"Meet the Bloggers" lounge at LS09 ?
Posted by Theo Heselmans on January 25th, 2008
This year, way more than ever before, I realized that Lotusphere is more than sessions, labs and the showcase. It's also about meeting people: speakers, lab-rats, exhibitors, peers.
Now I'm not exactly timid, nor introvert, but in all those 12 previous years, I usually came home with war stories: I had been standing close to, said hello to, shook hands with, and (imagine this) had a chat with, one of the gods (or goddesses) of Notesdom: Ed, Alan, Rocky, Bill, Bob, Maureen, ...
This year, being a blogger too, I had the privilege of exchanging some words with co-bloggers such as: Nathan, Kevin, Bruce, Alan, Thomas, Martin and Tim. I would have loved to meet Chris, Steve, Warren, Bill, Sean, Stephan, Andre, ...
Anyway, you bet it was my best Lotusphere yet !
On top of that I discovered that, when 'strangers' came up to me, just to say they "read my blog", I wasn't the only one that felt good. Now they have their 'little' story to brag about !
So here's my suggestion for next year's Lotusphere:
Let's set up a 'Meet the Bloggers' lounge:
- Some cozy seats
- Some laptops on a pedestal
- Some food / drinks (hot and cold)
- One or more sponsors
- and a schedule, so there are always some bloggers there to meet people
It certainly would increase the 'community' feeling.
On top of that I would suggest that all bloggers wear a 'Read my blog' badge. Each signed with their blog's name. This way other people will be less intimidated to say hi when passing. Remember, I used to be (and still am) one of those people that wondered: 'Is that really him/her' ? I realize this is a bit of ego-tripping (for each of us mind you), but just the fact that you can please somebody by shaking hands or returning a hello makes you feel good.
(In case you wonder: I thought about putting this idea on Idea-Jam, but decided against)
Let me know what you think.
Update: I discovered (by accident) that Ed Brill referred to this post in his blog, and a lot of people commented. Have a look. Readmyblog.jpg
Category: Lotusphere | 
Technorati: Lotusphere
Comments (10)
An interesting concept and something that Teamstudio would be most interested in supporting/sponsoring.
Hi Theo, some good ideas in there. The only difficult thing about the lounge is, it doesn't guarantee you every blogger will be there or even visit this.
The "read my blog" badge you could do already. I had a (way too tiny) name bag next to my ID, but I guess it was too tiny to see, since there weren't a lot of people saying hi from my thousands of millions of blog readers ;-)
Btw Theo has a Palm device, it's called Theo's Treo.
I think I'd speak for EVERYONE else in the community that 1) you should NEVER refrain from sharing an idea - especially one that runs out this good, and 2) it seems like the more popular the blogger and the more you stand in awe of their "rockstar" status, the more humbled and near-embarrassed they really are when you get the chance to meet them.
If you walk up to Rocky, you'll find that he is literally the nicest person you've ever met. Bruce always cracks me up. Kevin is a really awesome guy that's very low-key for someone as smart as he is. Bill is as brilliant - in both what he knows and who he is. And Tim is the only person that I've ever known that could take talking with me for 8 hours straight and NOT want to drown himself (and then me).
This is an absolutely amazing idea, and something that should be - as you mention - a fixture at 'phere. A specific room designated for Bloggers and those who want to meet and interact with them. With the release of www.bleedyellow.com (which allows anyone to create a blog), I suspect the blogger community to expand even further!
And, while we're at it, I say we move the really nice Starbucks Coffee & Flavor Station into this room! Maybe a few screens where people could break-out mini-sessions (ie., large-screen LCDs or projectors, etc.).
Absolutely great idea Theo!!
Excellent idea!
The truly funny thing is I saw you a few times, and recognized you from your blog pic, but I didn't introduce myself because I figured you wouldn't know who I am. You probably still don't, but it's another example of how even the blogging community is a fragmented.
I think it's a good idea, but it might take a bit of work to herd these particular cats. Are you volunteering for that? :-)
Great idea, Theo.
Theo,
Great idea, many of us were in the BoF for bloggers and still didn't get to meet everyone.
Looking forward to seeing this go forward next year.
Great idea, I'm in.
Theo, I'm glad I got to meet you last week, even though we didn't get to chat much. I thought about the button idea as well: just a large button - like the ones they had for "I've been using Sametime since..." - that says "Have you seen my blog?" with a blank space for you to write in your blog URL would be sufficient.
As for a blogger lounge, you could probably have an informal one in the Dolphin rotunda. At least that way we could have something unofficial. I suppose there could even be a sign on a post to mark the spot.
As a whole, the blogging community is not a bunch of intimidating people, but the idea of a "bloggers lounge" could be just intimidating enough to keep people out. The more informal, the better, I think.
Great idea! I was unable to attend the blog event this year (I think there were two time slots during Lotusphere where I DIDN'T have more than one thing I wanted to go to), so this kind of idea sounds great!
I also like the idea of a sticker or something that could go on your badge to quickly let people know you're a blogger. A few years ago that was done and I think it's a good idea (maybe just make it a decent sized one or an obnoxious color or something).