May 30, 10:04:22 PDT> Alex: ok, looks like we're still intact

May 30, 10:04:22 PDT> GregoryHeller: i hear that blogging to help your movement is starting soon?

May 30, 10:04:47 PDT> Alex: anyone who refreshes will see we have an additioanl session planned for 2pm today

May 30, 10:05:02 PDT> Alex: with Eric Leland, talking about how NetSquared fits into the bigger picture of CompuMentor's "building the commons" efforts

May 30, 10:05:02 PDT> Sarah Pullman: Blogging to support your event, more specifically, though I'm happy to see the conversation broaden if that's helpful

May 30, 10:05:16 PDT> Alex: But for now, let me welcome Sarah!

May 30, 10:05:23 PDT> Sarah Pullman: Hi!

May 30, 10:05:43 PDT> Alex: Sarah has been runnning several community and event blogs

May 30, 10:05:52 PDT> Alex: that have done wonders for their respective np organizations

May 30, 10:05:53 PDT> GregoryHeller: we (defectivebydesign.org) are hoping that blogging will support our event on the 10th, well coordinated events in 6 cities

May 30, 10:05:58 PDT> Tuesday Gutz: Hi Sarah

May 30, 10:06:08 PDT> Sarah Pullman: Hi everyone

May 30, 10:06:10 PDT> GregoryHeller: and she has been teaching yoga to geeks!

May 30, 10:06:11 PDT> Alex: and is here to facilitate a conversation about event blogging

May 30, 10:06:15 PDT> Alex: and other np blogging apps

May 30, 10:06:15 PDT> GregoryHeller: but desmogblog rocks!

May 30, 10:06:18 PDT> GregoryHeller: i love it

May 30, 10:06:33 PDT> Sarah Pullman: Gregory, sounds like we could use your thoughts on what you've done with your new site re: events

May 30, 10:06:56 PDT> Sarah Pullman: I coordinate a conference called Web of Change (http://webofchange.com)

May 30, 10:07:01 PDT> Sarah Pullman: and we're blogging on that site

May 30, 10:07:18 PDT> Sarah Pullman: of course, NetSquared itself is a pretty prime example of having used blogging to support their event

May 30, 10:07:25 PDT> GregoryHeller: we also have the web of blogs

May 30, 10:07:38 PDT> GregoryHeller: so is there talking going on too?

May 30, 10:07:59 PDT> Tuesday Gutz: is there a membership for that?

May 30, 10:08:21 PDT> Sarah Pullman: And I worked a few months ago on an event called the 30 Days of Sustainability (http://30daysofsustainability.com) which used blogging (though to be honest, I think we could have done more with that one)

May 30, 10:08:34 PDT> Sarah Pullman: Tuesday Gutz - a membership for what?

May 30, 10:08:56 PDT> Tuesday Gutz: oh sorry i thought this web of change works like netsquared.org

May 30, 10:09:13 PDT> Sarah Pullman: oh, you mean can anyone sign up and blog? no, it's not set up like that.

May 30, 10:09:19 PDT> Tuesday Gutz: ok

May 30, 10:09:50 PDT> Sarah Pullman: we're looking at the possibility of broadening things... like aggregating blog posts from our alumni, or registrants, and including those in our site

May 30, 10:10:46 PDT> Sarah Pullman: That raises some interesting questions, actually, about how wide to throw your blog net, if you will.

May 30, 10:11:40 PDT> Sarah Pullman: I think part of the beauty of a blog is that it's less formal, more personal, more conversational.

May 30, 10:12:03 PDT> Tuesday Gutz: yes!

May 30, 10:12:20 PDT> Tuesday Gutz: and it gives people (experts or newbies) a chance to share their thoughts

May 30, 10:12:34 PDT> Sarah Pullman: But I actually believe that (especially with events and causes) that a blog is best used as a supporting tool

May 30, 10:13:05 PDT> Sarah Pullman: I think that it's often pretty important to have solid static content – a well though-out About page, and other supporting information.

May 30, 10:13:36 PDT> Tuesday Gutz: but now blogging is actually taking over mainstream journalism

May 30, 10:13:42 PDT> Sarah Pullman: Then your blog can be your personal voice about the event, but people who come to your site needing information - details - can find it.

