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Tips on Live Blogging an Event Posted: 10 Sep 2008 03:25 PM PDT Over the weekend I asked readers how they suggest Live Blogging an Event. The resulting comments were really helpful so I thought I’d collect some of them together into a post on the topic here. Travis Prinzi suggests that you use the opportunity to promote your Twitter or Plurk account by using those social media accounts to do the bulk of your updates with a few longer posts on your blog. Chetan recommends using a video camera to record as much of the conference as possible and then edit and upload sessions during breaks. Becky and Alrady shared some thoughts on capturing the ‘mood’ of a conference rather than just the information shared - mood being something that is hard for those following a conference online to get a handle on. Karen recommended using CoveritLive as a tool for Live blogging an event (as did a few others). impNERD encourages those live blogging events to take their time and focus upon quality rather than focussing upon just being ‘first’ to post something. Melanie asked a question that I’m sure others would be grappling with also - ‘My concern is how do you balance live blogging with absorbing the info and still being a part of the conversation?’ Ollie talked about two tools, CoveritLive (already mentioned) and Sidepodcast - both look like being worthwhile tools to explore. Nancy suggests the most basic yet most important tip that any Live Blogging Blogger could want to receive - ‘double-check beforehand that you will have internet access! ‘ Chuck shared some of his experience and how he uses multi-media (’Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, the AgWired Blog, Ustream.tv, 12seconds.tv, and lots of uploaded audio interviews’) to bring his live blogging posts alive. Will coded his own system that tracks what other people are ‘tweeting’ about an event to update them onto his blog. The big winner in the comments section was definitely CoveritLive which was mentioned by a quarter of all comments in the post as a recommended tool. Share This

The Power of Real Life Interactions as a Blogger Posted: 10 Sep 2008 07:05 AM PDT Yesterday I announced on Digital Photography School that I was planning on running a short Photowalk while I was Las Vegas for Blog World Expo (you’re welcome to join in). The post was to gauge if any of my readers would be interested in coming along. To this point over 40 people have responded - almost all of them saying that they’d like to come. Image by Jeff Bauche While the majority of a bloggers interaction happens in a virtual sense with readers - the few times that I’ve gone out of my way to set up ‘real life’ meet-ups with readers have been really quite powerful experiments. The two most vivid examples of this happened last year in New York when I held ProBlogger meet-ups. While they were fairly small events when compared with some of the big tech blog meet-ups that happen - on both occasions the evenings were fruitful on numerous fronts: 1. Deepening Relationships - many of those that I met in these face to face meet ups in New York (as well as some that I’ve met face to face at conferences) have become quite good friends. There’s something about meeting someone in person that seems to firm up a relationship. 2. Fruitful Partnerships - while it’s definitely possible to go into business with someone that you’ve never met (none of the founders of b5media didn’t meet for a long time) I’ve found that face to face meeting with people seems to increase the likelihood of working relationships emerging. The majority of people that I now work with on different projects are people that I’ve met in real life. It isn’t that I don’t trust virtual relationships - it’s just that the real life interaction makes it easier. 3. Reader Participation and Loyalty - when I think about the bloggers that I’ve met in person, I realize that I’m more avid as a reader of their blog than perhaps I was before we met. As I read their blog I have a face and voice to go with it - and a tangible experience with the person to tie me to their blog. I know not all bloggers are able to hold their own meet-up just for their readers due to their location, their inability to travel or even just that they don’t have enough readers in the one spot - however meet-ups are not the only way to meet potential blog readers in real life. Local blogging meet-ups, one on one meetings with other bloggers in your area and conferences all present great opportunities for the type of reader interaction that I describe above. It feels a little odd to step out of your ‘virtual interactions’ at first (and it can be even weirder for your spouse to see these interactions, just ask my wife V who was completely freaked out by how much people knew met at a meet-up she came to in NYC last year) but it can be a lot of fun and well worthwhile. Share This

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