JBloggers Second Int'l Conference in Israel

Don't miss my public survey about cellphones -- Please contribute your opinion!!
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If I were not dealing with cancer, I would totally take over planning of the next JBloggers convention.

Of course, if I were not dealing with cancer, I might never have entered the blogosphere in the first place. But that is neither here nor there.

In my "previous life," not only did I organize seminars and conventions, I trained students and young professionals how to do it.

The first rule is: know your audience.

Both of the main panels and the guest speaker were... NOT bloggers. OK, there were one or two bloggers on the panels, but they were not the majority.

HELLO??? This is a BLOGGERS convention. I really do not want to hear from people who introduce themselves with the following (or any variation thereof): "I admit, that I do not blog." If you do not blog, you do not really belong at a bloggers conference. How hard to figure out is that?

The convention was split into two parts. The first half consisted of three small "workshops" with bloggers who talked about a range of topics. The second half had a short commedic interlude, two guest speakers, and two panels. Besides Benji Lovitt's “What War Zone“ stand-up routine, I did not find the second half very interesting. (sorry)

Regarding the first part, I would have had a much better time had I remembered one fundamental rule: choose according to who is giving the lecture; the topic is secondary.

There were two workshops I should have attended, given by bloggers who I know are really interesting (http://muqata.blogspot.com/, Israel Matzav, David “Treppenwitz” Bogner) and whose sessions would have been fun for me.

Instead, to my chagrin, I chose two workshops which I thought might help me figure out if I want to try to make money from my blog and, if so, how to do it. Yuck. Workshops about making money do not really speak to me, even if the lecturers are really interesting.

I am a fan of David Abitbol, from Jewlicious, so I attended his workshop. Unfortunately, it did not really provide me with the information I sought.

The next workshop was even more "off target," since it was really geared for people who blog to promote their business. My blog is not a business....

....though I have been fantasizing for a while now about making T-shirts. I have some cool ideas... but I just do not get around to it! That (the "never getting 'round to it") is why I will never run a business!

For me, the most educational part of the conference was the third workshop I attended, which was not even about blogging. Ahuva Berger, who blogs at Sabra at Heart, gave a beginner's tutorial about Twitter. I do not know if Twitter is for me or not, but I am going to give it a try.

The main reason I went to the conference was to meet other bloggers. I felt there was not enough time for that.

I wonder if I should just organize an afternoon in the park. No fancy buildings, no entrance fee, BYOF (bring your own food).

Would you come?


Please daven (or send happy, healing thoughts) for RivkA bat Teirtzel.

With love and optimism,
RivkA