May 30, 10:14:00 PDT> moira: so when blogging for an event, does one just post info about it on your site's blog? or are we talking about posting on other's blogs as well?

May 30, 10:14:05 PDT> GregoryHeller: sarah, what if someone blogs negative about your event

May 30, 10:14:05 PDT> Marshall: and for that to be easy to find

May 30, 10:14:12 PDT> GregoryHeller: how would an event organizer handle dissent gracefully

May 30, 10:14:23 PDT> Sarah Pullman: moira - I think you should do both

May 30, 10:14:27 PDT> kk: nods at sarah. and it's also important to support your event by capturing information and conversations that are taking place on other peoples blogs about your event. regardless of whether or not you end up choosing to create a blog for your event

May 30, 10:15:06 PDT> Sarah Pullman: and gregory, if someone is saying negative things about your event, your best bet is to know that it's happening, and be able to respond to it as it happens

May 30, 10:15:31 PDT> Marshall: South by Southwest had a nice event blog http://blog.sxsw.com/

May 30, 10:15:39 PDT> GregoryHeller: i feel like the means for capturing blog streams is still less than perfect. We have been trying to trackl the blogging on our defectivebydesign.org actions, and well... it is hard... technorati, google bllog search ukan's rss feed generator for 22

May 30, 10:15:41 PDT> GregoryHeller: search engines

May 30, 10:15:45 PDT> Sarah Pullman: kk, are you talking about aggregating other blog posts about your event as content on your site?

May 30, 10:15:51 PDT> Alex: Can you tell us a bit about how WoC set up its blog to capture participants' blogs?

May 30, 10:16:22 PDT> Sarah Pullman: At the moment, participants blogs aren't being captured on our main site.

May 30, 10:16:34 PDT> Sarah Pullman: We have an aggregator blog set up at http://webofblogs.org

May 30, 10:16:42 PDT> Alex: right! that's what I was thinking of

May 30, 10:16:45 PDT> GregoryHeller: drupal offers two modules: aggregator and aggregator2

May 30, 10:17:01 PDT> Sarah Pullman: What we did there was to aggregate the rss feeds of anyone who was a participant at last year's event, who is also a blogger.

May 30, 10:17:02 PDT> GregoryHeller: that can be used for aggregating blogs, 2 brings the posts in as first class nodes

May 30, 10:17:03 PDT> kk: potentially. yes, but also monitoring mentions of your event, topics, speakers, urls etc via technologies like pubsub and/or technorati (hi sifry!)

May 30, 10:17:10 PDT> Sarah Pullman: it's set up in WordPress, actually, the WebofBlogs.

May 30, 10:17:38 PDT> kk: creating official event tags for bloggers to use for posts photos etc

May 30, 10:17:42 PDT> GregoryHeller: monitoring can be a full time job, can't it?

May 30, 10:17:45 PDT> Sarah Pullman: right, very important

May 30, 10:17:52 PDT> Sarah Pullman: it seriously can, gregory.

May 30, 10:17:59 PDT> Sarah Pullman: that's an important thing for non-profits to realize, i think

May 30, 10:18:13 PDT> Sarah Pullman: if you build an interactive, dynamic community site, it's not going to run itself.

May 30, 10:18:37 PDT> kk: i think those things are the base level and from there you can choose whether or not to aggregate or republish those things as content on the main event website.

May 30, 10:18:45 PDT> Sarah Pullman: and if your communications person is supposed to add it to their already full workload, that can be challenging.

May 30, 10:18:48 PDT> Alex: so what do you think are the best practices for moderating/administering a community site, Sarah?

May 30, 10:19:24 PDT> Sarah Pullman: It needs regular attention – if not daily then at least every few days.

May 30, 10:20:10 PDT> Sarah Pullman: You want to set up ways to monitor what people are saying about your site and/or event (using Technorati, Pubsub, etc... I'm know Alex has written about those baics on ther site, if not on the NetSquared site?)

May 30, 10:20:27 PDT> Sarah Pullman: Hey seth :)

May 30, 10:20:45 PDT> kk: aggreagating participants RSS feeds without any sorts of filtering can be problematic at times if the content there is not relevant or appropriate to the event.

