Sara Kerr

Saralitta

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5 comments on Minnesota Blogger Conference – Join Me!

Minnesota Blogger Conference – Join Me!

If you’re reading this, then you know something about blogs.

Would you like to know more?

Then attend the Minnesota Blogger Conference on September 22nd — it’s free, but tickets go fast! Click here on August 22nd to catch one of the first wave of tickets.

Why attend?

The conference features speakers who write, photograph, and record and then publish to their blogs on an amazing array of subjects. Curious? Here’s the link to last year’s speakers.

Learn more about blogging.

Meeting really interesting people.

Catch some shopping at the Midtown Global Market.

What if I already know a lot about blogging?

Then sign up to speak! Download the application and submit by August 6, 2012. If you have specific questions, let me know — I’m the speaker manager!

What are we looking for?

As a conference dedicated to bloggers, we ask that all session topics have a direct connection to blogging (as opposed to social media as a whole).

Topics that will grab our attention will be a hot topic and of interest to a wide variety of bloggers (think of all the niches of bloggers we serve: tech, corporate, money-saving, food, parenting, sports, etc.)

Speakers that will grab our attention will have direct experience blogging and expertise in the topic area.

Details

Date:  Saturday, September 22

Location:  Allina Health headquarters in Minneapolis

Freebies:  Parking, Lunch, and a great time

Learn more:  Twitter and the Minnesota Blogger Conference Website

Posted by:

Saralitta

Lover of Snow, Winter Vacations, Good Beer & Great Music, Minnesota Weather, French Wine & Sidewalks. Yogi for life.

5 responses to “Minnesota Blogger Conference – Join Me!”

  1. Erik Hare Avatar
    Erik Hare

    I hate always being the curmudgeon about things like this, but I’ve never been impressed with the lineup for this thing. For one thing, it’s all so formal and “seminar” oriented – where’s the interaction that defines blogging in the first place? For another, I don’t know where they get the speakers, but most of them are not people I really want to listen to. Last year I tried to get them to do some Outreach to some of the truly popular blogs – ones that had big readership, comments, and presence. It didn’t happen. I also wanted them to work hard to get past the rather pale middle class audience to people who are connecting unique communities with blogging, but that didn’t happen.
    It’s just not for me, sorry. If someone is going to lecture me on stuff I’d like it to be something I don’t know yet or at least a very different story. Without that, I have other stuff to do.

    Reply
    1. Sara Geneva Noreau Kerr Avatar
      Sara Geneva Noreau Kerr

      YOU sound perfect.

      And who would you recommend?

      Reply
  2. Erik Hare Avatar
    Erik Hare

    Here are some of the recs I have right away:
    http://www.adcminnesota.org/about/staff-blog/Hussein_Samatar
    http://nickihawj.blogspot.com/ (been a bit haphazard lately)
    http://equalityquilt.typepad.com/

    These are Minnesota blogs I read that would qualify for the Affirmative Action part. There are many more, but this is off the top of my head.

    As for the most popular, it’s sad that PostRank has been taken down since it had a handy guide to the most popular blogs in Minnesota. But here are some I can remember:
    http://minnesota.sbnation.com/ (professional, yes – and why not? Most popular blogs here by a wide margin)
    http://www.houseofturquoise.com/ (strange, I know!)
    http://abbey-roads.blogspot.com/ (hugely popular!)
    http://jaymerton.wordpress.com/ (very original, very popular!)
    http://www.bluestemprairie.com/ (I don’t know a single political blogger that goes to this – why not get one of the best, and a rural one at that?)

    There are more popular blogs if I think about it. Wish I had the old list handy. The thing is that if you tie it all to the “seminar” model you limit not only interaction but also who is going to get up there and do that talk thang. There has to be a better way to highlight the richness and diversity of blogs in Minnesota and get some really great stories from people who are using their blogs to reach and maybe unite communities. Standing up and presenting is very old school.

    Not everyone who blogs is white, not everyone is middle class. And, most importantly, what ordinary people actually read is very, very different from the “in crowd” that inflates each others’ egos on various social media outlets! Some professionals like Lileks might have something interesting to say about blogging as a job – how is THAT for a keynote idea?

    I’ll tell you what – if there is a real Affirmative Action program I’d be happy to at least attend, and I’ll talk on anything you want to. I just cannot spend a whole day in a room full of middle class white people and not get very antsy. Give me some good stories I would never hear elsewhere, give me a chance to actually talk to people rather than sit and dutifully take notes, and I’ll happily be a part of it.

    Reply
    1. Sara Geneva Noreau Kerr Avatar
      Sara Geneva Noreau Kerr

      Thanks!

      What happened to PostRank?

      Reply
      1. Erik Hare Avatar
        Erik Hare

        Google bought them, mostly for the talent. Supposedly, PostRank was incorporated into google analytics, but that’s nonsense. They shut it down.
        The cynical answer is that now that Yahoo is dying google has decided to become the place where good apps go to die. 🙂

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