Blogher Brain Dump

I just returned from Blogher and I had a wonderful time.  Though one of only a handful of men, I was made to feel welcome, and learned far more than I’d hoped.  I made dozens of new friends and connected in person with some old ones.  I’ll expand my thoughts more later, but here are a few of my random notes, ideas and to-do’s, in no particular order (I’ll come back and add links later):

• Music videos playing on a big screen before conference started — great idea!
• All name tags had blog address, not hometown or company name.
• The biggest problem with “technology” conferences?  Too much technology.  At some round tables every attendee had laptops on while they furiously blogged the event.  This seriously hampered the opportunity for face-to-face interaction.  I’d wager some people sat across from someone they’d love to meet, but never introduced themselves because they were too busy using their computers.  If the best part of conferences is personal interaction, why even allow laptops? They are a barrier to communication — it is almost as if everyone was in their own personal cubicle.  Do laptops promote the “cubiclization” of conferences?  If everyone is going to be blogging the event the whole time they are there, why not just do a “virtual” conference instead.  (NOTE: There were plenty of opportunities for talk at Blogher, so this is more of a general impression about use of computers during conferences then a specific criticism of the Blogher.)
• Every table had powerstrips under it!
• Apple laptops were used by at least half of the attendees.  Though I went totally analog (Moleskine and pen) and didn’t use my tablet, I don’t think I saw more then two other Tablet PC’s the rest of the event.
• Is blogging a crutch?  Is it a valid substitute for face-to-face conversation?  I think blogging should be used as an introduction to people you want to meet in person, because no matter how cool someone is on her blog, she is much more interesting in person.
• They took away a men’s restroom and gave it to the women.  Touche!
• Some interesting phrases overheard:
• “Tina Turner the microphone,” which means put it closer to your mouth so your voice is amplified.
• Yoga “really zenned her out.” 
• “There was a circus going on in his brain.”
• “Xanga drama.”
• Speakers, don’t depend upon wi-fi for showing web pages during presentations.  Download the pages and be prepared to show a static screen shot.  Sure beats the blank screen.  This is the third conference in a row where I’ve seen this happen.  This tip needs to be in the speaker guidelines for every conference.
• Adancedtools.blogspot.com has tips and tricks from a great presentation.
• Do men comment on blogs differently than women do?  I’d love to see a study that strips (or changes) gender identity from negative blog comments and see if the comment is perceived differently if it came from a woman vs. a man.
• We need software to mash up API’s from different services.  I want to combine maps with flickr with google with delicious with technorati with ta-da lists with whatever else cool comes out tomorrow — and I want it to be as easy as posting to my blog.
• Women are often described with codewords like “emotional”  and “sassy” that never are used to describe men.
• While anger can be used as a tool, sometimes the person who’s angry is a tool.
• When more people use RSS to get their blog content, does that marginalize the importance of blog design and use of comments?  Put another way, if more and more readers only see your blog via RSS, but don’t visit individual posts to read the continuing dialog in your comments, will the two-way conversational nature of blogs begin to matter less?
• Myth:  If a book has pink on the cover (or stripes or shoes) and is classified as “chicklit” it is not the same quality as a book with an airplane or other weapon on the cover.
• I think I heard this stat:  90% of bloggers are between the ages of 9 and 29.  If so, this will have a tremendous impact on how Generation Y judges the quality and credibility of the people and products they will buy.  Lawyers, if you think blogging today is important, think about not having a blog when a huge percentage of your potential customers will use it as a measuring stick of your “with-it-ness”.  Just as lawyers felt they had to be included in Martindale Hubbel to be credible 10 years ago, they’ll need to have blogs to be credible 10 years from today.
• Another teen stat:  9 out of 10 teens are online, with 50% online every day.
• For teen “identity bloggers” (another great term used to describe bloggers who write about their daily experiences), what impact will living their life online have upon them when they reach adulthood?  Is identity blogging like getting a tattoo?  Easy to impulsively justify today, but hard to reverse tomorrow?
• Is reading teen identity blogs engaging in Real Time Anthropology?  What should parents and teachers do if they know their children or students blog?  Is there an obligation (analogous to mandatory reporting of child abuse) to read these blogs and intervene if child/teen blogs about dangerous behavior.  Does every teacher need to subscribe to their students’ RSS feed? 
• Taking the Real Time Anthropology in a different direction:  what are businesses doing to capitalize upon this tremendous insight into the minds of their current and future customers?
• Someone introduced a speaker as someone who “blogs for a non-profit.”  I’d argue we all blog for non-profits.  ;-)
• Interesting question from another (female) attendee:  Does credibility equate with appearance for women more/less than it does for men?  I think that blogs can replace that first impression with a virtual one.  If you know someone’s blog and read it, you are likely to have already formed a first impression of them. Their appearance matters less when you later see them in person.
• Another great line:  She looks like her blog.
• There is a market for RSSperts out there.  Heard RSS described as “TiVo for the web.”
• From an unremembered study cited by a panelist:  We trust marketing message more if we have control over the method by which that message is delivered. 
• I want to be able to add a feed to my aggregator from a link in a post that I’m viewing in my aggregator.  For example, if I read a post that links to a great blog, I want to be able to add the new blog to my aggregator without having to visit it –– particularly handy if I’m reading off line.
• In a legal software package, each case needs an RSS feed.  Lawyers and clients will then be automatically updated when something happens in their case(s).
• I also want an RSS feed for stale to-do items so they get delivered to me as reminders.  Alternatively, I want to be able to “snooze” a feed in my aggregator so it comes back to me in a defined amount of time.

Amazing stuff.  I have so much more swimming in my head, but wanted to dump this on you for now.  Check back later today for a cool announcement.

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