Man Group at 8pm. If you need anything e-mail me or call me 863-258-7338.
Image from A-Mon's photostream.
The Wifi Thing
We finally have the word from Rollins Collge on Wifi. There is no advanced registration required. At the event when you first open your laptop/browser you'll be prompted to create a guest account. When prompted for event you'll select BlogOrlando. Somebody from Rollins IT will be available in the morning to assist with any issues that might arise.
Follow BlogOrlando via Twitter
For those of you that don't know this yet, you can follow BlogOrlando via Twitter at: http://twitter.com/blogorlando If you use (or sign-up for) Twitter you can get updates sent directly to your phone via SMS.
What type of updates? Things like reminders about room locations, directions etc. Or other random stuff that usually appears on Twitter.
September 24, 2007
Registration is Now Closed
Wow, I just closed registration for BlogOrlando. We hit the capacity for our venue (280), so I didn't want to take anymore registrations. Yes there will be some no-shows, but I can't take the chance.
It's hard to imagine that last year we had 90 folks attend :-)
Getting There and Around
How do you get to Rollins College and specifically the parking garage? Click here for a PDF with driving directions. Once you get to the parking garage you'll cross Fairbanks to get to Rollins College. We'll have some signs up to help you along the way. Here's a rough map of the layout below:
Once the event is over we'll be heading to Slingapour's in downtown Orlando, here's a map:
September 23, 2007
So What's the Deal with Wifi
We're hoping to get word on Monday from Rollins College about the wifi registration. As soon as we know we'll post something. Hang tight.
New Session: Web Standards by Mark Trammell
We have a new session that we're going to squeeze into the schedule, it will be on web standards, lead by Mark Trammell. Here are the deets:
Overview:
Using Web Standards To Get The Word Out - Using current and emerging Web standards can amplify your message by applying proper structure and meaning. Topics will include microformats and progressive enhancement.
Bio:
Mark Trammell has been chasing function and usability as a standard for Web design since 1995. Currently, Mark is the Web Standards Evangelist at PayPal. Previously, he directed the Web development, strategy and policy of the University of Florida. In his tenure at UF, Mark led a widely acclaimed standards-based rebuilding of the university Web presence.
Mark frequently lectures on Web standards and is coauthor of Professional CSS: Cascading Style Sheets for Web Design.
BarCamp Orlando Photos
I stopped by BarCamp Orlando for a little bit today. Photos from the event are here.
September 21, 2007
Flickr and Tagging for BlogOrlando
If you're attending and/or blogging and/or uploading photos from BlogOrlando please use the following tags:
BlogOrlando
BlogOrlando07
Also there is a Flickr group for BlogOrlando. It was created last year, but will still work for this year :-)
September 20, 2007
BlogOrlando Friday Happy Hour Set - Slingapours!
We've confirmed our Friday Happy Hour location and other details. Starting at 6PM after BlogOrlando we'll gather at Slingapours in downtown Orlando, part of the Wall Street Plaza complex.
The printed schedule at BlogOrlando will contain a map on how to get to the Happy Hour, but here is a copy below. Registered BlogOrlando attendees will receive a drink ticket, after that you're on your own :-)
September 19, 2007
Start the Conversation: Business Blogging, the Next Steps
BlogOrlando session leader David Parmet has posted some introductory notes for his, Business Blogging, the Next Steps session:
I’ve been telling clients, audiences and anyone who will listen that companies don’t have to blog, they don’t have to have a podcast or a blogging policy. They have to have a social media strategy. They have to understand that the conversation is happening all around them, with or without them and they can join it or ignore it.
So next week I’ll be covering what I think are the ‘next steps’ for companies to take. Or the first steps as the case may be. That includes the obvious choices, exploring the full range of social media tools - everything from podcasts and videoblogs to Facebook and Twitter - as well as determining if a blog even makes sense for your organization.
September 18, 2007
BlogOrlando at Universal CityWalk
We've had a slight change in plan for Thursday night thanks to our friends at Universal Studios Orlando. The Thursday before BlogOrlando, we'll be gathering at Universal CityWalk at 6:30 PM (or around then) for a night out. Universal Studios will be providing Party Passes to each BlogOrlando registrant. The Party Passes provide free cover to any of the clubs. In addition, we'll each be receiving $10 in Universal Dollars. The $10 is good for food and drinks at any Universal Citywalk restaurant or bar. BlogOrlando attendees can also receive 20% off Blue Man Group tickets if they want!!
We need to provide Universal with accurate counts, so every attendee will be receiving an e-mail for them to confirm their attendance and let us know if you plan to go to the Blue Man Group. Check your e-mail boxes.
We'll be posting the details on where we plan to meet, etc, very shortly. In advance though, be thinking of what you're hungry for. The food and drink options include:
Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.™
Jimmy Buffett’s® Margaritaville®
Bob Marley - A Tribute to FreedomSM
Hard Rock Cafe®
Emeril's® Restaurant Orlando
Pat O'Brien's®
NBA City
Latin Quarter™
PastamoréSM
CityJazz®
Originally we have planned to meet at a local restaurant and grab some dinner and drinks, but that becomes a problem with almost 100 people. Remember this event is free, so we really don't have the budget to do one of those standard conference dinners which usually cost event planners $20-$30 per person. It's also hard to carry on a conversation with 100 people at once. With the Citywalk event we can buddy up as we want and then stay as long as we want, but not too late since the main BlogOrlando event starts bright and early the next morning.