May 30, 10:20:51 PDT> Sarah Pullman: totally can

May 30, 10:20:57 PDT> kk: which is i guess why i prefer smart monitoring based on url or keyword or tag or whatever

May 30, 10:21:24 PDT> Sarah Pullman: and then choosing the relevant things to use as content on your event site, yes.

May 30, 10:21:26 PDT> Setherplast: Hello. Wow, sorta intimidating to be in a room with this many peeps, it's really hard to read the conversation that's already happened

May 30, 10:21:51 PDT> Alex: We'll be posting full transcripts of each hour ont he site

May 30, 10:22:11 PDT> Setherplast: cool

May 30, 10:22:18 PDT> Sarah Pullman: Yes, it's hard to keep a linear stream of conversation, that's for sure

May 30, 10:22:55 PDT> Sarah Pullman: To return to best practices –

May 30, 10:23:07 PDT> Alex: so are there other folks in teh room who have questions for Sarah

May 30, 10:23:16 PDT> Alex: or for each other

May 30, 10:23:19 PDT> kk: for example, setting up an official tag like woc06 and telling people tag posts photos videos and other pieces of content with the woc06 tag would be a good way to coordinate the efforts of many bloggers participating in your event.

May 30, 10:23:19 PDT> Alex: about blogging -- for events or for other nonprofit purposes?

May 30, 10:23:56 PDT> Sarah Pullman: I think when you're setting up an event blog that might be read by people who are not necessarily "blog-saavy", you need to hold their hands a bit.

May 30, 10:24:20 PDT> Setherplast: I've never done this whole "liveblogging" thing before, and i notice myself having a hard time concentrating on the speakers, the questions (like this long winded one) this chat, and the official hallway chat

May 30, 10:24:30 PDT> SnagglepussJones: Is aggregating better than forcing people to blog on a central event site?

May 30, 10:24:53 PDT> Sarah Pullman: for instance, if you want them to subscribe to your blog, you will probably need to explain how, or why. and probably offer them a way to get posts by email, for the non-RSS friendly crowd.

May 30, 10:25:04 PDT> Sarah Pullman: good question, snagglepussjones...

May 30, 10:25:46 PDT> Sarah Pullman: i think it can be challenging to get busy people to invest enough in your event and your site to want to blog directly on your site.

May 30, 10:25:57 PDT> Sarah Pullman: especially if they are already "over-committed" in their online lives.

May 30, 10:26:28 PDT> marnie: How about ways nonprofits can use the blogoshpere (to use a phrase) that doesn't necessarily include starting a blog?

May 30, 10:26:28 PDT> SnagglepussJones: is this thing on?

May 30, 10:26:34 PDT> marnie: How can an organization make themselves bloggable?

May 30, 10:26:47 PDT> Setherplast: Great question, Marnie.

May 30, 10:26:55 PDT> kk: this would be in addition to doing things like setting up monitoring of links to webofchange.com and other relevant urls. which would pick up mentions in online media other than just blogs.

May 30, 10:27:08 PDT> Sarah Pullman: i almost see this as a philosophical issue, actually – how much control over your site do you want/need, and how much do you believe that the whole point is to open things up wide and invite as much participation as possible?

May 30, 10:27:14 PDT> GregoryHeller: marnie: provide lots of pictures and fresh content on your org's website

May 30, 10:27:38 PDT> GregoryHeller: the defective by design action was blogable, we had pictures

May 30, 10:27:56 PDT> Sarah Pullman: Marnie: I think even if you don't start a blog, you can still monitor what's going on in the blogosphere around your issue or area, and comment as appropriate, linking back to your site (even if not your blog)

May 30, 10:27:56 PDT> enochchoi: In terms of monitoring web&media mentions of my concerns, google alerts work the best for me.

May 30, 10:27:57 PDT> GregoryHeller: if we hadn't had pictures available on flickr for people to use, it hink we would hav e gotten far fewer b log hits

May 30, 10:28:17 PDT> GregoryHeller: most of the blog hits we got just quoted our site or one or two other articles that talked about us

May 30, 10:28:26 PDT> Sarah Pullman: thanks, enochchoi... i actually haven't used it to date! that's good to know.

