Australian Blogging Conference: Redux

There are various posts on the value of the first Australian Blogging Conference. The conversational style of broad topic areas, bounded and nutured by a chair works well.

Kudos to Peter Black for being persistent and organising this event.

Des Walsh and Joanne Jacobs are respected in this relatively new industry. I discovered heaps, and have put some of their ideas into action.

Partly sponsored by Microsoft (specifically the corporate and business blogging session, or in other words: we paid for lunch) – I missed the political blogging sessions.

Apart from the opening, where Duncan Riley lit a blow torch/flame underneath the Australian bloggers: to connect up. Obviously, coming from Australia yet having an international audience I grok where he is at. Thinking on this…

Michael Rees adds to my notes, especially on the Podcasting/Vidcasting side. Video content, if it is the next-big-thing is an artform that is rarely taught in schools. Not just the technical feeds/bits side – also the composition, interviewing, making a story.

The legal session demonstrated that there are minds thinking about the impact of this online world on a slow-to-adapt legal system. Also joining the conversation were the Australian Law Reform Commission. Privacy, defamation, bush lawyering. The thinking that people/companies "go after" those with the cash is scary. Online, a few simple words can easily destroy the intangible asset of goodwill.

A theme that I don’t think I answered fully, and certainly with too-little thought was the "personal + corporate" blogging mix. Bronwen reminds me brilliantly of on her blog; and it’s something that’s worthy of thought.

And don’t forget: the best Unconferences are followed by Barconferences.

So, my random thoughts from random notes and reading:

• Australian organisations should be online, in a read/write sense (blog, wiki, whatever) to hear from their customers. Markets are conversations.
• Content is king. Are you adding to the world?
• A blog without comments is merely a website.
• Australian organisations should remember being english speaking, relatively stable economically; that the world is flat – and customers are not restricted to the mainland and Tasmania. The world is your market, converse with it.
• Branding: what is your brand? Is it you personally?