Stowe, Suw, and I are getting nito high gear as we start to work through the content development and marketing of the TrueVoice Seminar Series we’re set to kick off next month.

We’ve decided on an interesting format by which we work around the 20 Burning Questions that everyone jumping into blogging needs answered. Stowe’s got the lengthy write up so I’ll quote him here:

I
had a few conversations last week with very interesting folks about the
upcoming True Voice (The Business of Blogging) seminars. That, along
with a low-grade flu and lack of sleep, led to a couple of really cool
ideas that go a long way toward making becoming involved much more than
a one-time day-long event.

First off, while Suw Charman (of Strange Attractor and Chocolate and Vodka), Greg Narain (of Get Real and Social Twister),
and I have a lot of experience and interesting notions about the
business of blogging, we are part of a much larger network of smart
people, who have a myriad of views on the subject. [I was struck by the
“Why Do I Blog” meme last week, thanks to Frank Paynter,
which led to this idea.] So I am going to ask a few dozen colleagues to
get involved in a short project over the next few weeks: 20 Questions
related to the Business of Blogging. I invite anyone who would like to
offer a question to do — but no answers yet. I will be launching a new
blog with the 20 questions later this week, and then will be soliciting
answers from our extended network of talented bloggers.

The second thing that we are doing with the seminars is
community-oriented: as soon as you register you will become part of a
community of other attendees. We will be outfitting every registrant
with access to the ongoing discussion about the seminar content, as
well as access to the 20 questions project. This membership will extend
through the end of 2005. We intend to collate the outcome of the 20
Questions project into some book-like form, and distribute to
attendees, as well.

The third thing we are doing with the seminars is really different.
We know that a lot of the people who are thinking about business
blogging are looking to get more than a powerpoint deck and a few hours
of hand-waving. In particular,

• we believe that companies
  are likely to send a representative or two to the seminar in order to
  get a plan of action in place for internal or external blogging.
• Groups or organizations may come to the seminar to learn how
  blogging can support their social activism or non-profit activities.
• Individuals may be coming to learn how to gain influence, or
  build a larger readership, or drive ad sales, and thereby create a
  sustainable business as a consultant, writer, or analyst.

One of the key elements of True Voice is an on-going six week virtual
workshop, after each seminar, where the True Voice team will work with
seminar attendees on their blogging plans and content. We will be
providing a free blog account for those without (courtesy of Silkroad)
for three months following the seminar. But perhaps most interesting:
we will review the results of all seminar attendees’ workshop
participation — whether corporate, group, or individual — and at the
end of six weeks we are planning to select one of the attendees for
some higher level of support:

1. If we select a worthy corporate attendee, we will provide a
   no-charge day of advisory services to help them create an action plan
   for rolling forward with what has thus far been prototyped in the six
   weeks of virtual workshop.
2. If we select a non-commercial group or organization, we will
   work with them as the producer of their blog: we will host it, perhaps
   help them find sponsors, and promote it through the Corante blog
   network.

3. Lastly, if we select an individual blogger, we will offer the
   opportunity to become a Corante Contributor, either in a wholly new
   blog (such as our new city blog series), or as a contributor to an existing Corante blog.

Our interest isn’t to just have a seminar, but to structure meetings
that matter; to create a context around those meetings that is highly
engaging and enduring. While we are charging $295 for the seminar, its
really much, much more than a few hours of involvement. It includes a
six week virtual workshop, and the opportunity to be selected out of
the 30 or so attendees to have an even deeper and more strategic
interaction with the True Voice team.

In a spirit of disclosure, let me say that, yes, Corante is
constantly on the search for new talent, interesting projects, and
corporations looking for advice. This is not all altruistic. But at the
same time we want to help those just starting out or trying to get more
serious and structured in blogging.

Please contact me with any questions, either of the 20 Questions variety or for clarification.

Source: GetReal, “True Voice Seminars: Three Reasons You Should Get InvolvedEmail This Entry”

This is sort of a first for me, but what the heck it’s pretty interesting. I was recently trackbacked on a post written on the Read/Write Web Links Archive. What’s ironic is that the author alludes to some comments I made regarding the Marquis “scandal”, if you will. What’s funny, to me, is that I completely forgot I had written on this issue previously - only to be reminded with my own words by someone else.

So here’s an excerpt from the original SocialTwister post, “Blog Advertising Dilemma”, dated April 27, 2004:

As I mentioned yesterday, time is money. Anyone who’s tried to balance running their own business, comforting clients, and spending quality time with their families and friends can certainly attest to the need for the 25-hour day. That being said, earning income from the things you love is, as best I can tell, the preferred way to spend one’s time. For most bloggers, the upkeep and maintenance of a blog is largely a labor of love. Unfortunately, the blogging world has not evolved to the point that it, in general, can provide enough income to support anyone except a college student on a full-ride.

So therein lays the rub. To move focus to one task over another requires a compromise of some sort. For most, blogging has ulterior motives as well. Some blog for fame, others blog for reputation, and some even blog for research. The “things” - and by things I mean those intangibles - provide a soft value to the author. For many, this soft value can be converted to hard currency. Many a blogger has received work or other forms of engagement as a result of being spotted in the blogosphere. Today, however, that audience still remains small.

