SplaTT's Blog

First the bad news...the 2005 Australian Blogging Conference has been postponed...

It’s with great sadness and amazement that I have had to postpone (and hopefully will not have to cancel) the 2005 Australian Blogging Conference.

While I have had a great response from people showing their interest in attending and speaking, along with two possible keynote speakers from the US raising their hands for the keynote position, and some early interest from local Australian sponsors...it appears that the business community in Australia is not so much behind the idea of blogging as we all like to think.

In the last month and half, out of all the organisations that said they would be interested in sponsoring the event (quite a few), I have had only one of the sponsors actually come through and agree to be involved. I have tried to get companies on board up until last week...but at some point i had to face the inevitable... :(

And a big thankyou goes out to Nick Bolton at streamhouse.tv who is all set to provide live audio and possibly even live video feeds on the day of the event onto the internet.

What happened I hear you ask...did I ask for too much from the sponsors??? I really don't think so...we needed someone to cover the audio/video feed, someone to cover printing of programs and delegate badges, someone to provide WiFi or broadband into the venue (it is a blogging conference after al), someone to cover lunch and refreshments for between 80-120 people and finally someone to pick up the venue hire (which would have included the A/V gear)...we didn't even come out asking for cash…we just wanted the services to be paid for...none of the money was to even cross our hands.

Yes...we were going to charge a $150 entry fee, and that would have gone to cover any other incidental costs not covered by sponsors...and what ever was left was going into the "future conference kitty"...I had this strange thought that people and companies in Australia were ready for some quality tech orientated conferences again after what has been a drought...well...the people are...but the companies appear not to be...I guess they just want the same old crap we have been getting for the last couple of years...

So...will the conference happen??? I really hope so, but I’m just not sure when…hopefully it will be in late March or early April.

I am throwing out an open request to any companies that may want to step up to the plate and show that they believe in not only blogging but also the "community" that has developed around this area over the last 12-24 months in Australia...and I’m talking about a serious business and tech blogging community...not the "diarists" as some call them. Have we lost so much faith in this business that we don't believe in getting together and talking any more unless it costs us over $1000 to get in??? I hope not...for all our sakes...

Wheres the good news??? I'm hoping its coming soon...

Back in Sydney and the holiday is over...

So i spent 11 hours driving back to Sydney from Melbourne today and so tomorrow becomes the first "real" day that i am running my own business since i left Singleton OgilvyInteractive.

The next week will be pretty busy...i need to register a business name (the one i had lined up is taken...damn)...i need to line up meetings with a couple of possible clients...i need to do some work on the 2005 Australian Blogging Conference (the venue i was loking at is not available....damn)...i need to finalise a few deals that will impact the G'day World podcast before we run out of bandwidth again (and i need to put up another interview)...and a heap of other things...

And to top it all off...tomorrow is my 35th birthday...what a way to celebrate...starting my own business... :)

The media start to pick up on the blogging conference

Its been one of those days...first I find out i'm on a BBC show about blogging (well...G'day World is..its just my voice) , and then i get a call from Simon Sharwood, a journalist with ZDNET Australia, who wants to talk to me about the 2005 Australian Blogging Conference...i'm turning into a media whore... ;)

Heres a link to the article over at ZDNET...and they got most of it right....the sociopolitical and educational bloggers are more than welcome...but the focus wll be on how to use this "blog stuff" for a corporate type channel. I wouldn't want to suggest that the market is big enough in Australia to warrant mutiple blogging conferences aimed at niche markets...maybe next year though :)

And this line is not exactly true..."Stanic recently resigned from his job to organise the conference"...though i will be spending a large chunk of the next two months worrying myself to death over it while trying to find work for my new venture. And it does feel strange reading "..Mick Stanic, a former executive producer with the Singleton Ogilvy advertising agency.." when i don't actually finish up till this Thursday afternoon...I'm sure it will feel strange then too. Anyway...bring in the media coverage...the more the better...

Oh yeah..in reference to the last line of the story...that was going to be a piece of news for after the blogging conference, but i figured this was a good a way as anyway to tell people my future thoughts and to build up some early interest. So...if you are interested in helping fix what i feel is a problem that needs to be addressed, feel free to email me at splatt[at]splatt.com.au and lets have a chat.

I'm live on Blogosphere Radio...

Does my voice sound strange to other people or is it just me????

The interview i did with Mack over at Blogosphere Radio last week has gone live. Go and check it out and hear me talk about blogging, podcasting (G'day World) and more importantly, the 2005 Australian Blogging Conference.