May 30, 10:28:41 PDT> Sarah Pullman: that's a good point, gregory.

May 30, 10:28:48 PDT> Sarah Pullman: images definitely help in bloggability.

May 30, 10:29:20 PDT> Sarah Pullman: get to know the main bloggers who write about stuff that relates to what you're doing, and build relationships with them.

May 30, 10:29:20 PDT> marnie: breaking pages into small bits also seems like it can help

May 30, 10:29:25 PDT> marnie: making it easy to share

May 30, 10:29:26 PDT> GregoryHeller: i think for many organizations, providing hte inside scoop on your site's blog makees your blog more blogabble

May 30, 10:29:44 PDT> Sarah Pullman: put a human face on it, you mean?

May 30, 10:30:35 PDT> GregoryHeller: well, lets say you are an org that does political stuff... talk about the inside stuff going on, then readers of your blog feel like "they have something to talk about at the cocktail party" and then they blog is, so they seem like they are "in the

May 30, 10:30:38 PDT> GregoryHeller: know

May 30, 10:30:51 PDT> GregoryHeller: " to their friends and readers

May 30, 10:30:56 PDT> Dhosthi: Hi All! Sorry to butt in but, what's up with the NetSquared Conference this morning?

May 30, 10:31:18 PDT> gabber314: hello there

May 30, 10:31:24 PDT> gabber314: the netsquared conference is going strong it seems

May 30, 10:31:56 PDT> Dhosthi: How do we monitor it?

May 30, 10:32:11 PDT> gina: the online conference or the physical one?

May 30, 10:32:23 PDT> Dhosthi: I guess the online

May 30, 10:32:23 PDT> marnie: (further aside: you can check out http://www.netsquared.org/blog to get a sense of what's going on in the physical room)

May 30, 10:32:33 PDT> Setherplast: Sarah: when you blog at on organization as a part of your job, when do you link back to a personal blog, and when do you link back to your org's blog?

May 30, 10:33:03 PDT> Corey: what flickr tag are people using for conference pics?

May 30, 10:33:07 PDT> Tuesday Gutz: how do you gain more readership for the blog

May 30, 10:33:13 PDT> gina: net2

May 30, 10:33:14 PDT> Sarah Pullman: good question. if i'm blogging about the climate change, on my DeSmogBlog time, I definitely link back to that site.

May 30, 10:33:25 PDT> Sarah Pullman: and same for any other sites i "work" on.

May 30, 10:33:57 PDT> SnagglepussJones: can this be paused? i can't read the previous comments without it jumping to new ones.

May 30, 10:34:29 PDT> Sarah Pullman: yeah, the technology doesn't seem flawless... I've got people IMing me telling me they can't see anything?

May 30, 10:35:01 PDT> marnie: You can subscribe to the conversation via RSS (there's a link top right)

May 30, 10:35:01 PDT> marnie: it's how I'm catching up.

May 30, 10:35:50 PDT> Sarah Pullman: But Seth, it's an interesting question, because no matter who i link to, it's still my name (usually) and so it reflects back to me and my collective online persona, if you will.

May 30, 10:35:52 PDT> Alex: If folks are having trouble reading the chat, they can IM me via AIM or Skype as awsamuel

May 30, 10:35:52 PDT> aaron: If you hold the vertical scroll-bar as you're looking back through the transcript, gabbly will pause.

May 30, 10:36:13 PDT> Sarah Pullman: so i think when your'e blogging on behalf of something else, it's pretty important that you're okay having it added to the pool of information that makes up "you" on the internet, if you know what i mean,.

May 30, 10:36:32 PDT> Sarah Pullman: i'd be interested in hearing what other people think about that

May 30, 10:38:03 PDT> smokinggoat: Interestingly, I also discovered a simple way of creating a "personal" channel. CHeck out: http://gabbly.com/http://www.netsquared.org/smokinggoat

May 30, 10:39:14 PDT> SnagglepussJones: RSS feed on this thing isn't working for me. it's timing out. maybe too many people eating up the bandwidth?

May 30, 10:40:06 PDT> Sarah Pullman: to bring things down to the practical, using a blog for your event is a great way to keep the news flowing.

