Could you describe the BlogHer conferences and how they can help bloggers?
BlogHer Business will take place April 3-4 in New York. This conference is targeted for organizations of any kind that are trying to figure out how they can incorporate social media into what they do effectively and successfully. BlogHer Business will definitely strip away the hype and hyperbole that surrounds social media these days. We don't take a "Blog or Die!!!" approach, but rather ask the question: Is blogging right for what you are trying to accomplish? And if so, what are the best practices that will help you do it right? Last year was our inaugural Business Conference, and it was a sold-out success, so of course we're doing it again.
BlogHer '08 will take place July 18-20 in San Francisco. This is our fourth annual blogging blow-out. This is for any kind of blogger, from the personal to the political to the professional. The content will be wide-ranging, the opportunity to meet your blogging buddies will be unparalleled, and the schwag should be awesome! You'll learn. You'll geek out. You'll drink. You'll be sorry if you miss it!
Then in October we will be launching a new event: The BlogHer Reach Out Tour. We plan to take BlogHer to the community by producing a series of six one-day conferences in six cities over two weeks in October. We'll be hitting Boston, DC, Greensboro, Nashville, Atlanta and New Orleans. The content and the speakers will be geared towards each city, and we hope to encourage a whole lot of new folks to take up blogging too.
More info on all of our events can be found on the BlogHer conferences page.What advice can you give to bloggers who are just starting out in the blogosphere?
Figure out what your passion is and find other bloggers who care about that too. Then start finding out if there are other things you wouldn't even expect to push your buttons that do. Little did I know how much I would enjoy Reality TV talent shows until I wrote a few recaps of American Idol and discovered my inner critic. Get out there and participate. There isn't one blogosphere, there are many blogospheres. Find the one that you enjoy being a part of.
What are your plans for the future of BlogHer?
BlogHer is just going to keep expanding in all areas. This year is a big year...we've grown from one event to eight. We've grown the ad network from 160 bloggers to over 1400. We've continued to grow and improve BlogHer.com to cover more of the topics that our community is asking for. We've introduce new activism and community-driven projects like BlogHers Act, Election 2008 and the Letter to My Body initiative. Back in 2005 I called the BlogHer Conference the "conference the community built", and we still apply that measure to everything we do. What will the community drive us to plan next? Subscribe to BlogHer.com and keep track.
