One last thing about the Blog Business Summit and then I’m done. Really.
I was sitting next to a PR person from a major company and she was expressing frustration that the sessions were not going the way she wanted them. Since the bloggers that ran the session love to run things in an interactive way, I asked why she wasn’t asking more questions to drive the sessions to answer what she was interested in. Her reply (I’m paraphrasing slightly) punched right to the core of some of the difficulties faced by a corporation that is trying on their blogging boots,
"Ask a question? Are you crazy? This place is not only full of press, it’s full of bloggers! I can’t have my company’s name all over the place tied to some stupid question of mine."
Did she say what was frustrating here?
Was she promised to get such? And, on the other side: If she is afraid on a conference like that to ask a question + she was sent their by her company, she already has her strategy: Not for her.
If she is not able to just ask a question, how is that company supposed to blog?
And yes, it will be a long way – for them. We are already there.
Good point Nicole. I compare blogging in public to singing in public – you need to find your voice and once you do, be confident to belt it out so you’ll be heard.
Blogging is really more an art than a science. It takes time to find what’s right and no one can really help you but yourself. The best a conference such as the Business Blog Summit can do is provide tips and tricks on the basics, the rest is up to you.
As you say, we’re already there and they just need to travel the road to join us.
Funny, my comparison for blogging is like a 24×7 tradeshow. I mean, we send people to tradeshows all the time to speak on areas of expertise. To me, Blogs are essentially the same thing, just in print.
As for the show itself, I really think the next iterations of the show should focus more on real-life experiences. There’s plenty of us MarComms-types fighting the good fight and bringing blogs to life for our companies.
The frustration was that for someone sent to the conference by their company, she was expecting to take away a complete blogging strategy. The reality is that nobody has this completely figured out yet and teaching someone how to blog is a little like teaching someone how to sing. All you can do is give them the basics but after that it’s up to them to find their own voice and determine what’s works.
We all would like that but it’s still early days yet. GM Blogs, the Tinbasher, Boeing, and now Adobe – we need more poster children to come share their stories.
She was looking for more sessions led by people in her position, folks in PR, Marketing, and Product Management that had launched their blogs and could share what they learned.