"Introduction to Business Blogs" Presentation was Worth Attending
Dave Aiello wrote, "Last night I attended the Intro to Business Blogs panel discussion put on by the E-commerce Special Interest Group in Manhattan. I had mentioned this panel discussion on CTDATA yesterday."
"This was a good presentation, with material relevant to the stated subject, and panelists in substantial agreement about the fundimentals of blogging. If you know a thing or two about blogging already, you know that basic agreement on the later is sometimes difficult to achieve, particularly among veterans of the field."
"I think Rick Bruner of Executive Summary Consulting did a great job putting the panel together. Andrew Calimano of Integrated Direct Marketing deserves a lot of credit for asking Rick to recruit the panelists and moderate the session. Read on for further comments...."
Dave Aiello continued:
Rick Bruner produced a good five page crib sheet for attendees. It includes definitions of critical weblogging terms, descriptions of the weblogs run by the panelists, lists of "A-List" blogs, business blogs, and leading web publishing platforms.Rick also did a good job choosing discussion topics that fit into the theme of the discussion, keeping the panelists on topic, and keeping track of the time left before the panel ended.
Anil Dash did a good job speaking at a level that was appropriate to people new to blogging. This is not a criticism of Anil-- it's a complement. He mentioned two future products of Six Apart, producers of Movable Type and the company he now works for. The forthcoming products are Movable Type Pro and TypePad. I'm very interested to hear more about them, so I'll be looking around the blogspace for more info.
I was surprised that John Lawlor was on the panel, particularly when I found out that he is based in Boca Raton, Florida. John has positioned himself as a Business Blogging Evangelist and has a large web presence (and a button that he wears on his shirt that says "Blogging Evangelist") to prove it. He has a long history of on-line marketing success and is definitely a player in the business weblogging know-how space.
John made available extra copies of notes from his Clickz Weblog Business Strategies session, "Strategies and Tips for Business Blogging Success". These were an extra special treat for people like me.
Aaron Bailey made a good impression on me, although my sense was that he actually spoke less than the other panelists. Aaron was particularly approachable after the session, offering to help me with a restructuring issue on an existing blog that I manage. I am impressed with his site 601am.com, and I'm going to put it into my reading rotation.
Elizabeth Spiers was a great person to have on the panel. She edits the site Gawker.com, which is more about media buzz than about business. However, she said that she had been a technology analyst for a financial services company in a previous life (a story consistant with her bio) and I believe it. She has a sharpness to her that is hard to miss if you have worked in the financial industry.
Jason Shellen sat at the far end of the table from the moderator. So, he got a little bit less talk time than most of the others. He works for Blogger, which most CTDATA readers know was purchased by Google a few months back.
It's interesting to hear someone who is on the Blogger team have to explain his company's services from the bottom up. It shows how much people who live in the Blogosphere take for granted.
Jason's comments were also interesting because he really softpedaled the Blogger marketing spiel. I was sitting there asking myself "Why?", but I realized, they're the biggest with the mostest. The impression he makes is probably due more to his personality than his sense of security in the market for publishing tools, but, I liked his attitude.
I feel like I saved $1000 by attending this panel discussion in New York, rather than attending the Clickz Weblog Business Strategies Conference earlier this week in Boston. I realize that there is a certain cache that will accrue to the Boston attendees for being at the first real blogging conference. However, several of last night's panelists commented that a number of the sessions up there were beset by disputes over philosophical issues and definitions that only seem to matter to the A-List. To be honest, I'm glad I wasn't there for those things.