BlogWorld Expo Returns - with nearly 250 Speakers!

Haven't written in a long while, been too busy planning BlogWorld, enjoying blog browsing, online chats and video, and clicking out to blogs from Twitter...which of course leads to an endless clickfest to yet more blogs, videos, chats, tweets and flickr photo viewing long into the night...perfect for someone like me who loves mixing his peas, meat and potatoes together. Experiencing a variety of flavors is my passion, and blog surfing for this curious guy is the ultimate all-your-brain-can-eat experience.

But even with BlogWorld just days away, and while I frantically try to keep up with emails and last-minute projects, this is something I just had to write down...

Our BlogWorld Conference, now in only its second year, has grown to epic proportions (at least to us). We're showing 248 speakers on the roster! That's mind-blowing to me. I think we had 150 or so last year. Granted this year, we've added our new pilot program, the Citizen Journalism Workshop, but that only accounts for a small group of speakers, so that's not the major bump. The fact is, this industry is growing, and our dream of creating "the" industry-wide tradeshow and conference for all of blogging and new media, BlogWorld, is growing too.

A little BlogWorld backstory for you. Rick, Libby and I worked together in the '90s managing, producing and marketing some of the largest tradeshows in North America; events with 50,000 - 100,000+ attendees. Rick and Libby worked for a big tradeshow production company, and I owned a boutique marketing firm (specializing in automotive, sports and technology). One day, I inquired about attending one of the large shows they produced, the SEMA Show in Vegas (mecca for car enthusiasts). While on the phone, I asked if they were under contract with an agency, because my marketing firm had an automotive specialty. Next thing I knew, my company was one of the primary marketing agencies for about a dozen large tradeshows and conferences...and I'd made some very nice new friends that would last for years to come. Although Rick was involved with the same tradeshows I was, he was in a different department so we only connected briefly, but Libby and I worked together often.

During that time, I got involved with online business communities because I enjoyed writing and meeting new friends, discussing business problems and solutions, sharing knowledge, etc. Later, I got heavily into auto enthusiast communities, because I was a serious "carguy", aspiring auto racer and all of my friends were carnuts on some level. I was writing long posts about racing technique, suspension installations, auto safety gear, etc and I was really yearning to start my own online community, and move toward writing a book about the auto enthusiast culture which I enjoyed so much. I'd even put together meet-ups for my online auto enthusiast friends, with fellow car-lovers showing up from hundreds of miles away to join me and a few hundred other four-wheel fiends for face-to-face networking, spirited caravan drives and enjoyable meals together.

Well, Rick and Libby's company got bought out, and within a couple of years everyone dispersed in different directions. We all fell out of touch for quite a while. Rick became a sales director for a large trade association, and a serious political blogger, and Libby became a top hired gun to manage tradeshows and conferences for large associations and events. Rick's blogging got out of hand and started to take over much of his spare time, and he began to realize this was more than just a hobby, it was an important part of his life. He sought out "the" blogging tradeshow and conference, where he could learn all there is to know about blogging, podcasting, emerging online technology, widgets, plug-ins, interviewing techniques and gear, etc. Rick wanted to evolve as a citizen journalist, but there were only niche events to be found. Nobody had created an industry-wide event for the blogosphere, because well...there was no cohesive industry yet. But the wave of communication evolution was growing rapidly, and the fragmented landscape was comprised of specialized events and no central junction or anchor to tie them all together. This was simple to understand; niche event creators usually excel in their particular content speciality, but don't have experience in running large events.

Lightbulb comes on.

Rick spoke with some friends (Libby included) and tabled the idea of a big, world-class educational conference and tradeshow for the blogosphere and got their impressions. They thought it was a great idea and were very excited not only about the concept--but also attending! Rick brought Libby in, Libby brought me in, and BlogWorld was off and running. Three friends reunited. (If you saw my name badge at BlogWorld's launch event in '07, it read "CMO & The Third Amigo".)

We'd originally set out to create something which didn't exist; the only all-encompassing, industry-wide conference for the growing world of Blogging and New Media. A single destination for those who can't afford to travel to multiple conferences. An aggregator of all blogging niches and communities. A place where bloggers, podcasters, vloggers, social media networkers, photo bloggers, microbloggers, search marketing mogus, journalists and passionate writers and content creators of all categories can come together for education, networking, resource discovery, and face-to-face relationship building. That's what BlogWorld is all about.

