This July at BlogHer, Toby Bloomberg, Yvonne DiVita and I are doing a Business Blogging "Unpanel" on Saturday July 29th.
Here’s the scoop on the session:
This panel isn’t about us. It’s about all of us. Call it an “unpanel.� Call it a “rap session.� What we call it doesn’t matter. What we do, does. And what we are going to do is share our business blogging stories and then build a set of business blogging “best practices� based on our experiences. Everyone is part of the panel, and we’ll just do the best we can to keep up with the brilliance in the room.
Here’s the format. The first half of the session is devoted to case studies. Our goal is eight – we have three committed, so we need BlogHers who plan to attend the session to step up and volunteer to share yours. How do you do that? Respond to this message (Please respond on the BlogHer site at this link) and tell us “I’m in� and let us know about the blog URL you plan to discuss in July.
During the session you’ll have 5 minutes to tell us the objectives of the blog, what worked, and what didn’t. Giving us the URL in advance lets us all check out the blog so you have to spend less time in exposition. And please, participants, do at least take a look at the blogs volunteered for the session. It will help us all get to the meat, which is creating our best practices deliverable.
Because what’s an unpanel without a collective product [You can see, Susan (who wrote this) really is a socialist at heart.]
The second half of our session is devoted to a group discussion. And we aren’t there just to chat. We want to leave the room with at least the shell of a best practices document –things that work become our best practices, things that didn’t are warning signs. This is the critical piece of this session. Without the deliverable, we’ve had a nice chat. When we create this document, we’ve helped ourselves and others be better business bloggers. Cool, huh.
So, please, if business blogging is your bag, and you are planning to attend this session, consider sharing your story. Yvonne, Toby and Susan can fill the time, but we don’t want to. We want to hear from and talk with you. Way more fun
Here are the case studies already on deck. Add yours in the comments. First come, first served. Five spots left, and we will do the session in the order received on the BlogHer site.
Masi Guy at http://masiguy.blogspot.com/
Know Your Bones at www.knowyourbones.com
Our Fathers Who Art in Heaven at http://murak.blogs.com/
Research from Stephanie Hendrik, a doctoral student from the University of Sweden: Stephanie will present research about when companies do inauthentic things with blogs. Things like fake blogs and fake commenters. Due to ethical considerations, she is keeping the the blogs in the study anonymous, but she is preparing a brief abstract for us which we’ll post here.Two questions we know we’ll get:
Q. Can I talk about more than one blog?
A. Yes, but you still only have 5 minutes. Use them wisely.Q. Will you stop taking volunteers after the 5 spots are filled?
A. Nope, keep signing up. People may decide to go to another session, or that they don’t really want to speak. Some people may take less than 5 minutes so we’ll have extra time. Who knows what will happen. Until it happens! So please sign up. We’ll go in order received until the time allotted for case studies runs out.
If you are planning to attend BlogHer, please consider joining us and sharing your blog case studies. Please sign up on the post at the BlogHer site –it is a whole lot easier if all the sign-ups are in one place. Thanks.
(cross posted to Marketing Roadmaps and MarCom Blog)
Tags: blogging, business blogging, BlogHer
7 comments
6/18/2006 at 4:48 pm
Christina
I think that is a fantastic idea. You can never really tell if something is working or not until you study the effects it is having on a situation. If you think that you have an amazing blog but no one is reading it, then it serves no purpose at all. I believe that this will help PR bloggers recognize their objectives, research to find if those have been met and if they have not, try to think of ways to implement the blog in a better fashion.
Blogging is still something that many people are new to, so getting together and visualizing what system of doing things works the best and putting that into play will be about the only thing that will help blogs grow. I applaud you and hope that you get all of the information that you need.
6/19/2006 at 5:46 pm
Karalyne
I agree with Christina that it is a fantastic idea. Personal situations are the best to learn from whether they’re yours or someone elses. This is going to be a great way to get your name and your blog out. Like Christina said blogs are new and many people do not understand them. Someone I know thinks they give you a bad name and doesn’t understand why anyone would want to write one because whatever you say is out there forever. I think this is a great way to show those type of people that blogs are useful in the workforce. Best of luck getting the participants.
6/20/2006 at 1:11 pm
Monica
I have to agree with you and with the girls above that the BlogHer unpanel sounds like it is a positive way for everyone to get together to discuss how blogging has, is and will continue to affect us in the PR industry.
It is imperative that any form of communication or social media is evaluated. Without an evaluation from those that participate in (in this case) blogging, there is no way of truly knowing whether blogs are an effective way of communicating.
However, now that I am in my third class with Robert and my eyes have thoroughly been opened to the “blogosphere,” I have to think that blogging is by far one of the best ways of communication. Blogging allows for users to share their voice with others in the industry worldwide. Before this, we were limited to email and phone calls and weren’t able to have the large audiences that blogging provides.
Good luck with your unpanel!
6/20/2006 at 3:30 pm
Annah Grace
The BlogHer conference sounds fascinating, especially the unpanel in which you will be participating. Case studies, in my opnion, are the best way to learn. There is no way that any one practitioner could experience every problem or success, therefore it is imperative for us to learn from each other. I think that the unpanel discussion time will be a fantastic opportunity for you to celebrate and imitate the triumphs of others, and to take heed of warnings and help each other with weaknesses. As a PR student, I would love to get my hands on the information from the unpanel so I, too, could learn from the adventures of other women in the business blogosphere.
I also applaud you in setting the standard for the chat. It seems extremely efficient and advantageous. Have fun in San Jose.
7/11/2006 at 2:46 pm
Mary
I agree with all the posts so far that this conference sounds really interesting. I think that is is a great idea to get people together and really explain to them what blogging is all about. It is such a new thing to PR that many people just don’t understand how much it can help their companies if it is used correctly and efficiently. It is crucial to teach them how to use it and explain to them how much more noticeable they can become.
7/11/2006 at 5:02 pm
Kristen
Sounds like a great idea. I am knew to this whole world of blogging and feel almost intimidated by its entirety. Some words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated and seeing as how blogs have become such a huge part in people’s lives, this is pefect timing!
Please keep us posted on the BlogHer happenings! Good Luck!
2/25/2007 at 1:09 am
Emily Anne
Hey Susan-
I came across your post and was curious if your study is completed. I’m especially interested to hear what tactics didn’t work in business blogging. You had mentioned that your results would be used in reference to when companies do “inauthentic things” with blogs, do you have any cases in particular you could refer me to? This whole sub-culture of blogging in the professional world is foreign to me, and I’d like to become more familiar with issues like blog ethics.