May 30, 10:40:37 PDT> Sarah Pullman: i recommend creating really solid static pages – get down all the information that doesn't change about your event, where , when, mission, cost, etc

May 30, 10:40:55 PDT> kk: each blog post you create on an event site provides another 'traffic onramp' from google too and can be a great way to build an audience on your site or for your event.

May 30, 10:41:05 PDT> Sarah Pullman: from there, your blog can be a flow of new information, chatter, personalization, community building

May 30, 10:41:27 PDT> gabber947: Has anyone had issues with open records requests (Public Information Act) and blogs at their nonprofit?

May 30, 10:41:45 PDT> DanielleMartin: so for the static pages, where do they live? on the blog?

May 30, 10:42:05 PDT> smokinggoat: Sarah - you raise an interesting question about blogging on several venues, and diversifying your "online identity." I run a performance group where I don't want to be conflated with my tech world - and it gets awfully confusing.

May 30, 10:42:12 PDT> Sarah Pullman: Static pages would live on your site, and theblog is just a section of your site

May 30, 10:42:33 PDT> Sarah Pullman: i hear that, smokinggoat!

May 30, 10:42:38 PDT> smokinggoat: Well, not confusing, but it feels like I'm "lying" or hiding. I have separate Flickr identities, and it's a little weird....

May 30, 10:42:44 PDT> Sarah Pullman: right

May 30, 10:43:03 PDT> Sarah Pullman: i think we're kind of collectively pioneering with these issues, really.

May 30, 10:43:08 PDT> Sarah Pullman: it's not like there is a long history of best practices about this stuff!

May 30, 10:43:54 PDT> smokinggoat: All of a sudden, my personal FLickr pages (with wedding photos!) is now linked to WineCampers, and that's cool and all - but do I want that kind of fluidity?

May 30, 10:43:57 PDT> kk: in general i think having multiple IDs is not a great idea... unless you are someone who is doing this kind of stuff on others behalf. then you'd have your ID maybe, your one events ID, another events ID, etc.

May 30, 10:44:06 PDT> Sarah Pullman: i guess those are questions that we all have to find our own answers to

May 30, 10:44:40 PDT> Sarah Pullman: would be interesting to have someone who works on identity stuff to chime in here

May 30, 10:45:10 PDT> Tuesday Gutz: we´re all talking about online identity, but what about readership?

May 30, 10:45:28 PDT> Sarah Pullman: can you explain more what you're asking, TG?

May 30, 10:45:40 PDT> kk: you can also use technology to work around the problem you refer to goat. public/private... groups and sets and tags... etc

May 30, 10:46:43 PDT> smokinggoat: Online identity - Identity Woman? (www.identitywoman.com) - She does a lot of data standards stuff....

May 30, 10:46:43 PDT> Sarah Pullman: i can see her from where i'm sitting :)

May 30, 10:46:55 PDT> smokinggoat: We are all watching each other. The New Digital Fishbowl...

May 30, 10:47:47 PDT> Sarah Pullman: Tuesday Gutz was wondering about readership and i'm not totally sure what you were asking

May 30, 10:48:05 PDT> Tuesday Gutz: i have to think how to rephrase it better

May 30, 10:48:05 PDT> Sarah Pullman: how to generate more? in general?

May 30, 10:48:10 PDT> kk: having a /remote part of your event (like this!) is an awesome way to promote your events too.. nice work. allowing me to be here from beijing. :)

May 30, 10:48:10 PDT> Sarah Pullman: how to monitor it?

May 30, 10:48:16 PDT> Tuesday Gutz: yes

May 30, 10:48:19 PDT> Tuesday Gutz: generate more

May 30, 10:48:33 PDT> SnagglepussJones: When to open a blog to comments vs not?

May 30, 10:48:37 PDT> Boris: Sarah!

May 30, 10:48:44 PDT> Sarah Pullman: Boris!

May 30, 10:49:17 PDT> Tuesday Gutz: yes

May 30, 10:49:20 PDT> Tuesday Gutz: yes snagglepuss

May 30, 10:49:29 PDT> Sarah Pullman: well, building blogger relations is a good way to build traffic, i think. that's not about sucking up to people for your benefit, but rather about building relationships. if someone is writing about stuff that's relevant to you, then connect with the

May 30, 10:49:41 PDT> Sarah Pullman: maybe they'll write about you, or link to you in their blogroll, or tell their friends about you.

