BACK FROM BLOGWORLD

I've just returned from the BlogWorld and New Media Expo (#bwe09) in Las Vegas. It was a huge conference--about 5,000 attendees, I gather. I've never attended an event before where at least 70% of the audience was typing away on their laptops during the sessions and in the halls at break time. Electrical outlets with room for one more charger were harder to find than sober guys at a bowling convention. These were definitely some plugged-in people.

BlogWorld organizers created a number of different content tracks targeted to specific users. Since much of the conference was designed for bloggers, there was a track for military bloggers, one for real estate blogs, a track on blog monetization (making money from your blog), and a "mommy" blogger track. Who knew that mommy bloggers were such a widely recognized force that there is now an "ethical code of practice" for them? Apparently some companies provide free products and other considerations to high-profile mommy bloggers in order to win favorable comments, hence the risk of ethical conflicts.

There was a separate track for social media, and that's where I spent most of my time. I wanted to learn more about how businesses and organizations are using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, podcasting and other online communications tools.

I was a little surprised at the informality of the sessions. Out of the seven or eight sessions that I attended, only one included a formal presentation (with Powerpoint slides) on the topic. The others consisted of panels with three or four people each, mostly answering questions from the audience. Answering questions is a good thing, but I found myself wishing that these sessions had included at least a short initial presentation from each of the panel experts. Audience questions don't always hit the topics the speakers know best.

The informality became a bigger problem during the first day's luncheon. The "luncheon keynote" speaker was Scott Monty from Ford Motor Co. Monty has been one of the driving forces behind Ford's blogging and social media efforts. I would have enjoyed hearing him speak about the successes and failures associated with those initiatives.

Unfortunately, it wasn't possible to hear Scott Monty--or to see him, for that matter. Instead of having the guy stand up at a podium where he could be seen, they had him sitting down on the platform to be "interviewed" by a moderator. Neither person could be seen. To make matters worse, the sound system was so poor that neither speaker could be heard either.

In addition, they began the program at the start of the luncheon service. So instead of focusing on the speakers, the audience was busy getting served, passing the rolls and butter, asking for beverages, and trying to figure out whether their coffee cups were to the right or left of their plates. It was virtually impossible to give the speaker our undivided attention.

Periodically, the poor moderator demanded silence, but it was impossible. Midway through the presentation, someone had the brains to turn up the mikes so she and Scott Monty could be heard, but by then it was too late. Half of the audience had finished lunch and left, while the other half stayed out of courtesy, most checking their e-mail on cell phones or browsing the latest on Twitter.

In a way, this was reflective of the tone of the entire conference. Informality is great, and generally I'm in favor of less structure rather than more. However, informality at the expense of content is counterproductive. The Web 2.0 generation is mostly kids under 35 (these days, everyone under 50 is a kid to me), and I love their creative energy and confident command of the new technologies. But maybe just a little more structure in the interests of effective content delivery would be beneficial.

On the other hand, maybe this just isn't the right conference for people like me. As my sister says, "You need a journal that has lines on the page, I need one without lines. That's the difference between us."

If this conference had had a few more lines on the page, I would have enjoyed it more. And I bet many more people would have heard what Scott Monty had to say.

PEACE AND THE WAR OF WORDS

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the forces of darkness are doing their best to punish President Barack Obama for winning the Nobel Peace Prize. It's bad enough that we have a black President in the first place, right? We can't expect those good ol' boys to stand still for seeing the guy HONORED. It's just too much.

Honestly, you'd think Obama went over to Norway and demanded that prize. You'd think the Norwegians committed an international crime by giving the prize to a leader who has, according to his critics, "no accomplishments" that merit the award.

These people really don't have a clue. They don't understand ANYTHING.

The Nobel committee was very clear about why it unanimously selected our President. They said he has "created a new climate in international politics."

"Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position," the committee wrote in its official press release. "Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts."

Although the Nobel Committee's nomination process closed in mid-February, only a few days after Obama took office, the vote took place just a few weeks ago. The committee has had ample time to watch the President in his interactions with the world. They recognized his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

What the Neanderthals in the conservative movement don't seem to understand is that words are often more powerful than action. The French revolution began when Marie Antoinette said, "Let them eat cake." (She didn't really say that, exactly, but no matter--heads rolled anyway.)

Here in Minnesota, the Dakota uprising began when a government official refused to give the region's Sioux Indians the food provisions they had been promised, even though they were starving. That official said, "Let them eat grass." When soldiers found his body a few days later, his mouth was stuffed with grass.

How can any American--especially anyone who understands history--say with a straight face that words don't matter? What about "Remember the Alamo!" Or "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." Or "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." Or "I have a dream."

And then there's "Mission accomplished." And "Bring it on."

Words matter. Attitude matters. Tone matters.

There's a great irony here. Conservatives have used every nasty, abusive, hateful word in the dictionary to attack Barack Obama. They've shouted hostile words at members of Congress trying to reform health care. They've called the President a liar.

They've raised name-calling to an artform. Since the day Obama was sworn in, they've used words as weapons of war.

Now the world has honored our President for his words of peace, mutual respect and global cooperation--and the conservatives are outraged.

I have one word for these people: sick.

BABY STEPS

As you know if you've been following this blog, I've been climbing the learning curve of online communications and social media. Teaching myself about blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, media aggregators and so on has been and continues to be a daily challenge. Just when you think you're starting to get it, you notice that you've missed something. In my case, I missed something pretty important--how to get my blog to feed directly into my website.

It is humiliating to confess that I was retyping my blog entries into my website because I couldn't figure out how to make the RSS feed work. RSS, as you may recall from my most recent post, is Really Simple Syndication. It is a tool for allowing people to follow your blog and get alerts when you post new entries.

When I set up my website, the iWeb template I used had a blog page, and it offered the option of setting up an RSS feed from my blog to the site. But when I tried to set up the feed, I kept getting an error message.

Today, I finally figured out that RSS feeds have their own URL. Instead of entering my blog URL, http://marshakellysblog.blogspot.com, I entered feed://marshakellysblog.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default. This is the URL that shows up when I click on the RSS symbol on my blog. Presto! It worked.

Now, instead of retyping each blog entry on my website, the new posts will automatically appear on my website. At least that's the way it's supposed to work. When I finish this post, we'll see if it shows up on my website. If it does, congratulate me. If not, I'll be back at the drawing board.