BlogHer - So, what's a Birds of a Feather session anyway? - Comments

woosie.77: Slots are full, but do have a waiting list going

Elisa Camahort — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 10:12:35 -0500

If you would like to be put on it please email me.

Elisa Camahort
BlogHer
elisa@blogher.com

Horse lovers?

woosie.77 — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 07:07:31 -0500

I would love to get together with other horse lovers! Owners, riders, trainers, English, western, everyone!

That's hilarious marylynn :)

Elisa Camahort — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:43:36 -0500

Cat on a onesie...picturing it right now.

I don't know how old you are, but we will be having both a twenty-somethings meet-up, and a MidlifeBloggers.com meet-up, and a Boomer and Beyond meet-up.

There's also a session specifically about women without children in the blogosphere (Laurie is speaking on it.)

Or you could hang out in the Tech track (aka How We Communicate) and brush up your skillz in video or learn about traffic building.

There's the whole What We Do track which is also more about tips and tricks around blogging than around the identity of blogging.

Bottom line is that I hope there is a lot to do even for folks who are Life bloggers, and don't fit neatly into a particular blogging group.

Elisa Camahort
BlogHer
elisa@blogher.com

count me in

BERNTHIS.COM — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:28:29 -0500

Look forward to meeting you.

ByJane: Absolutely! Please send your top 3 time slot references

Elisa Camahort — Fri, 23 May 2008 15:31:09 -0500

Of course, ByJane.

Check out the agenda and send Kristy and me your top three preferred time slots.

Obviously you DON'T want to schedule it during the Boomers & Beyond Birds of a Feather session. so watch out for that :)

Thanks.

Elisa Camahort
BlogHer
elisa@blogher.com

MidLife Bloggers

ByJane — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:49:42 -0500

This would be perfect for the MidLifeBloggers. The site, which grew out of a conversation on BlogHer, is on-line and evolving daily. We're just waiting for the one month anniversary of our first post, which will be SOON!, to sign on as an official BlogHer blog.

Can we also be a BOF this year?!?!?!?

By Jane

http://byjane.blogspot.com

Come see me at the BOF table

Denise — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 20:27:11 -0500

I'm arriving late on Thursday so I'm looking forward to saying hello to every single attendee at the BOF table first thing in the morning.

BOF last year was great for me (I hung with the edubloggers) because it gave me a chance to talk to some folks I wouldn't be able to ad that particular panel due to my own panel scheduled at the same time.

~Denise
Fast Times @ Homeschool High & Flamingo House Happenings

Mary - last year's BOF

Maria Niles — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 18:02:54 -0500

Hi Mary,

This is actually the thread for last year's BOF. There will be blank sheets at the conference and you can start a BOF for any topic you would like if it hasn't already been started. Check at the registration desk for sign-up sheets.

And Elisa put up a call for volunteers post recently and you might look for that and either comment there or email Elisa directly.

Cheers and see you at the conference.

KleenexÂ® Let It Outâ„¢ Blog
Beyond Help

Greener Society

Mary Clare Hunt — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 16:59:53 -0500

May I start a Green or Sustainable Living BOF? I'm open to any volunteer slots you may need to fill as well.

Mary

Laurie, I have a kid, but

karriew — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 05:15:32 -0500

Laurie, I have a kid, but that sounds like my kind of BOF too.

body image issues

DebbieNotkin — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 17:50:35 -0500

Having a fabulous time so far! Thanks for all your hard work.

Just hoping that either the feminism or the political Birds of a Feather session will be a good place to address the issues Laurie Toby Edison and I have noticed (and just posted about on Body Impolitic, having to do with the number of conference freebies and sponsorships encouraging weight loss and body unhappiness.

hmm...

Kristy Sammis — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 11:35:25 -0500

...trying to imagine a social icebreaker that doesn't involve copious amounts of liquor. Fascinating.

(p.s. this is the sort of comment one leaves when one thinks one is a funny blogger.)

Wow! Funny bloggers!

Krisco — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 09:54:37 -0500

That was my idea! Er -maybe a lot of people had that idea. Even better!

Actually, what I was thinking was - put all those really funny people together so I can meet them all at once.

In the absence of that miracle, how about a Funny Bloggers for people who would like to be funny bloggers? This is what I was thinking....how do you do that? If it's funny to you, is it funny to them? How do you know? You know. That kind of thing.

Count me in!

marylynn — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 19:08:21 -0500

Count me in on that one! I'm totally jealous of the mommybloggers, photobloggers, food bloggers, etc. who all have such cool common interest organized groups. What if you're an identity bloggers without a singular indentity?!

I blog about my life, but I'm not really big on any single topic. I blog for work, but that's not all of my job. It feels a bit disjointed trying to find a particular community.

I have, at times, thought about dressing my cat in a onesie and pretending he's a baby to get in on some of that hot mommyblogger action, but I think he hates me enough already and I'm pretty sure the mb's are smart enough to suss me out!

marylynn

Just a thought...

lauriewrites — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 16:24:17 -0500

Can we have a "single women who love kids but don't have them (yet) and therefore write slightly acerbic blogs about a little bit of everything" BOF? Anyone interested, please find me, but it's really okay, because I'll talk to anyone, I swear. : ) Laurie

lauriewrites

So, what's a Birds of a Feather session anyway?

Elisa Camahort — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 09:15:01 -0500

On Saturday morning, immediately after we open the conference in rousing fashion, you'll note that we're sending you off to get caffeinated and meet your blog crushes during an informal Birds of a Feather hour. Or as I like to call it: BOF.

But what is this BOF I speak of?

Birds of a Feather is fairly common at some conferences...often done over lunch, where you group together based on some kind of shared interest...and then talk about it for a while, without a pre-planned agenda. You might think of the recent xxCamp movement (BarCamp, WineCamp, MashupCamp) as one big BOF event, since people are informally gathering around topics of shared interest all day.

Last year we found that doing our BOFs in the morning before the breakout sessions was good, because people got to mix it up a bit, break the ice, meet new people, get their vocal cords exercised...and that made for engaged, lively sessions for the rest of the day.

How it works is this:

On Saturday when you register or come back from Friday, there will be some wonderful BlogHers, led by Nancy White and Toby Bloomberg, sitting next to the registration table with a bunch of clipboards and lists. We'll suggest a few BOF groups to get people thinking, but there will also be entirely blank lists for you to start from scratch. As people check in they'll indicate which BOF they'd like to join.

When the Opening session ends Nancy and Toby will come back in and give each list to someone on that list and ask them to basically pull a Moses and lead their people to the coffee break area out by the pool (kindly and healthily sponsored by WeightWatchers Online.)

People will grab their coffee (or their yogurt and granola bars) and gather together at one of the many tables in the area...and have at it.

So what are some examples of BOF topics? Last year a popular one was Moms who use profanity in their blogs. And of course politically partisan BOFs are always good for getting the blood pumping!

This year we may have some of the following started for you on a clipboard:

Faith Bloggers
Food and Wine Bloggers
Funny Bloggers
Finance and Entrepreneurial Bloggers
Feminist Bloggers

I didn't even have to work to find five BOFs that started with 'F'...those are all taken from responses in the BlogHer Attendee Survey (thanks to those of you who actually took it, by the way!)

[PS-If BOFing sounds like it's not your speed, there are a couple of alternate activities going on too...GM will conducting test drives of its new vehicles (including their car of the future...a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle.) And Lisa Stone will linger a little longer in the Mediterranean Ballroom to answer questions for bloggers interested in joining our advertising network. I guess a BlogHer Business BOF.]

So, that's how to BOF...any questions?