May 30, 10:50:03 PDT> Sarah Pullman: i'vve also driven a lot of traffic (relatively) just by leaving comments on high-traffic blogs

May 30, 10:50:13 PDT> Boris: compelling content constantly

May 30, 10:50:25 PDT> Sarah Pullman: and if you can do that in an authentic way – becuase you actually have something relevant to say – then that's awesome

May 30, 10:50:29 PDT> Boris: and as SP says, once some content is there, make relevant comments/participate in other blog discussions

May 30, 10:50:38 PDT> SnagglepussJones: sometimes people can be really vicious in comments. is there benefit to letting people air negative stuff and letting it then get indexed in google?

May 30, 10:51:26 PDT> Sarah Pullman: i think that keeping comments open until you run into trouble is probably good practice. then maybe moderate them once there seems to be a need

May 30, 10:51:52 PDT> Sarah Pullman: tough call, because if you don't let them comment, they might just go and blog about it on their own blog.

May 30, 10:52:02 PDT> Alex: I usually tell people that their default on moderation should be to avoid censoring if at all possible

May 30, 10:52:08 PDT> Alex: ie set a really really high bar before you'll pull something

May 30, 10:52:15 PDT> Sarah Pullman: i think mostly, you're probably doing well to let people have their conversation on your site, and respond to it in a measured way

May 30, 10:52:27 PDT> Sarah Pullman: i'd agree

May 30, 10:52:48 PDT> GregoryHeller: i suggest that people start with teh blog closed to only commenting by staff.. then open it up, perhaps to members, then to general public with registration

May 30, 10:52:53 PDT> kk: go team!

May 30, 10:52:59 PDT> walkah: check it out :)

May 30, 10:53:01 PDT> GregoryHeller: but to do that over a period of weeks or months

May 30, 10:53:19 PDT> GregoryHeller: that way they can set the norms of the "community"

May 30, 10:53:19 PDT> Sarah Pullman: how come you advise that, gregory? i'm surious

May 30, 10:53:19 PDT> Sarah Pullman: ah

May 30, 10:53:25 PDT> Sarah Pullman: i see. good thinking

May 30, 10:53:28 PDT> GregoryHeller: if what you are doing is having a blog for your organization

May 30, 10:53:39 PDT> GregoryHeller: if you are talking about a community from the getgo, well, that is a different story

May 30, 10:53:55 PDT> GregoryHeller: it is also a less scary way for stoneage organizations to move into the world of blogging

May 30, 10:54:09 PDT> GregoryHeller: the first question is almost always "how do i control what people say in the comments"

May 30, 10:54:17 PDT> Sarah Pullman: right, if they're afraid of opening up a pandoraz box.

May 30, 10:54:19 PDT> GregoryHeller: so i say "don't let them say anythign at the beginning"

May 30, 10:54:40 PDT> Sarah Pullman: really, unless you've got a super-hot or controversial issue, you aren't likely to have the luxury of that much traffic or commentary!

May 30, 10:54:56 PDT> GregoryHeller: i think a good progression is staff> board> allied organizations> members (if you are membership based > general public

May 30, 10:55:05 PDT> GregoryHeller: well, some orgs are afraid of trolls

May 30, 10:55:10 PDT> GregoryHeller: which is legit

May 30, 10:55:17 PDT> Sarah Pullman: so you set up different user groups (to talk drupal for second) for all those groups?

May 30, 10:55:18 PDT> GregoryHeller: i wish we could just do somethign about the trolls

May 30, 10:55:44 PDT> GregoryHeller: i would set different user groups for staff, and board and members

May 30, 10:55:59 PDT> GregoryHeller: i would invite allied organizations to join, and just manually approve their accounts probably

May 30, 10:56:36 PDT> Sarah Pullman: Is there anyone in here who still has any questions about using blogging for an event (or cause, or whatever?)

May 30, 10:56:38 PDT> Alex: to me it seems like trolls are typically less of a problem than nonparticipation

May 30, 10:56:53 PDT> Sarah Pullman: that's been my experience, alex.

