Hi everyone,
I have a passion for helping people get an online presence and be successful at what they do want to achieve with it.
Most of the time, that means starting websites and blogs and those are the things that I get most excited about.
Yes. I know. I’m a geek.
BUT….
I’m a geek who wants to help people.
One of my biggest frustrations is not being able to help enough people, not being able to get to a wide enough audience to help and guide them.
I would love to be able to go to conferences and do classes on whatever people need to learn about. I feel that writer’s conferences and bloggers conferences are places that I should really look at going because they are chock-full of people who need a hand finding their way through to a place where their blog/site is up and running right.
One such conference, which I heard about last year is the Type-a-parent’s conference – a conference designed specifically for parents who blog.
I’d love to be able to go and speak there and they’re accepting proposals right now from speakers who have a great idea of what they could speak on which is both necessary and original.
I want to submit a proposal, but I’m drawing a blank on what I could speak on.
If you were going to a conference like that, what would you want to learn about? What would you want to hear.
Please help me come up with an original idea for one of their sessions that I could speak on and really help some people move forward with their blog/site!
boundaries as to what you reveal about family?
That’s a challenging topic, Michael. Great suggestion but I’m not sure I have the answers!
Teach on the benefits of self-hosting over freebies. How you can increase readership by creating a professional looking website?
Now THAT I could do… thanks for the great suggestion!
Peter, I remember reading a post here about the impact of technology in our lives. Maybe you could work something on those lines, but more specific to the impact of their blogging to their family life and vice-versa. It could also include Michael’s suggestion.
Just a thought from a single lady with no kids 😉
🙂
Thanks, Cris… I’ll think about that and see what I can come up with.
Sorry, my brain is in overload and I can’t think of anything right now. I like everyone’s suggestions though and this is exciting, Peter. Go for it, man! Praying you get just the right topic.
Thanks, Bro!
Peter, my understanding is that you are responsible for child care at home, and are running your business from home. Perhaps you could speak about time management and how you balance both. I’m sure that would be relevant to many people there (though I’m not sure if it is in any way “original”)
That would be a great idea… if i was able to manage my time well.
I think I need to GO to a seminar on that, rather than teach one.
Thank you so much for you input though, I really appreciate it.
Be sure to gear your proposal to your audience. It’s not necessarily what you do but what your audience does that is at issue.
The name of the group “Type A Parents” suggests a possible approach. I’d start by finding out, if you can, how many parents in the organization blog, why do they blog, what subjects are they blogging about, how many hours do they spend blogging, how do they think blogging makes them better parents or more involved in their children’s lives, what kind of reach and effect do they think they are having, and, most important, are they spending time on blogging that would be better spent with their children. Presenting an analysis of the results (perhaps the organization could conduct a survey you create at the beginning of the conference and you present at the end–quick, not necessarily scientific) might open some eyes, reveal concerns that had not considered, etc.
I also very much like Helen’s suggestion.
Wow, thanks, Maureen!
Maybe you should explain that successful blogging does away with the need to travel to conferences.
That would go down well with the conference organisers!
Okay, I think you should speak on how to create a blog that reflects who you are as a person and as a blogger. About how you can help folks create a place that is uniquely them. Because I think that’s what you do very well.
hmmm… I’m not sure what you mean when you say I do that very well?
Do I do that?
Another thought. I see from last year’s timetable that on Sunday they did not include a worship session. I find it hard to believe that all the delegates were unbelievers, and I’m sure that many would appreciate a devotional time in the conference. Could you therefore propose a session on Sunday morning under the title ‘If God Blogged’ or ‘Successful and Godly?’ or ‘Blog for God’ etc.
Also I see that last year’s timetable was headed Type-A Moms. Is this for all parents or just mons?
That could well be something worth considering.
Thanks, Dad
Ooh, I like dad’s idea, but I was going to say, have you come across a UK blog called ‘mumsnet’? It pretty much does what it says on the tin. It started in 2000 and has developed into what The Times describes as “The country’s most popular meeting point for parents”, and has 1.2million unique visitors each month. It exists “to make parents’ lives easier by pooling knowledge, experience and support”. I thought about it today, because the national news quoted something it (or one of its people) had said – and that’s not the first time this week. It has become one of the media’s go-to places for reactions to news stories that affect parents.
Very often, blogs are stories about me, and reflections on my day, maybe with the life lessons I learned. Mumsnet is about creating a sense of community and burden-sharing online – it’s about people coming together and pooling their knowledge and experience and helping each other to parent well.
I think something like this might go down well at the conference – explaining how people can develop a blog which allows multiple authors as well as responses, how you deal with issues of approving or rejecting comments or commenters, how to make it easy for people to find the information they’re looking for, and how to publicise it throughout your state etc.
Sell a vision for making the blog a community resource, then explain how to do it.
Thanks Jen,
I’ll have to look to see if they have anything like that already!
An interesting aspect is that David Cameron is in hot water as a result of using mumsnet. He visited it during the election campaign thinking it was a great way to relate to a wide section of the voting public. As a result he visited someone with a severely disabled child. She now feels he has failed to keep his pre-election promises and, because she cannot get the help she needs to look after her child, she is asking for the girl to be taken into care. As he is the Prime Minister, he is getting all the blame for it. A salutory lesson in the potential pitfalls of using blog sites.
In light of the news story about the Colorado mother who was playing Cafe World while her son drowned in the bathtub, you might talk about the Seduction of Social Media: The Virtual Addict as Parent.