This year, the economy is challenged, yet BlogWorld is sprouting upward. This industry continues to develop, communities continue to reach out for knowledge, resources and peers to collaborate with...and we continue to work hard, building BlogWorld into the comprehensive, nurturing catalyst and conduit it needs to be.

This year, the 3 friends are joined by 248 dedicated educators and a large group of the most passionate event attendees I've ever seen. The fact that a hobby blogger can sit next to a Cisco communications exec on one side, and a multi-site online entrepreneur on the other side, and they can all learn together about emerging communication technology--and then socialize in the evening together, giving rise to new friendships, despite great differences in professional status--makes me smile a great deal. The fabric of our attendee community is colorful and diverse, and while the offices and dens we all come home to may be vastly different, for three days we're really all part of a single community at BlogWorld. What an enjoyable meet-up this has become.

Special thanks to our great speakers, who so generously devote time to nurture those of us who long to improve our online expression and business knowledge.

To all of the BlogWorld exhibitors and sponsors, thank you for believing in the 3 friends and supporting BlogWorld, and I applaud you for having the foresight to take a leadership position in a growing industry. This is a very important time for communication technology and business, and you're going to meet people at BlogWorld that will not only benefit from your knowledge, products and services, you'll benefit from theirs as well--and in so doing, you'll be smarter and better equipped moving into 2009 than competitors in your space.

To all of the passionate attendees, thank you for taking time from your families, offices and homes to come join us. I've made thousands of friends online over the past decade, and when we have meet-ups to finally put faces with usernames, it's incredibly enjoyable. I can't wait to see so many of you discovering new friends face-to-face that you've known online for years. Take lots of pictures and post them online, so those that couldn't make it this time can still enjoy the excitement from afar.

And to my 2 partners, Rick Calvert and Libby Durfee, thank you for your friendship, trust and dedication. Good partners are very hard to find.

Last but not least, my family deserves some serious time and attention after Sept. 21st, so thank you for your patience and get ready for some fun. :)

Now, for THE LIST.

I culled this from our online Conference Schedule today. There may be a few drop-outs, which is normal--people get sick or have other issues--but for the most part this is pretty accurate right now. If you notice a couple of bloggers with no last name listed, that's their preference--just to be known by their first names. Those of you who follow them will know who they are, blogging wives of servicemen who are participating in our Milblogging conference in the Community Track.

