Conference Envy
February 27, 2007 · → 10 Comments
Chris Owen, my very good friend and chief pink-people-connector at Pink Apple, has a very strong case of conference envy. She says that she loves being in Australia but at times wants to be closer to North America and Europe for the ease of access to conferences.
But there are times when you wish you were a little bit closer to the action! It’s a bloody long and expensive flight to the US or Europe.
My disappointment ands yearning has been prompted this time because if I’d been able I would be attending a blogging conference called SOBCon 07.
I started to write a comment on her post and decided that after 3 paragraphs that it was too long for a comment and decided to post it here and trackback to her instead. The other reason that I decided to put it here is because I feel that Chris is not alone (feel free to tell me whether I am right or wrong).
So here is my open answer to Chris (and to anyone else that is listening/reading).
Chris, Darren has loads of great contacts but I would imagine that his time is caught up in speaking at many of these conferences, running his business and having a life. So why not look at getting a few mates together and arrange a space/time yourself (much like Phil and crew have done).
I believe that this conference has come out of Liz Strauss’ open mic night on the SuccessfulBlog and from months developing a strong network of good contacts (I’m not 100% sure on this and would love to here from one of the main organisers for [tag]SOBCon 07[/tag] with more details). And now they are going to get together in person and invite other people along for the ride.
There are so many great [tag]bloggers[/tag] here in Australia that we don’t connect with and that would be able to deliver the same content, and possibly more. [tag]Des Walsh[/tag] comes to mind immediately.
What is it that you would be looking for in this conference Chris? Information? Connection? What would a conference like this do for you? (yeah I know too many questions)
There are a variety of conferences and meetings held in [tag]Australia[/tag] that bloggers go to at the moment but I suspect that many of these are targetted to the high-end (the geeks, full-time, already now a lot crowd). I suspect what you are looking for Chris is something targetted at the regular business owner that wants to know more about how to be a better blogger. Yes? No?
If someone else organised this (eg. if I could be tempted) how much interest is there really?
The huge North American or European conferences would be great but right here in our own backyard we have the experience and wisdom to satisfy even the more ardent business blogger.
[tags]conference, Darren Rowse, Phil Gerbyshak, Chris Owen[/tags]
Leah, Chris’ lament brought a wry smile because we all tend to think things are better somewhere else. We have historic site envy (better to fly to France from Pennsylvania than to visit nearby Philadelphia), vacation spot envy (but, I’ve never seen the ocean from the other coast); we’ll put down our toys every time if someone else has something a little different.
Australia has many talented and wonderful bloggers. In fact, now that I think about it, I might have to move . . . .
Carolyn
Oh! Where are my manners? Thanks so much for adding me to the Solo Links.
Carolyn
I agree Carolyn. I know many US-based bloggers that often talk wistfully about being able to visit, or as you suggest, move to Australia.
I suspect one of the reasons that some of us Aussies want to get to the USA conferences is so that we can connect with our online buddies in person. So the desire is for connection rather than the location. And I think that connection is a universal desire.
Yes, Leah, connection is a desire we all have. And it’s a desire we can realize. Because we have this Internet, we have an ability for immediate and constant connection; we, unlike generations of writers before us, have been blessed.
It’s ok if we can’t meet all of our online buddies in person. We still have amazing, wonderful, and warm access to each other.
Carolyn
You know, I can totally relate, even though I am smack-dab in the middle of it all near Chicago! There are conferences in Vegas and California that I would love to go to, but when you add in the travel costs, it really makes it cost-prohibitive to do as much as we want. Add to that three kids who would need a sitter for a weekend, and I resign myself tothe fact that it really is up to us to create our own opportunities.
One of my readers lamented the same thing as you are, and I suggested to her privately that she try to set up a Melbourne meetup for bloggers, and send an invitation to Darren/Des personally. They may or may not be able to attend, but meeting the rest of the area people would be well worth the time, imho.
Well Well Well!
It just goes to show that having a bleat and sharing your disappointments makes things happen in all kinds of unexpected ways!
Clearly got you rolling Leah!
And all these terrific comments!!
I think you should be tempted to take action Leah! Go on! I dare you!!!
And to answer your questions:
There’s no way I’d ever go to a geeky blog conference I’d drown in techo.
But what i do want is to talk to other “normal” people who blog and share our wisdom and experiences and inexperiences
As well as learn some easily implementable improvements to blogging technique and simple technical stuff.
At least that’s what I’d be after!!
You’re quite right about wanting to meet face to face the people we connect with online. The event that was supposed to happen in Brisbane in a week or so from now has been postponed “sine die” as the lawyers say, supposedly to August. But Leah, it’s great that you are willing to be nudged to step up and put something together: consider yourself so nudged by me, as well as by Chris.
Maybe Sydney or Melbourne, so we are not competing with what Peter Black at QUT is keen still to put together up here in beautiful one day perfect the next country.
[...] Connections wrote about how, if Australia were closer she could be part of SOBcon 07. Leah MacLean wrote about Chris’ post with a suggestion and a questionn about how SOBcon started. Leah’s post generated a pile of [...]
greetings from Montana… big sky country
Ah the joys of the blogosphere.. we are so close yet so far. Proving that perhaps a “picture” (face to face meeting) can sometimes be worth more than the proverbial thousand words.
GP in Montana
GP – that phrase of a picture being worth a thousand words certainly comes to light when trying to describe the “big sky” that exists in both Montana and parts of outback Australia. Words just can’t capture the enormity and beauty of it sometimes.
And when it comes to connecting with people nothing will replace the ability to be in each others presence.