blogher

Heads up: Pre-conference prep session details

By planning this conference in public on this blog, and by asking some questions during the registration process, we have learned a lot about what people want from a conference.

While the answer to that is "lots of different things", there are some common themes that have arisen.

Themes like:
- We want to be engaged...and to participate
- We want to be able to hear passionate, differing, even opposing views, without hearing a lot of vitriolic rhetoric
- We want to have a conversation with, not be talked at by, conference speakers

So, how can BlogHer meet these and other needs expressed by our attendees?

Our idea is in the extended post...

Tag: blogher

BlogHer Session: MoBlogging

Did you know that your MoBlogging Room of Your Own leaders have started their very own blog to gather your thoughts on their session?

Well, they have.

Debi Jones (aka mobilejones) and Barb Dybwad (aka woman of a million blogs, including Engadget) have started the MoBlogHer blog and want to know what you want to learn about MoBlogging.

They also want to tell you a bit more about the session, just in case you're like me and think MoBlogging only means that you can email a post from your mobile device to your blog and have it posted.

Oh, no, there's so much more!

So check out MoBlogHer and find out about it.

Flame, Blame and Shame: Meet your panel

What happens when women write for an audience of men and women who can write--and bite--back?

Puh-lenty.

In BlogHer's keynote lunch panel, Moderator Liza Sabater leads a session featuring author/blogger Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, editor extraordinaire Judith Meskill, online security expert Ellen Spertus, and moblogger Debi Jones. The subject tackled by these wildly different writers: Anger -- its application, experience and blowback, from truth to consequences. As Liza so beautifully illustrates in her personal story (excerpted below), your experience with anger and the choices you make with words are essential to your voice as a blogger. And, IMHO, your identity, period. You can read Liza's entire post on CultureKitchen and add your stories and questions. Take it away, Blogdiva...

"Your expert flamer and shamer extraordinaire, moi, will be moderating a panel on how to deal with the annoying trolls and assholes that think they can shut you up just because you're a girl. Or for that matter, expect you to be nice, play safe and be their cheeleaders, just because you're a girl.

"Just a little background on this : There was a time when I used to sign as LM Sabater; and I did it because I did not want people to know I was a woman. Why?.."

More here -- and don't miss the great comment from Bitch Ph.D.

Related post:

Jory des Jardins introduces Flame Blame & Shame: "I don't care how tough you are--no one likes getting flamed, or crticized for an opinion they've expressed on their blog. But it's going to happen..."

Back among our people: July 30 cometh

Como siempre, I'm up writing BlogHer emails between 4 and 6 a.m. Only today I got this gif-t via a trackback:

LOL! Thank you, Ken of The Real Kato Online and your muse, Melissa of Suburban Bliss (think "Momtini"). I cannot wait to meet your whole posse. Get your tails out here in time for Friday dinner, won't you?

Off to wake the fam...

Some interesting attendee stats

When (not if, but when) you go sign up for BlogHer you'll find a little questionnaire is part of the registration process. There are two reasons we did this:

1. we wanted to use this info to fine tune this year's Conference.
2. we thought it would help us plan future events, perhaps even including other geographies to target

I recently did a midway point compilation of the particulars of our attendees thus far and thought I'd share some of the interesting facts about who will be there on July 30th:

~10% are students
~15% men
~53% are from outside Silicon Valley
~54% have never been to a blogging conference before

More than 75% of attendees do care about either links or traffic or both.

Most attendees thought every reason we suggested as a possible motivator to come to BlogHer sounded pretty good and checked 'All of the above.' Among those who picked specific motivators, most seems specifically interested in meeting bloggers face to face...bloggers they know and bloggers they don't. (For all of our online relationships, we still jump at the chance for that f2f contact, don't we?)

Lastly, almost 40% listed "All Talk, No Take-away" as their least-liked aspect of other conferences they have attended. "Too Sterile/No Passion" came in second.

What do we get from this info?

-We're glad we planned several networking sessions/events starting the night before and through to the close of the conference.

-We're glad we've banned PowerPoint from most sessions! Poor PowerPoint, so scorned.

-We're glad we made sure to get alternate viewpoints represented in many of the sessions...by people passionate about their viewpoints!

Keep those registrations (and questionnaire responses) coming! [Remember, we have to close of registration on July 26th and cannot accept onsite registrations.]

Updated: Want to be one of our confirmed live BlogHers?

Updated again 7.12.05 - Thank you for your interest! We are very happy to report that we (make that Elisa Camahort and Mir Verburg, who have worked very hard on this program), have filled all our BlogHerShip opportunities for Conference 2005. Please don't hesitate to add your name below if you'd like to be considered for 2006. -- Lisa

-----Original post:

Great news -- Earlier this week, Miriam Verburg posted this list of the confirmed BlogHer live-bloggers at the beta community site. 

Even better news: She could use some more help! As I've written before, we're particularly interested in getting people to blog sessions in languages other than English. Here's the scoop: We'll pay for your $99 conference--yup, you get in FREE--if you commit to live blog one or more sessions. So if you'd like to live-blog a few sessions in exchange for a free pass to the event, please email Mir.

Here's Mir's update on who's live-blogging thus far--and who's doing what:

"Thanks to everyone for sending in your questionnaires promptly, I will update this post over the week-end to let you know which sessions you are covering.

