Yesterday I posted about how I think there is a niche in the public relations world for a service that blends photography, design, blogging, and information technology specifically packaged for those looking to drive media awareness and attendance at special events like conferences, tours, seminars, and trade shows. I’ve gotten a ton of feedback from my friends in the blogosphere about that post and had several conversations about the topic today. I wanted to follow-up tonight with a few links to the people that I’ve been chatting with about the idea and their posts related to the what I was talking about last night.
What Conference Organizers Need to Know About Weblogs – Lee LeFever
Recommendations for Conference Organizers
1. Identify the bloggers, especially the influential ones. Of the thousands that may attend a conference, there are a handful of folks that have the influence to impact the overall perceptions of the event in the weblog world. Look at recent conferences like yours and who blogged what. Look for a community of bloggers that will feed off one another’s posts. You might even ask attendees if they will be blogging the event ahead of time.
2. Get an RSS reader and start subscribing. Don’t waste your time jumping from site to site looking for insights. Once you’ve found a group of bloggers, subscribe via RSS feeds so you can be notified when they post something new. You’ll find that RSS lets you browse a wide variety of blogs quickly. More on RSS here.
3. Use Feedster. Feedster allows you to search RSS feeds based on a search word or phrase. For instance, a Feedster search for “SXSW†returns weblogs that have most recently posted with the word “SXSW†in the post. The same would work for your conference.
4. Use Technorati. Technorati shows you the influence or popularity of a blog or blog post in terms of how many (and which) other weblogs are linking to it. This gives you an idea of the reach of a particular post.
For instance, Joi Ito (an A-list blogger) posted that “SXSW is blogger unfriendlyâ€. Technorati can tell you that 7 other weblogs have linked to that single post from Joi. Technorati shows you conversations across blogs.
5. Get involved. Conference blogging is not going away- so you need to consider how you are going to work with the bloggers. First, don’t plan to overtly influence what you think they should blog. This could easily backfire and word of your actions will travel fast. The best thing you could do is create a weblog that is authored by the conference organizers- or at least those that represent the organizers. Use this weblog to post official news and information about the event as it is happening, using a personal tone.
Enter the Conversation – Blogging Planet
They’ve focussed their services around a few key areas:
– Planning
– Setup
– Training
– Content Development
– Policy Development
Online Facilitation and Community Building Services – Nancy White
We can help you identify interactive web-based online interaction strategies and processes to connect with your target audience, constituencies or collaborators. Applications include communities of practice or interest, virtual teams, distance learning/training, online events and conversational communities. We deploy a full range of strategic tools and processes such as online conferences, chats, events, newsletters, interactive intranets and email lists. We can take you from concept to execution by assembling a team of specialists to meet your needs for creating online communities and collaborative workspaces.
Social Design for the Web – Lee LeFever
How Social Design for the Web Fits:
I’m convinced that many web projects in the future will have a significant social focus (using elements of blogs, message boards, wikis, social networking, etc.). These projects will need someone who can provide strategies, designs and consulting that are focused on the appropriate uses of the social elements of the project (much like a graphic designer focuses on visual elements). This may include:
* Introductions to various social tools and concepts
* Appropriate selection of social software
* Conceptual designs, mocks ups and specifications of social software
* Support and maintenance planning
* Communication strategies, guidance and examples
* Inter-team communication support