[…]

To conclude, I don’t think the issue is ever really about the author selling out, as realistically business is business and expenses need to be managed. The tricker, finer detail is actually related to how the author implements that compromise and how effectively they manage user perception and impact.

Source: SocialTwister.com, “Blog Advertising Dilemma”

I don’t know that my opinions on the matter have really changed much. The Marquis approach is certainly unique at this point in time. The problem, however, is it does set a precedent that may be quite difficult to untangle. The current crop of supporters seems fair and balanced, but that’s certainly not a guarantee for future participants, nor is the overriding principles and derived legal documents.

Magazine > The Hidden (in Plain Sight) Persuaders” href=”http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/05/magazine/05BUZZ.html?ex=1259989200&en=db87e6e46659a643&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt”>The New York Times > Magazine > The Hidden (in Plain Sight) Persuaders

Marketers bicker among themselves about how these approaches differ, but to those of us on the receiving end, the distinctions might seem a little academic. They are all attempts, in one way or another, to break the fourth wall that used to separate the theater of commerce, persuasion and salesmanship from our actual day-to-day life. To take what may be the most infamous example, Sony Ericsson in 2002 hired 60 actors in 10 cities to accost strangers and ask them: Would you mind taking my picture? Those who obliged were handed, of course, a Sony Ericsson camera-phone to take the shot, at which point the actor would remark on what a cool gadget it was. And thus an act of civility was converted into a branding event.

This idea — the commercialization of chitchat — resembles a scenario from a paranoid science-fiction novel about a future in which corporations have become so powerful that they can bribe whole armies of flunkies to infiltrate the family barbecue. That level of corporate influence sounds sure to spark outrage — another episode in the long history of mainstream distrust of commercial coercion and marketing trickery. Fear of unchecked corporate reach is what made people believe in the power of subliminal advertising and turn Vance Packard’s book ‘’The Hidden Persuaders'’ into a best seller in the 1950’s; it is what gave birth to the consumer-rights movement of the 1970’s; and it is what alarms people about neuroscientists supposedly locating the ‘’buy button'’ in our brains today. Quite naturally, many of us are wary of being manipulated by a big, scary, Orwellian ‘’them.’

I received an interesting e-mail from Jeremy C. Wright this weekend describing a new auction he was running on EBay. I’ve seen posts from Jeremy over at Peter Caputa’s blog quite often so I welcomed the message.

Apparently, Jeremy has been very busy figuring out how to leverage blogging into the business world. Several months ago I heard that he had entered negotiations to sell his blog to an unnamed (at least not one I can remember now) party. He’s back at it again.

This time, Jeremy is amongst the first bloggers I’ve heard of to offer his services via EBay. As the auction describes:

This auction allows you to utilize this blogger for 3 months. He will produce between 5-10 posts a week. In addition, the blogger will work with you to see what potential there is for blogging for you and your company - in effect acting as a blogging consultant for you for the period.

If it is a fit, the blogger is happy to negotiate a deal to make the position a more permanent contract position for a reasonable fee.

Note: I have explained my reasons for doing this more fully at my blog. Who is this blogger?

Hire a succesful blogger to help your company’s blogging dreams become a reality.

Source: EBay.com, “Blogger for Hire - Start or Improve Your Blog”

So far, it seems to be working fairly well. The bidding is up to $1000 and utilizing some nice little payment features from PayPal, those payments can be spread across time even. Can this be a trend? Smart marketers will be wary of ending budgets and this is a great time to cash in on that opportunity.

There’s another victim to the corporate blog grinder. This time, it’s an attractive young lady that formerly was working as a flight attendant for Delta. Ellen Simonetti, also known as the Queen of Sky, was let go a few days ago for posting some questionably racy photos to her “Diary of a Fired Flight Attendant” blog.

It should be noted that she made her best effort to hide the name of the company she worked for, using an alias instead. Here’s some coverage on the matter:

But it is Simonetti’s very 21st-century activities that she says prompted Delta management to ground her, suspending her from flying in September and then firing her a month later.

Simonetti has operated a Web log since January, calling it Diary of a Flight Attendant, and said she did not hear from Delta about the site until after she posted a set of provocative photos of herself in her Delta uniform.

In one photograph, her skirt is hiked to mid-thigh as she perches along a seatback on an empty airliner. In another, she is leaning over the seats, her blouse unbuttoned, exposing part of her bra. Simonetti said she posted those photographs because she thought they made her look pretty.

Source: News.com, “Blog backfires for flight attendant”

Though this is probably more of a case for consideration than say reporting on Macs being delivered to Microsoft, but still it’s an important issue for lots of you people that work for other (I’m still immune from what I understand).

CNN has a quick little diddy on the blog coverage of the past election. There’s a great deal of acknowledgment present, but wraps up with an important warning, check your facts dammit:

Mindy McAdams, a University of Florida journalism professor, applauded bloggers’ efforts but urged them to adhere to ethical standards held by mainstream journalists.