Its great to be included in such amazing company as Darren Barefoot, Jeremy Wright, Eric Olsen, Jon Gales, Natalie Glance and Eric Rice and to be a part of the great podcasts that Blogosphere Radio is putting out. Well done guys...

I have also just posted some more info on the conference to the website which you can find at www.bloggingconference.com.

I'm going to be on BlogosphereRadio talking about the blog conference....

Seems like the bloggers in Australia aren't the only ones who like the idea of the 2005 Australian Blogging Conference...Mack over at BlogosphereRadio in Canada thinks that other people might want to know about it as well, so he interviewed me yesterday afternoon for an upcoming episode of their "Blogging With..." show. It should hopefully be live the middle of this week.

This is the second show in a week that i have recorded with Mack, the first one being the Special report on the eBay blogger auctions where they asked me a few questions and included it in the show...

I have to say, its pretty cool knowing that other people are interested enough in what you have to say that they subscribe to your blog feed, that they want to listen to a podcast that you do (and give you great feedback on it), that they want to help you promote a conference you are putting together and some people even want to talk to you for their own shows...makes you realise that all the hard work is really worth it.

Thnx for the support everyone...maybe this blogging has more to it than meets the eye...hmmm...
:)

This is not the site your looking for...

If you are visiting this site or subscribed to this feed and looking for info on the 2005 Australian Blogging Conference you might want to go and visit the new site and subscribe to its feed as well.

I will still be cross-posting important information about the conference on this blog, but for keeping upto date on a day-to-day basis, the other site is the one you want..don't get me wrong...stay subscribed to this blog as well because it will continue to be an interesting read just as it has been... ;)

New web site for Blogging Conference all done and live...

I have finally got the domain moved and the portal software installed/configured (mostly), so i have opened up the new website for the 2005 Australian Blogging Conference.

Over the next day or two i will be adding a number of extra modules along with a lot more info on the conference..like...which state will it be in??? (or you could work that one out by looking at the header graphic on each page)...the planed date...the current sessions structure....and a few other things you have probably been waiting for...not long to wait now....

While your waiting, you may as well subscribe to the new feeds....you will not only find an RSS 2.0 and an ATOM feed but also RSS .91 and RSS 1.0...syndicate to your hearts content... :)

Some Blogging Conference news....

Hi everyone...thnx for putting up with the limited number of posts recently about the 2005 Australian Blogging Conference, but its been pretty busy around here...

We are close to making a final decision on the date and location for the conference and should have some news by the end of this week (fingers crossed). At the same time, we should also be teling you all a bit more about the conference structure as well as putting out a call for submissions for speakers and panelists.

The final thing we are working on is obviously the conference web site. The new blog based site at www.bloggingconference.com, is the first stage of what we will be putting up over the next week or two once the domain name delegation goes through. As the final domain setup is nearly ready, the RSS feed subscription is still running fine my presonal sites feed...like i said...nearly ready :)

Once again, thnx for hanging around...and stay tuned for more info soon...

Jeremy Wright's Bloggercon Wiki

Jeremy Wright over at Ensight.org tells us he has set up a Wiki which has discussion topics, participant links, IRC chat log files and a number of things that relate to this years BloggerCon which was on earlier today. So if you missed out on any of the excitment head on over to his BloggerCon Wiki and read till you can't read no more....

IT Conversations will also be posting up audio sessions from the event that were streamed and recorded over the next couple of weeks (thnx Doug..another great stream)...worthwhile listening to the audio when it goes up.

It was an interesting style of event to listen to and i'll be fascinated to talk to Trevor Cook when he gets back to Australia to see if their is anything worthwhile that i can incorporate into the 2005 Australian Blogging Conference structure.

Live audio stream from BloggerCon

Damn....guess its another night without sleep thanx to a damn conference in the US and Doug Kaye from IT Conversations :)

BloggerCon III is exactly what it sounds like...its a one day convention on blogging organised by Dave Winer which is being held at Stanford Law School. This years schedule looks pretty interesting...Adam Curry, Robert Scoble, Doc Searls and Larry Lessig are just a few of the speakers. The action starts at 8.15am PST on the 6th of November...or 3.15am in Sydney on the mornig of the 7th... :(

It looks like the sole Australian on the scene will be Trevor Cook, and we will be catching up on his return to see what we can learn from BloggerCon that we might want to include in Australia's very own blogging conference, the 2005 Australian Blogging Conference (yeah..i know...original name) to be held in (probably) February of 2005.

