Archive: Posts about Blogging Conference
February 12th, 2008, 2 Comments »
Once again, Northern Voice is sold out. I always find it a little remarkable when that happens, as we have a marketing budget of precisely zero dollars and zero cents. Plus, all of us organizers are busy people. We barely have enough time to organize the conference essentials, let alone promote it.
In any case, we’re four for four for sell outs.
In related news, check out the cool poster than artist Basco5 did for the conference this year:
You may recall that he did something last year as well.
2 Comments »
February 5th, 2008, 3 Comments »
Just a quick note to say that we’re down to about 45 spots left for Northern Voice, and they’re going fast. The event will definitely sell out. So if you haven’t registered yet, you should go ahead and do so.
3 Comments »
January 25th, 2008, 1 Comment »
As we’re in Morocco, Julie and I are taking a back seat on organization for Northern Voice this year. I’m helping out where I can remotely, and one of the things I’m doing is organizing a new feature of the conference for 2008. This time around we’re adding a little tech non-profits expo
The plan is to provide about a half-dozen tables on the Saturday where tech-oriented organizations can set up a booth and talk to attendees. We’d ask organizations to agree to run their booths from 9:30am to 1:30pm, though they’re welcome to stay longer.
We’re specifically looking for technology-oriented non-profits. Good examples would be NetSquared, FreeTheNet.ca, Free Geek Vancouver and Web of Change.
It will be free for the organizations, and they’ll get a chance to engage with 300-350 social media and blogging types.
I’ve sent out some invitations, and we’ve already got a couple of organizations signed up, but I wanted to put the call out for other suggestions. Do you know an organization that fits the bill?
1 Comment »
December 19th, 2007, No Comments »
Registration for the fourth annual Loose Moose festival of social media fun is now open. Travis provides some pricing details:
You can attend one day for $40, or come to both days for only $60. That’s an amazing deal: it’s just the price of a single cup of coffee that also costs $60!
I’m really proud of the fact that we’ve been able to keep the conference ridiculously cheap. Four years ago, the one-day conference cost $20 in advance or $30 at the door.
There’s some exciting new stuff planned for this year. I’ll let the other–far more active–organizers announce all of that, and then I’ll post about it here.
I’m also pleased not to be the guy wrangling the registration process this year. Three years of that was enough.
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December 6th, 2007, No Comments »
Just a quick note to remind all potential speakers that the deadline for submitting is Monday, December 10. Be sure to submit before it’s too late. Fellow organizer Brian Lamb has some very sound suggestions for speaker submissions:
One, it is highly likely we will group people into what we hope will be complementary themes, so don’t feel like your idea has to carry 50 minutes. Two, be concise, but don’t be sloppy — there are a couple people on our committee (I might be one of them) who dislike proposals that read like they were dashed off while the coffee maker was warming up. And third, keep in mind that everyone at this event will be bloggy and be interested in social media, so this is the perfect opportunity to pitch that little crazy nugget of an idea that you never dared propose elsewhere. Original ideas stand out. Finally, keep in mind that though we get plenty of hard-core geeks, one of the things we treasure about Northern Voice is that it is a friendly place for a sizable contingent of newcomers to learn — in fact, we hope to schedule a full track of “101″ and “FAQ” sessions on the basic and fundamental concepts of blogging and the attendant forms (feel free to offer to facillitate one of those).
I’m not sure if I get a vote this year, being in Malta and all, but I’m another of those people with no patience for sloppy abstracts. We’ve received a few “I’m so-and-so, and I’ll think of something to speak about later” submissions, implying that the submitter to so important and/or known to us that he (it’s always been men) doesn’t need to bother with the process. Those guys never get to speak.
No Comments »
November 11th, 2007, 5 Comments »
I’m pleased to join in on the usual round of announcing Northern Voice 2008 (see also the event in Facebook). Huzzah! The format–Friday for Moose Camp, Saturday for more formal conference–and location–UBC Forestry Building–will be the same as last year, more or less. Here are the important dates:
- The conference is Friday, February 22 and Saturday, February 23.
- There’s talk of a party or some kind of social event (though not a dinner) on Thursday, February 21.
- Speaker submissions close on December 10. Speaker selection will be announced before Christmas.
Registration isn’t open yet, but it will be soon. I’ll post a note when you can officially register. We’re also seeking sponsors as per previous years–contact the organizing committee if you’re interested.
Seeing as I’m on the wrong continent, I’m just participating in an advisory capacity, and virtually helping out where I can.
5 Comments »
February 27th, 2007, 33 Comments »
I’ve been down for the count since Saturday night. That night I slept thirteen hours, and had a feverish dream in which I was a wiki and anyone could edit me. More of a nightmare, really.
I’m on the road to recovery, but things will be very slow around here for another day or so.
Oh, and what the heck? I’m out of action for a couple of days and the Canucks go and re-acquire Brent Sopel? Smolinski’s a good pickup, though.
UPDATE: In case you’re keeping track at home, I understand that the following Northern Voice attendees have fallen ill (thanks to Airdrie for a partial list, and apologies for the lack of links, I’m sick): me, Travis, Susie, Maryam, Kerry Anne, Robert Scales, Warwick, Erika, Patricia, Roland and Boris.
Let’s find patient zero and beat them senseless with our kleenex balls. Maffin was coughing up a storm next to me in one seminar–I’m blaming him.
UPDATE: #2: Add to that list Tim, Lauren, Brad, Jason, Brian, Keira, D’Arcy, Robin and Arjun. That’s 20 freakin’ people from one conference. That’s it, NV 2008 will only occur in Second Life. That’s assuming, you know, we can avoid the flying phalli and grey goo.
33 Comments »
February 13th, 2007, No Comments »
If you want to come, quick your dilly dallying and register. This year’s bigger than ever, with 300 people and events on three days.
Also, if you’re feeling charitable, feel free to contribute to the burgeoning Northern Voice Wikipedia entry. I can’t do more than make corrections because I’m associated with the conference, but you can go to town.
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February 12th, 2007, 3 Comments »
My friend, client and former boss Joe Drumgoole is helping to organize BarCamp Ireland 3.0 (and here’s the blog). We’ve signed on to sponsor the event, and we’re planning on making it to Europe in time to attend and participate.
Joe asked for some advice, and I posted my response over on Capulet’s blog. Here’s part of it:
Let people vote on the t-shirt colour. It sounds trivial, but people care more than you think. If you run a survey where people can vote, you can blame the wisdom of crowds when people complain about the <pink, brown, tie-dyed>
shirt.
There are eleven random pieces of advice, should you be planning an unconference in the near future.
3 Comments »
February 9th, 2007, 1 Comment »
Just a quick note to point out that we’re approaching sold out for Northern Voice. From my post over on the NV site:
Tonight we crossed the 250 registered attendee threshold. That’s more or less where we were at for the 2005 and 2006 conferences. This year, because we’re out at UBC, we can accommodate another 50 people. Register soon, though, as it looks like we’re going to sell out all 300 spots.
Five more people registered today. It looks like we’ll sell out, so act now, avoid disappointment, and so forth.
1 Comment »
