BlogHer in Second Life-514
by Queen Tureaud

I think it is safe to say you liked the Second Life version of BlogHer '07. 514 is my new favorite number. I'll explain why shortly.

When I brought the idea to Elisa, Lisa, and Jory a few months ago, we agreed the virtual BlogHer was an experiment. The idea was to offer bloghers unable to travel to Illinois a way to attend and be a part of the conference. We were not sure how many of you would "attend" and in all honesty, we were not sure how it would all turn out. I'm not normally a numbers person (or avatar) but in this case, I'm making an exception for some amazing stats:

Paul Clevett of http://www.hypserstring.net, our virtual conference site, tells me 514 connections were made to our video server as avatar after avatar logged in to watch our keynote speaker, Elizabeth Edwards, live from the BlogHer '07 conference at Navy Pier in Chicago. 514 connections. WOW.

Keep in mind registration was going to be capped at 300 avatars.

We had to franticly close registration on Thursday after word of our live music kick off got out (thanks http://www.twitter.com ) before hyperstring.net found a way to squeeze in 200 party crashers. I won't lie to you, we thought about kicking out all non registrants, but this was a free conference and the decision was made to make all welcome, not to mention see what sort of damage we could do to the grid. I'm going to have to guess next year, many of you will have to go the more legit route into the party though.

Our panels on Friday and Saturday exceeded expectations. Amazing speakers http://www.blogher.com/node/22273 on great topics with discussions that not only lasted the time alloted, but in many cases went over-to NO complaints. The Second Life exclusive sessions really set us apart, I think.

I'm very anxious to hear YOUR feedback on the BlogHer in Second Life experiment. If we do this again, what would you like to see? What would you add to the panels? Topics for discussion? Speakers you'd love to hear? What about the office hours leading up to the virtual conference...were they enough? Did you need more? Was Second Life the right or wrong venue for us?

Leave me a comment-and if you were one of the 514 say hello!

Submitted by Queen Tureaud (view blog) on Thu, 08/02/2007 - 12:51pm

Comments

 

Thanks go to you, Queen Tureaud

You promised a turnkey operation, and you delivered. You handled so many of the details proactively and independently that we never had a moment's regret about taking on what turned out to be a whole other conference!

And I agree with you that it was a critical decision to have Second Life-specific content, not just listening to the sessions happening in RL. That may have made things a teensy bit more complex, but I think it was really important.

And cool. Did I say cool?

Elisa Camahort
BlogHer
elisa@blogher.org

Submitted by Elisa Camahort on Thu, 08/02/2007 - 13:28
 

Sadly I wasn't able to attend in Second LIfe

I didn't have a good week last week and I wasn't able to install Second Life in time. :(

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

Submitted by sassymonkey on Thu, 08/02/2007 - 14:00
 

I was just in awe sitting across from you,

watching you type, listen/talk via headset, visit with live people, and attempt to eat lunch all at the same time!

Queen Turead, your Second Life BlogHer sponsor

Belinda

Submitted by ninjapoodles on Thu, 08/02/2007 - 17:30
 

Thanks Belinda

...I'm not sure I ever did eat. Who needs real food, we had virtual drinks!

Submitted by Queen Tureaud on Thu, 08/02/2007 - 17:40
 

I was too late

I didn't get organised in time to attend the conference via Second Life. I obviously didn't read the requirements and only realised I was supposed to register when it was too late, although it looks as though I could have gate crashed. I probably would have literally gate crashed as my Second Life navigation skills are woeful. Next year perhaps.

Jen at Semantically driven and Safari suit

Submitted by jaycee on Sat, 08/04/2007 - 17:16