Anyway...this will be the first chance i will have to listen to a live broadcast of a conference via my new Microsoft Windows Media Center Edition 2005 machine. No more hunching over the laptop or wearing headphones to get good quality audio....i'll be listening in through my 5.1 surround system....now thats an interesting idea....imagine a conference being broadcast in surround sound...nah...it would be too freaky... :)

"A new spin on blogging"

Trevor Cook, is not only one of the ones who gets it (blogging that is), but has got a great knack of getting articles he has written about blogging published in the Australian press....yes...remember the printed media?? Contrary to popular belief in the blogosphere it does still exist.

His latest article, "A new spin on blogging", has been published in the Oct/Nov edition of the Walkley Magazine which is a magazine for journalists, pr professionals and other traditional media related types. It focuses on a few things, but for the PR guys i have pointed it out to, the bit that that grabs their attention is the stuff on Global PR Week which was on around the middle of this year. Version 1.0 of the idea went really well, and i can't wait to see how the next one goes...it will definately have a lot more people keeping an eye on it.

I'm also looking forward to catching up with Trevor when he gets back from Bloggercon, as he is one the kind individuals who i have managed to talk into helping with the 2005 Australian Blogging Conference, which reminds me, i have extended the time that the survey for the blog conference will be up, so if you haven't filled it in yet..you better go do it now... :)

My TabletPC helps out with blog conference

So here i am sitting in a cafe with my TabletPC, when it decides to try and get me a bit of free publicity for the 2005 Australian Blogging Conference. It got a bit more than it expected... :)

mp3 for RSS enclosure (podcast ;)

2005 Australian Blogging Conference survey...hurry...last days...

Hurry bloggers.....you only have six days left to fill out the survey for the 2005 Australian Blogging Conference.

So far, the biggest response has been from Victoria, but i still need more people to fill in the survey and show their interest in the conference if i am to keep the ball rolling and try and get some sponsorship cash to make it a worthwhile event to attend. If i can get enough of a response, and can get hopefully one or two (or more) companies to sponsor the event, i may even be able to get an "A-list" blogger to attend the event from outside of Australia...no promises...but i've started having a few conversations with a few people to see if anyone is interested.

I have also put a bit more thought into how the event/conference may be structured, and i'll post up some info after the survey finishes.

So remember, without you showing your interest and support of the Australian Blogging Confernece by filling in the survey, it may not get of the ground...so...tell your friends...tell your family...tell your workmates...tell all the bloggers you know...hey, you could even post a link to the blogging conference category page or the survey itself on your blog...

If it happens, we may just have a great day or two that we can talk about for years to come as the event that was the turning point in the accceptance of blogging into the Australia corporate landscape...it sounds good at least and it will definately be an interesting experience ;)

2005 Australian Blogging Conference link button

I figured i needed to put to gether a small graphic that people could use to link other people to the Australian Blogging Conference category page on this blog while i am building up a simple site for the conference itself...and here it is...

If you would like to show your support of the conference idea and help us build some traffic to the survey and eventually the site, right click on the above image, save it to your computer and stick it on your blog/site and make it link to the following page http://www.splatt.com.au/blog/archives/aus_blogging_conference/index.html

I also just have to say thanx for the support and encouraging emails i am getting from people....who would have thought a blogging conference was such a good idea....

PS. Don't forget to fill out the survey......

Australian Blogging Conference and coffee with Cameron...

I caught up with Cameron Reilly for coffee and a chat today in Melbourne....we discussed conferences and all things blog and emerging technology related and this is a quick audioblog wrap up of the chat....

Australian made blogging and RSS tools

Hunting around the web, its not that easy to find many Australian companies that are in the blog tool or RSS/Sydndication field. The one that stands out is Synop, who make Sauce Reader which is an RSS reader that is currently in beta....once again, this is a company i ran across thanks to Robert Scoble and Frank Arrigo.

If anybody out there knows of any Australian companies that have made any sort of tool that is related to blogging in any way or form, please leave a comment on this post. I think it would be good to have a list of Australian made tools that people could reference when they are looking for applications and i also want to approach them about providing possible speakers for the Australian Blogging Conference.

Australian Blogging Conference

If you read my last post, you would have seen me mention Northern Voice, a one day blogging conference being organised for Canada for February of next year....well that got me thinking...

It sounded like a pretty good idea to me..so much so...that i think with all the blogging going on around here (and the lack of decent conferences that have to do with emerging technologies and the like), that we should have our own little blogging conference down under in sunny Australia.

But, first things first...I've put together a little survey to see the interest thats around for an idea like this. If you are interested in either attending or presenting at an Australian Blogging Conference, take the survey (go on...it will take less than a minute of your time) and depending on the reaction i get, we can see where it goes from here.

I have set up a blog category so you can a keep track of the progress of the Australian blogging conference idea by either bookmarking this page or subscribing to the category RSS feed .