Are we ready for Blogcon?

January 2, 2002 7:10 PM

Are we ready for Blogcon?

From the FAQ: "What is BlogCon?
It's not really a Conference, it's not really a Convention. It's more of a gathering, a meet and greet fest for bloggers. We may have panels or workshops, but nothing formal, perhaps a roundtable discussions (especially if we are gathered around a table in a bar or restaurant), but no vendors or booths... "

It's scheduled for August 23-25, 2002 and in Las Vegas.
Thoughts?
posted by Hackworth to General Weblog-Related at 7:10 PM (19 comments total)

Thoughts? A stupid location: soulless place for soulful institution.
posted by ParisParamus at 9:23 PM on January 2, 2002

a soulless city? yep! that would explain why defcon has worked there perfectly for the past nine [going on ten] years now. even if it did get kicked out of every hotel it was in the first five years. actually, i love the city because of the pure schmaltz one puts up with while there and i plan on attending both defcon and blogcon [which are less than a month apart].
posted by boogah at 12:29 AM on January 3, 2002

It's still 8.5 months away, and we're still in the planning stages. So if you have good ideas, or good snarky comments, let 'er rip.
posted by y6y6y6 at 8:47 AM on January 3, 2002

Las Vegas does have the advantage of being a somewhat cheaper flight than many other destintations, since the city wants your money. Although that effect seems to have waned a little in the past few years...
posted by kindall at 11:29 AM on January 3, 2002

It's more of a gathering, a meet and greet fest for bloggers.

I thought that's what SXSW was for....
posted by rebeccablood at 12:01 PM on January 3, 2002

I've always got the vibe from SXSW that it attracted one particular type of blogger, versus the rest of us...
posted by owillis at 12:19 PM on January 3, 2002

what kind?

it's where I met most of the webloggers I've met. in 2000 it was an inexpensive conference and a bunch of of people decided to go and meet each other. last year there were a whole bunch more. theBrad organized a dinner where we all met for the first time. there were at least 50 people there, maybe more. I was happy to meet them all.

it attracts the kind of webloggers who decide to attend, which in the past has been a real mix.
posted by rebeccablood at 12:25 PM on January 3, 2002

Possibly so, Rebecca. It just seemed a bit a-list centric from here, but maybe its just me.
posted by owillis at 1:01 PM on January 3, 2002

well, the blogger kids attended that first year and that *is* where everyone who dates the blogger kids met them, and those two groups comprise the a-list, no? , so that's probably where you got that impression.

but it really is a mixed bag. and a pretty good conference.

another way of looking at it is that if you read any non-a-list weblogs, you might have the impression that it sxsw was attended mostly by obscure webloggers. :) which it was last year (and the year before, for that matter.)

of course, there is no a-list.
posted by rebeccablood at 1:16 PM on January 3, 2002

As a non-A-lister (um, whatever that means) who went to SXSW last year, I can confirm that there was a wide array of bloggers there, and everyone from the little known writers to Bloggin' Superstars such as Rebecca were nothing but friendly and fun.
posted by jess at 1:17 PM on January 3, 2002

no one is a superstar until your grandmother has heard of them.
posted by rebeccablood at 1:19 PM on January 3, 2002

I've never been to SXSW, so I may be talking out of my bottom here. Please let me know if that's the case. I meant to go the last two years, but balked at the last minute largely due to the corporate feel of the thing. I hope to attend both events this year.

And it is getting a bit pricey. I suspect it will get more so as the years go on. The organizers seem to be about making money. I have no doubt it's a great event. But since a large portion of the BlogCon budget will be coming out of my pocket, I think of it as more like a labor of love.

And the focus of the SXSW event is certainly not weblogging. It's not a meet and greet event, even if it is being used that way by some people. BlogCon *is* a meet and greet event. We're trying to make it as easy, cheap, and accessible as we can.

I don't know or care about any A-list. Our event has nothing to do with lists.
posted by y6y6y6 at 1:30 PM on January 3, 2002

My grandmother knows me.
posted by holloway at 1:59 PM on January 3, 2002

it's cliche, but:

"in the future, everyone will be famous to fifteen people."
posted by boogah at 2:09 PM on January 3, 2002

Jon, I think you've got SXSW all wrong. I've been to the big corporate Miller-Freeman web conferences and *those* sound like what you're talking about, but SXSW is not that way at all. I wouldn't go to Web99 again, other than for the socializing that would go on even if we were all there for the Future Farmers of America convention, but I'd go to SXSW again, no question. It's a hell of a lot less expensive than the other big web conferences too---I bought my SXSW (2000) pass at the very last second, to do that for Web99 would have meant selling my firstborn and then also my car.

This isn't meant to be an advert for SXSW, just to say that it's nowhere near as packaged & stuffy as most conferences seem to be.
posted by Sapphireblue at 2:48 PM on January 3, 2002

Somebody drop me a line when the next one is held in Seoul, mmkay?
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:23 PM on January 3, 2002

I personally have nothing against SXSW, I would go if it were within my means.

The origins of this BlogCon were a couple of people in a chat room a couple of weeks ago, saying, hey, maybe we should all get together... it's gotten rather a bit more attention than any of us expected, but we're trying to keep it low key & informal, and cheap.
posted by kd at 8:58 PM on January 3, 2002

I think the idea of co-opting a random convention like future farmers is great, and if someone organizes such a thing, i'm in!

but other than that kind of subversion... conventions? conferences? seriously? you kids are nerds!

You all go to conventions? I don't go to conventions. I hope you all have a nice time though.
posted by palegirl at 1:21 AM on January 4, 2002

Michelle - I'm sure you're right. Hopefully I'll check it out this year.

I guess my main point is that most of the webloggers I know wouldn't even consider going to SXSW because it's not something they'd be interested in. Housewives? Security guards? Lawyers? Store clerks? I think it's just not an event geared towards non-media folks.

And more and more web logs are being done by people who know nothing about HTML or Photoshop, and have never heard of Weinman and Nielsen. We're keeping the focus of the event on making it easy for people to finally get together. Meet and greet, not learn and network.

I didn't mean to bag on SXSW, just point out how BlogCon is different.
posted by y6y6y6 at 6:03 AM on January 4, 2002