May 30, 10:56:56 PDT> GregoryHeller: you are right alex

May 30, 10:57:16 PDT> aaron: Hoy, I know this is a throw-back, but for folks interested in identity issues, there's some fascinating writing here: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?db=post&q=crdate=1115168586&format...

May 30, 10:57:28 PDT> GregoryHeller: but everyonce in a while someone gets a beee in their bonnet... in terms of non partticipation, how to convince people to participate?

May 30, 10:58:01 PDT> Alex: Sarah, any final tips on promoting effective participation?

May 30, 10:58:13 PDT> Sarah Pullman: I think it's really about the personal connections.

May 30, 10:58:48 PDT> Sarah Pullman: while you're starting up, you'll probably need to do lots of relationship building, and encouraging

May 30, 10:59:28 PDT> Sarah Pullman: get people you know to comment

May 30, 10:59:35 PDT> Corey: Hi everyone, do we have Rolf with us for the next session?

May 30, 10:59:38 PDT> Sarah Pullman: comments drive comments - once there is a conversation, people will join in

May 30, 10:59:54 PDT> Sarah Pullman: you can also ASK in your posts... that sometimes helps

May 30, 11:00:38 PDT> Alex: good point

May 30, 11:01:01 PDT> Sarah Pullman: what tips would you offer, alex?

May 30, 11:01:38 PDT> Alex: tricky, aren't you?

May 30, 11:01:50 PDT> Sarah Pullman: well, you're a blogging queen :)

May 30, 11:01:59 PDT> Sarah Pullman: more minds are better than mine. :)

May 30, 11:02:00 PDT> Alex: I think it can be helpful to post on other people's blogs

May 30, 11:02:05 PDT> Sarah Pullman: definitely

May 30, 11:02:13 PDT> Alex: one of my favorite tricks is to use Technorati

May 30, 11:02:24 PDT> Corey: Zach Bell, were you the moderator for the 10 am session?

May 30, 11:02:30 PDT> Alex: to search for blog posts that are related to the topic of my new blog, or of a blog post I really want people to read

May 30, 11:02:57 PDT> Alex: I look for relevant blog posts on technorati that come from high-traffic blogs

May 30, 11:02:58 PDT> Sarah Pullman: yes.

May 30, 11:03:06 PDT> Alex: and then I leave a comment (or trackback) on that other blog, linking to a related post on my blog

May 30, 11:03:18 PDT> Sarah Pullman: then comment, and then all those readers will get teh chance to click through to you.

May 30, 11:03:22 PDT> Alex: exactly

May 30, 11:03:31 PDT> Sarah Pullman: great :)

May 30, 11:03:31 PDT> Alex: Sarah, thanks so much for doing this session!

May 30, 11:03:32 PDT> Corey: if Rolf is here for the 11 am, we may want to begin with that conversation, if he hasn't joined us yet then we continue with Sarah's discussion?

May 30, 11:03:37 PDT> Sarah Pullman: i think our time is up, yes!

May 30, 11:03:41 PDT> Tuesday Gutz: this is a great idea alex

May 30, 11:03:46 PDT> Alex: Rolf tells me he's online

May 30, 11:03:47 PDT> Tuesday Gutz: thanks sarah

May 30, 11:03:53 PDT> Sarah Pullman: thanks for inviting me, alex, and i hope it was helpful for others

May 30, 11:03:59 PDT> Rolf Kleef: testing...

May 30, 11:04:04 PDT> aaron: ya, thanks sarah. good job!

May 30, 11:04:04 PDT> Alex: Sarah's blog projects are at http://www.desmogblog.com and webofchange.com

May 30, 11:04:06 PDT> Corey: Hi Rolf

May 30, 11:04:07 PDT> kk: hey rolf

May 30, 11:04:10 PDT> Sarah Pullman: and there's rolf., hi rolf!

May 30, 11:04:16 PDT> Alex: The transcript from this session will be on teh site a little later

May 30, 11:04:25 PDT> kk: thanks sarah. you rawk. :)

May 30, 11:04:35 PDT> Sarah Pullman: yep, check out http://webofchange.com and think about coming. :)