About 200 bloggers attended the first day of Blog Indiana at the IUPUI campus in Indianapolis. Nearly all the available spots were filled.
Some of us were still a little groggy from getting up before dawn for the long drive to Indy. Eventually we woke up and managed to have a good time.
Noah & Shawn are the conference organizers.
The conference center is almost new and is a perfect facility for a blog conference.
I got to hang out with some of the people who keep us informed on state issues, like Thomas from Blue Indiana. Thomas is representing Indiana bloggers at the convention in Denver. Doug blogs on political and various other topics over in Purdue country. Ruth Holliday and Chris Hardie both like to dog the MSM in their respective communities. Ruth has the inside track on print media, having been a journalist for 37 years.
PROFILE: Thirty-seven years in the old, tired, dull and greedy media have not killed my love of news. The only difference is, I no longer drink.
The featured political celebrity was Laurin Manning, Obama’s National Blog Editor.
From the enthusiasm I saw throughout the day, I predict a bigger Blog Indiana will be back next year.
Looks like the sessions were an interesting mix of topics. Quite a few sessions on corporate blogging (with brand). Wonder what they’re up to?
Thanks for sharing. 😉
PS
Is IUPUI pronounced as a word or said as individual letters?
I stayed away from the corporate types. There were quite a few liberal/progressives there to hang out with, although it wouldn’t be evident unless you were there. The corporates seemed interested in adding blogs to their company sites. I would think they would have to moderate them pretty closely – disgruntled customers or clients, ya’ know. Actually, the panel discussion I attended Saturday was slanted left 2 to 4 and all the beginner track workshops I took part in had a distinct liberal tone.
As to the IUPUI thing, I’ve heard a few call it “ooeepooee”, but most just say the letters.