“Our credibility is suffering with so many people rushing to publish things without checking them out,” McAdams said after Cox’s speech. “Blogging is really great. I like that more and more people have a voice. That’s good … But it doesn’t give people who call themselves journalists an excuse to not check out the information.”

Source: CNN.com. “Conference on blogs’ news impact”

I’ve touched on this briefly before, specifically after making my own gaffe. I’m curious now, however, as to how you go about checking your facts. What level of disclosure seems appropriate for different forms information. Do youquote, attribute, etc.

Stowe, Suw, and I have been quietly working on a seminar series that delves into the Business of Blogging (you know, getting paid for blogging). We originally were using the “Will Blog For Food” name, but that’s kind of become the internal code name more so than the public persona.

In any event, we’re finally off to a start and letting people know. Stowe’s got the write up:

I’m happy to pull the wraps off Corante’s upcoming True Voice: The Business of Blogging seminar series (see our press release for more details). True Voice is lined up for at least five cities already, starting with New York on 26 January 2005. Later on, we will be in San Francisco, Boston, London, and Los Angeles.

I will be working with Greg Narain and Suw Charman on the seminar content, and our friends at Business Development Institute have partnered with us on logisitics and sponsorship. We will have registration information up in the next week; email me (stowe AT corante.com) if you would like to be pinged. Also contact me if you would like to learn more about sponsorship opportunities.

I am also excited to announce that Silkroad technology will be our premier sponsor, and we will be launching a True Voice blog later this month using Silkroad blog technology. Stay tuned!

Source: GetReal, “True Voice: The Business of Blogging”

The next president will be elected, or something resembling that, into office in about a week. We’ve seen a tremendous growth in the use of blogging, the “citizens’ media”, by not only those following the news and efforts of the candidates but also from the campaigns themselves.

The Kerry-Edwards team wins hands-down in their use of blogging and technology (at least in my opinion). This could be a simple admittance that their likely voters are usually connected and in touch with their Internet selves. Of course, it could just be plain, old-fashioned common-sense that there’s tons of people that care about things reading blogs and it’s a great medium to take advantage of.

This leads me to ask one thing, “Should we expect a blog.whitehouse.gov?” In many ways, I think of blogging as RSS’s greatest ally. The reality is that, if you wanted to, you could think of blogging as RSS’s preferred presentation format - as opposed to thinking of RSS as an output of the blogging experience.

Now, put that opinion aside. How much more active would you be with your local government if, say, you could get a feed (hopefully distilled by one or more reliable sources, of the daily/weekly/monthly proceedings and open issues relating to certain topics (which you’ve designated). I’ve often felt that civic responsibility is realistically too much responsibility. How a Senator stands to hold an opinion on every subject matter requiring legislation across a state baffles me. I can, however, quite easily see how my role as a parent might influence my interest in child care issues. If more of the people that are changed by legislation take part, we divide the “responsibility” workload and, logically (though that’s not enough of a test) we get better results across the board.

So what’s the solution really? I have no idea. I was thinking that it would be cool to have thousands of streams flowing from the government. These need not be confidential in any manner, but open enough that I can get a grasp on the new information as it is made available. If it’s hard for a Senator that endures it “daily” how much harder is it for us to get it in huge globs?

Food for thought.

I saw today that Blog In Black mentioned the re-launch of maxbloggers.com. I wish I was going to MAX this year, but it’s just not workable.

What I am curious about, though, is what we really are looking for when it comes to conference blogging. From what I have deciphered, conferences and events of that nature, boil down to a few key elements:

• Scheduling - Quick and easy access to scheduling information for sessions, workshops, and the ever-important parties

• Content - Centralized place for finding notes from the sessions, presentation files, and other related items

• Community - Everything from perspectives on the sessions to methods for keeping in touch with people we’ve met

The question is what format makes this the most usable. Some things I see there being a need for calendar-formatted things, say vCal. For contacts, something like vCard seems natural. Blogs, wikis and web sites seem to be ideal candidates.

As you prepare for your next event, what’s your checklist look like? How do you process things once you’ve come back?

That’s the sentiment expressed in a new News.com article concerning the political bloggers, conspiracy theories, and their role in the upcoming election. As they note:

As Bush and the Massachusetts senator slug it out in a neck-and-neck race ahead of the Nov. 2 election, partisan bloggers have flooded the Internet with alternative views about both candidates, which they hope will help sway voters.

Media watchers say much of the gossip on the Internet is as loony as supermarket tabloid stories claiming Elvis Presley lives, but that it still has a role to play in the campaign.

“Blogs probably pretty accurately reflect the level of polarization and paranoia and frustration among everyday Americans that the entire campaign reflects,” said Vanity Fair media critic Michael Wolff, characterizing the new form of overtly biased journalism as “the voice of the mob.”

Source: News.com, “Presidential race sets blogs ablaze”

Amazing how much it’s changed in a couple years. Apparently, our growing “distrust of the mainstream media” is driving it, but I wonder if that’s all it’s about. Seems people always have something to say and blogging has given them a soapbox large enough to see over the walls.