1. Carolyn Abram
2. Nic Adler
3. Stephanie Agresta
4. Paula Berg
5. Doyle Albee
6. Chris Alden
7. Mike Allen
8. David Almacy
9. Tac Anderson
10. John Andrews
11. James Andrews
12. John Donovan
13. Chris Baggot
14. Micah Baldwin
15. La Shawn Barber
16. Austin Bay
17. Jack Bechta
18. Damon Berger
19. Jay Berkowitz
20. David Berkowitz
21. Jeffrey Berman
22. Professor Stephen Berry
23. Sean Besser
24. Rohit Bhargava
25. Jason Billingsley
26. Pete Blackshaw
27. Erica Blitz
28. Renee Blodgett
29. Toby Bloomberg
30. Teresa Boardman
31. JP Borda
32. Stowe Boyd
33. Susan Bratton
34. Will Brinson
35. Michael Brito
36. Chris Brogan
37. Rich Brooks
38. Morgan Brown
39. Michael Buechele
40. David Bullock
41. Matthew "Blackfive" Burden
42. Rick Calvert
43. Prince Campbell
44. Enrico Campitelli Jr.
45. Todd Carpenter
46. Becky Carroll
47. Ward Carroll
48. Phil Carter
49. Paul Chaney
50. Will Chen
51. Larry Chiang
52. John Chow
53. Jay Christensen
54. Michael Clark
55. Brian Clark
56. Deborah Micek @CoachDeb
57. Shai Coggins
58. Shawn Collins
59. Michael Colton
60. Cheryl Contee
61. Ryan Corazza
62. Jeff Corbett
63. Brad Coy
64. Don Crowther
65. Shaun Daily
66. Roxanne Darling
67. Anil Dash
68. Matt Dickman
69. Angel Djambazov
70. Ken Doctor
71. Nicki Dugan
72. Jim Duncan
73. Jeanne Dupuis
74. Frank Eliason
75. Richard S. Levick Esq.
76. Matt Fagioli
77. Jason Falls
78. George Favvas
79. Beth, aka FbL
80. Kelly Feller
81. Timothy Ferriss
82. Jonathan Fields
83. Laura Fitton
84. Debbie Galant
85. The Honorable Pete Geren
86. Susan Getgood
87. JB Glossinger
88. K. Daniel Glover
89. Gregory Go
90. Barry Graubart
91. Daniel Gray
92. Michael Gray
93. Louis Gray
94. Dan Green
95. Dan Green
96. Gabrielle Green
97. Greyhawk
98. Mrs Greyhawk
99. Tish Grier
100. CJ Grisham
101. Daniel Ha
102. Steve Hall
103. Dewey Hammond
104. Jane Hamsher
105. Mike Harper
106. Jon Henke
107. Alex Hillman
108. Thomas Hoehn
109. Michael Hoffman
110. Jack Holt
111. Daniel B. Honigman
112. Tony Hsieh
113. Matt Hulett
114. Alex Huot
115. Tris Hussey
116. Shama Hyder
117. Patrick Hynes
118. Rich Jacobson
119. Richard Jalichandra
120. Zac Johnson
121. Andrew Jones
122. Tim Jones
123. Spike Jones
124. Christina Jones
125. Mark Joseph
126. Karen
127. Marjorie Kase
128. Guy Kawasaki
129. Paul Kedrosky
130. Pat Kitano
131. Kelley Koehler
132. Jim Kukral
133. Jon Lansner
134. James Ledbetter
135. Lee LeFever
136. Jim Lenahan
137. Howard Lindzon
138. John Logioco
139. Christian Lowe
140. Dustin Luther
141. Liz Mair
142. Mike Manuel
143. Mary Jo Manzanares
144. Rachel Masters
145. David Mastio
146. Gina McCauley
147. Becky McCray
148. Jake McKee
149. Hugh McLeod
150. Rob McNealy
151. Keith McSpurren
152. Brooks Melchior
153. Lionel Menchaca
154. Scott Monty
155. Louis Moynihan
156. Mike Mueller
157. Steve Mullen
158. Ted Murphy
159. Ken Myers
160. Michelle Naranjo
161. Geoff Nelson
162. Rob Neppell
163. Joe Neuberger
164. Deborah Ng
165. Alana Nguyen
166. Michelle Nicolosi
167. Toby Nunn
168. Lee Odden
169. Darren O'Donoghue
170. Patrick O'Keefe
171. Eric Olsen
172. Jennifer Openshaw
173. Scott Ott
174. Roger Overton
175. Elisa Camahort Page
176. Kevin Palmer
177. Jeremy Pepper
178. David Peralty
179. Professor Jay Perkins
180. Professor David D. Perlmutter
181. Lisa Picarille
182. Wendy Piersall
183. Anne Plese
184. Mark Potts
185. John Pozadzides
186. Mike Price
187. Lucretia Pruitt
188. Schlomo Rabinowitz
189. Kyra Reed
190. Byrne Reese
191. John Mark Reynolds
192. Bill Roggio
193. Gary Rosenzweig
194. Daniel Rothemal
195. Darren Rowse
196. Steve Rubel
197. Michael Rubin
198. Muhammad Saleem
199. Felix Salmon
200. Sarah
201. Jennifer Satterwhite
202. Jan Schaffer
203. Jeremy Schoemaker
204. Arieanna Schweber
205. Robert Scoble
206. Doc Searls
207. Elie Seckbach
208. Faiz Shakir
209. Mike Shinoda
210. Nicole Simon
211. Ruby Sinreich
212. J.E. Skeets
213. Dave Smith
214. Brian Solis
215. Pam Spaulding
216. Stephan Spencer
217. Liz Strauss
218. Tim Street
219. Mario Sundar
220. Matt Sussman
221. Amra Tareen
222. Dave Taylor
223. Michael Tippett
224. Robyn Tippins
225. Wade Tonkin
226. Benjamin Tribbett
227. Lynn Truong
228. Jim Turner
229. Jeff Turner
230. John T. Unger
231. Lorelle VanFossen
232. Gary Vaynerchuk
233. Mark Verheiden
234. Erin Kotecki Vest
235. Pete Vlastelica
236. Mariana Wagner
237. Denise Wakeman
238. Rob Walch
239. Des Walsh
240. Hilary Weber
241. Andy Wibbels
242. Guard Wife
243. Hadji Williams
244. Brett Wilson
245. Joel Mark Witt
246. Jeremy Wright
247. Nina Yablok
248. Matt Yglesias

>> I apologize for the length of this post, I'm hoping to learn brevity at BlogWorld this year! :D

Warm Regards,
Dave

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