Attendees

Gigi
blog: http://braindancing.blogspot.com
preferred sessions: any

Ndesanjo
blogs: http://jikomboe.blogspot.com || http://digitalafrica.blogspot.com
preferred sessions:
- What You Can Get Away With: Legal Tips
- Moblogging pioneers
- Get Your Word Out: Audio/Video-casting
- Advanced Tools
- Blog Crushes
- The BlogHer Debate

Tony
blog: http://www.buzzhit.com/buzzblog.html
preferred sessions: Advanced Tools and/or Women who want to fund, build etc...

Jeff
blog.softtechvc.com
preferred sessions: blogging for business

Ramadhani
blog:http://www.msangimdogo.blogspot.com/
preferred sessions: post-conference translation

Ellon
Blog URL: http://barbie2be.blogspot.com
Location: san jose, california
Language capabilities: english only (sorry)
Interest Areas:
I think I could help in the Blogging 101 as a relatively new, some what technically savvy blogger. Also with the How to get Naked session as I use my blog to talk about things in my life.

Jill Fallon
Blog URL: Business of Life blog/
preferred sessions: tbd

Updated: Meet our Featured Sponsors

We'd like to introduce you to our Featured Sponsors:

UPDATED: We're happy to welcome two more Featured Sponsors:

Saturday evening's Cocktail Party is brought to you by:

Yes, Yahoo! is treating you to cocktails, hors d'oeuvres and access to Yahoo!s who can answer all your Yahoo! questions. The Cocktail Party takes place in the center atrium of the TechMart immediately following the BlogHer Conference '05 Closing Session.

WiFi all day long is brought to you by:

Google is sponsoring our ubiquitous WiFi access for the entire day of the Conference. Robust WiFi availability was actually one of our deciding factors in choosing TechMart for the conference. In addition, Google will have some Internet stations available in the atrium for those of us who are laptop-deprived to check our email. Or even post a quick blog post!

Morning Sustenance will be brought to you by:

And stay tuned for another special offer from our Featured Sponsor, Pheedo.

Afternoon Sugar high courtesy of:

And the MoBlogging session featuring Debi Jones and Barb Dybwad from Engadget is made possible by:

Legal tips for bloggers: Audio advice from experts

• Do you own the comments people leave on your blog?
• Will Creative Commons work for your online novel?
• What if you get a cease-and-desist letter from a lawyer?

If you've ever wondered about your legal rights as a blogger--or even what you can get away with--help is at hand. Meet Wendy Seltzer, Special Projects Coordinator with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Lauren Gelman, Associate Director of Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society. As a teaser to their BlogHer Con session July 30 with moderator Jennifer Collins, I recorded conversations with both attorneys about their recent work against legal attempts to silence bloggers.

If you click on their names below, you'll hear their answers to the long list of questions I asked them (see the extended post). You're next -- I invite you to add your questions below for their conversation on July 30. Seltzer helped write the EFF's new Legal Guide for Bloggers and Gelman wrote the bloggers' amicus brief in Apple v. Does -- they are, in other words, at the epicenter of ongoing legal efforts to protect First Amendment rights for U.S. bloggers...

Wendy Seltzer (MP3)

Sample quote: "Being aware of your rights doesn't mean you won't face a lawyer letter but it means that you can know when you might want to stand up to that lawyer letter. When you might want to call EFF and see if some pro bono counsel will be willing to help you stand up to these threats and resist the chill if what you're doing is ultimately lawful."

Lauren Gelman (MP3)

Sample quote: " I think anonymous sources are extremely important and it's going to be a big question that's going to evolve over the next year, even beyond this particular case, as to how they're going to be treated. Not just by mainstream pubs but also by the independent journalist who's taking advantage of blog technology to be able to publish to the same audience that all other sorts of mainstream publications have."

LINK FIXED: Where will you be on Friday night

LINK FIXED: I'm sure BlogHer Chiara appreciated the traffic, but I've fixed the link so now you really can look at the list of Friday dinner attendees :) D'oh!
=====================================
Friday night, July 29th, the night before BlogHer, that is.

Well, if you're smart you'll be hanging with a bunch of other BlogHers getting a little pre-conference mixing in.

Check out the list of folks going so far.

Yes, the location is still TBD.

Hell, we gotta make sure we pick somewhere big enough for y'all!

We are everywhere: Meet up on July 30 no matter where you are

Josia just raised this point on the Start here: Announcing BlogHer post:

"What an incredible IDEA!! If I didn't have a baby I would definitely fly in from Israel! Please let me know if there is any way of participating virtually. It's the women of the world who are the true movers and shakers - enjoy the conference!"

To the latter--no kidding. Here's an example: I just returned from Zeitung Online 2005, a conference for German-language newspapers. How the heck, I wondered, did these folks get my name? Enter Katja Riefler, a journalist and media strategist who contributes to Poytner.org in addition to various German media publications and sites. She and I met at the Newspaper Association of America conference in March, and she suggested I talk about blogs in Berlin. Voila--the old girls' network in action.

Time to get our network on ladies -- Josia, there is definitely a way of participating virtually, mit or mit-out baby: Why not hold a BlogHer meet-up in your zip code?

Be our guest: Please use this post to link off to your blogs, where you can suggest a time and place for a July 30 BlogHer meet-up near you. Bring on the jpegs and podcasts!