blogworldexpo

Organizing My Road Warrior Blogging Toolkit

September 13, 2008 By Des Walsh

I used to say to people that if they could write an email they could blog. Which is true as far as it goes.

It is also true that once you start getting serious about blogging you start to think about incorporating still and moving images and audio. There are a lot of resources online, but if we want to have our own original material, we need some tools of the trade. Especially if we want to get into live blogging.

I had a stab at some live blogging from BlogWorld & New Media Expo last year in Las Vegas. I was really not prepared: about the best I achieved was some tweeting during a couple of the keynotes.

As I get my road warrior tools together for this year’s BlogWorld Expo I feel much better prepared.

Probably the centerpiece of my new traveling blogger kit is my Asus eee pc notebook, which I’ll be taking this time instead of the perfectly good but chiropractor-friendly Asus A6000 Entertainment Notebook I lugged around the Las Vegas Convention Center last year.

I’m also looking forward to being able to use the smaller notebook on the plane, even when the person in front of me decides to push their seat back into the recline mode. In economy, it’s impossible to use the larger notebook in those circumstances.

I have to say the keyboard on the eee is not big enough for me to type quickly and accurately, so although not in the picture above but hopefully in the mailbox on Monday is a foldable keyboard bought on eBay a few days ago for the princely sum of $6.99 (the postage cost more).

We have arranged to collect a Flip camcorder delivered via Amazon, for when we get to Vegas. That should make it a snap to do some instant interviews with fellow delegates and upload them more easily than with my excellent but comparatively cumbersome and firewire-requiring Samsung: although I am taking the bigger camcorder too, together with a neat, very lightweight tripod I picked up recently for a very reasonable $40.

I suspect that what I film with the larger camera will be for editing when I get home, as I won’t have access to the editing software I have here while I’m on the road. I’m hoping to be able to use Seesmic to record some comments directly to the notebook. There are some challenges there, which I’ll cover in another post.

I’m also taking my lightweight Samsung L100 for still shots (it actually takes video too, but I use it basically as a still camera .

Then there is my new Plantronics foldable headset, as recommended last year at BlogWorld by the legendary podcaster Leo Laporte. I have to admit it is a whole lot better device than the $9 one from KMart that I’d been using!

Not forgetting an adaptor plug or two. Had a terrible time in the US several years ago – could not find an adaptor to enable me to use my Australian power cord, even in New York!

I know my travel kit is not the advanced equipment some of my colleagues use, but for a word-focused person like me it’s a veritable hi-tech assembly!

And yes, there is the usual panoply of re-chargers, spare batteries, firewire, power cords, cartridges…

Also some analog kit

In the picture above I’ve included deliberately my Moleskine notebook. There are some things I keep up with better that way than digitally.

The hi-lighter is because I’m re-discovering its value when reading through a lot of printed material.

Online services

A valuable resource for live blogging is the online CoverItLive service, for which I signed up ages ago but have not so far used under fire.

I’m reading only good things about CoverItLive, for example in several comments on a post the other day by Darren Rowse, a.k.a. Problogger, with tips about live blogging.

A great resource for me in terms of podcasting and anything requiring upload/download facility for audio or video is BYOAudio, which costs me $19.95 a month – which I consider money very well spent.

For still image editing on the computer I need a Linux product and right now I don’t want to even think about trying to download and learn GIMP for the eee, so I was relieved when someone recommended the Picnik online service. I’ve tested it and it looks like it can do what I need, basically re-sizing and saving images as jpegs or gifs.

A couple more posts about live blogging that I’ve found helpful are:

Aliza Sherman on Preparing to Live Blog an Event

Josh Hallett in early 2007 – this is a post which is especially helpful on how to approach a paid gig as a conference blogger, including a recommendation to be transparent if you are blogging for a client’s dollar.

We’re arriving in Vegas a couple of days before the conference begins, so we can do a bit of sightseeing in the surrounding areas. Hopefully that will generate a few pictures I can upload.

I’m sure there are some things I’ve forgotten for my road warrior blogging toolkit. And I hope if you notice any glaring omissions you will be kind enough to tell me.

Filed Under: Blogging, Events, Social Media, Travel Tagged With: blogger travel kit, blogworld, blogworldexpo, live blogging

BlogWorld Early Bird Registration Ending Soon

June 19, 2008 By Des Walsh

I’m pretty sure the joke’s been used before, but what’s blogged in Vegas definitely doesn’t stay in Vegas. And with 1,600 bloggers in Las Vegas last November for BlogWorld and New Media Expo there was a whole lotta blogging goin’ on.

I met face to face for the first time lots of friends from the blogosphere. I made new friends. And I got new information, new insights. I sat in on outstanding keynotes and expert sessions and had the pleasure of presenting a session myself, with my friend and colleague Rich Brooks.

And there were parties. Excellent parties!

I wrote about my Blogworld Expo experience in a bit more detail back in March, with pics including one of me with Mark Cuban.

BlogWorld Expo is on earlier this year, in September, and in Las Vegas again.

Key points from the website:

The 2008 BlogWorld & New Media Expo will take place September 20-21 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, with the exclusive “Executive & Entrepreneur” conference beginning September 19th.

BlogWorld is the first and only industry-wide tradeshow, conference, and media event dedicated to promoting the dynamic industry of blogging and new media.

In addition to being the only industry-wide exhibition, BlogWorld features the largest blogging conference in the world including more than 50 seminars, panel discussions and keynotes from leaders in online technology and internet-savvy business.

On the basis of the inaugural event last year, I can say confidently that anyone who wants to know where blogging, podcasting, video blogging, social media generally are heading and how they can ride the wave will find BlogWorld the place to be in September.

Right now, there are just two days to go to catch the early bird rate – i.e. it closes June 20 (US time). Not just a modest discount, but up to 50% of the full cost.

Did I mention the parties?

Hope to see you there.

(Update: about hotel reservations through the BlogWorld Expo people, I’ve just been told by someone who has done some comparisons that the deals being offered are excellent.)

Filed Under: Blogging, Resources Tagged With: Blogging, blogs, blogworld, blogworldexpo, early bird, Las Vegas, Mark Cuban, Rich Brooks

Can You Help with Shel’s SAP Global Survey on Social Media?

January 2, 2008 By Des Walsh

Social media expert, author, speaker and consultant Shel Israel has invited suggestions for names of people he might want to interview for the global survey of social media, which he is conducting as a project sponsored by SAP. You can nominate someone you think would be suitable, including yourself.

As he says in his post Explaining the SAP Global Survey, Shel has been contracted by SAP to investigate the impact of social media on business and culture around the world. He is doing this basically through email interviews: he sends questions and then posts the answers on his blog.

So far he has interviewed 51 people and the results make absorbing reading for anyone interested in social media in a global context.

The survey has a business focus, but Shel and SAP see that as extending into “youth, education, government, non-profit, citizen journalism and most anywhere that social media is causing change”.

At BlogWorld Expo I had the good fortune to sit in on a session with Shel and Mike Prosceno from SAP. Shel talked about the survey. He also shared lessons he had learned so far from the survey. From my handwritten notes these were:

Lesson 1 – I am not in control. They are. It’s better that way – trust your audience.

- in every company surveyed, people under the age of 30 and above the age of 10 are driving social media

Lesson 2 – It’s kids’ stuff. That’s the compelling reason to adopt it.

Lesson 3 – Social networks is the killer app. Everywhere.

- we like to tell each other stories: social networks allow us to share things with people who don’t live next door to us

Lesson 4 – Measurement is not yet adequate. But progress is being made.

- we’re not quite sure what to measure: no one so far has been able to measure the avenues of influence

Lesson 5 – The Long Trail of geek-to-enterprise is getting shorter.

- kids may overtake the geeks anyhow

Lesson 6 – The world is not yet flat, but it’s getting hillier. Closing chasms.

Lesson 7 – Culture matters with countries and companies