Another Blogger

iTalk iPad

Aaron B. Hockley — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 02:58:02 +0000

I’ve been spouting off about the iPad in some other places:

My first iPad reactions
Twelve Things a Photographer can do with an iPad
How to Export Photos from Lightroom to the iPad
I was one of four folks who contributed thoughts to an iPad Reactions piece on the Silicon Florist

Event Organization: Food

Aaron B. Hockley — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:59:50 +0000

I’ve received several inquiries from folks who want to pick my brain on event organization and planning. I’m producing a series of short videos; each one will address a particular area of event organization.

In this video, I talk a bit about food service for events:

Stick around; future videos will discuss finance, sponsorships, ticketing, registration, speakers, A/V, and more.

Event Organization: Facilities

Aaron B. Hockley — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 20:02:23 +0000

In this video, I talk a bit about facility selection and considerations:

Stick around; future videos will discuss finance, sponsorships, ticketing, registration, speakers, A/V, and more.

Event Organization: General Scope/Size/Schedule

Aaron B. Hockley — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:52:58 +0000

Based on my experience in producing WordCamp Portland as well as volunteering at other events, I offer some thoughts on general event size, scope, and schedule considerations:

This is the first of several videos I’ll be producing in the next few weeks. Stay tuned for more topics including facilities, sponsors, financial management, speakers, volunteers, ticketing, registration, and more.

A Few Thoughts on BlogWorld 2009

Aaron B. Hockley — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 02:40:54 +0000

As I write this I’m sitting at the Las Vegas airport awaiting my (delayed, grumble) flight back home. I’ve just wrapped up three days of events surrounding Blogworld Expo. Here are a few thoughts in a less-than-organized fashion:

This was my first Blogworld… I went into it with two purposes. Part of my motivation for attendance was to learn a few things from some of the official conference sessions. My other plan was to meet and network with a variety of smart people.

Overall, it met my expectations. Some of the sessions were really great, although there were a couple that I felt were disappointing or didn’t really fit with the session title. I attended a couple of the WordCamp sessions that were part of the WordCamp Las Vegas being held inside Blogworld and they were great – John Hawkins (@VegasGeek) and his crew put on a good program. A couple of the monetization panels were excellent, including the site critique/review panel… I stepped a bit outside my comfort zone and asked for a critique of Social Photo Talk and got feedback from Darren Rowse (ProBlogger), Brian Clark (Copyblogger), and John Chow. They asked some good questions, gave me some solid suggestions for improvement, and to my relief validated that a lot of what I was doing (and have planned) is correct. Thanks guys!

I’ve seen several comments that there were less vendors and exhibitors than in the past. With this being my first trip to the show I can’t offer a comparison but there were less than I expected. VegasGeek noted that it was disappointing that there was no representation from Automattic, but as I thought about it I realized I didn’t see anyone there who works for any of the major blog platforms. Not only was Automattic (WordPress) missing, but I didn’t see anyone from Six Apart (Moveable Type / TypePad), Google (Blogger), or even Squarespace which has been all over the place lately seeking publicity.

The afterhours activities were a lot of fun (and as a photographer, a special thanks to Victor for a great photowalk on Thursday night).

On a personal level it was great to see a bunch of friends from the west coast WordCamps like John, Chris, Abbie, Shayne, Austin, Jeana, Todd, and Sara (and since I’m tired I’m not going to link ‘em up… but they know who they are).

Thanks to everyone who made Blogworld a great event. I’m leaving with all sorts of great ideas and a bunch of new friends.

Looking Forward to the Salem Tribe

Aaron B. Hockley — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:00:46 +0000

Portland has a variety of regular social media events, such as Beer and Blog, the Social Media Club, and the Portland WordPress User Group. Salem (the capital of Oregon and located about an hour south of Portland) doesn’t have any sort of regular social media gatherings… yet. Vin Thomas and Bo Lane are launching the Salem Tribe, a gathering of individuals to talk about social media use and other new media topics.

I’m honored that they asked me to come down and speak at their inaugural event next Monday, October 5th at the Ike Box. I’ll be presenting Ignore the “Experts” and Build Influence Naturally, a look at using social media in effective, ethical ways to build trust and influence online.

Perhaps I’ll see you there?

Photo by MR+G, used under Creative Commons licensing

Slides from WordCamp Seattle: After Launching a Couple Dozen Blogs, I Figured Out How to Do it Right

Aaron B. Hockley — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 07:18:04 +0000

I had the pleasure of presenting at WordCamp Seattle this weekend. Big thanks to Josh, Bean, Calvin, Dan, and the rest of the volunteers, sponsors, and attendees that made it a great event. I presented a talk based on an earlier blog post about the steps in launching a new blog, specifically SocialPhotoTalk.com. Here are the slides from my presentation. The talk was recorded; once that video is available I’ll link it here as well.

After Launching a Couple Dozen Blogs, I Figured Out How To Do it Right

View more presentations from Aaron Hockley.

Portlander? Going to BlogWorld? Let Us Know!

Aaron B. Hockley — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:25:07 +0000

I know of a couple other people from the Portland area that are heading down to Las Vegas for Blog World Expo next month. It promises to be a great weekend of all things bloggy (read more on a previous post). I thought it might be interesting to try to gather information on those from the area who were going, find out if we’re on any of the same flights, and so on.

If you’re from the Portland area and heading to BlogWorld, leave a comment below.

Observation on Portland’s Social Media Groups

Aaron B. Hockley — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 04:46:31 +0000

Observation: there’s the Beer and Blog crowd, and there’s the Social Media Club crowd. And there’s very little overlap between those crowds.

Good? Bad? Doesn’t Matter? Discuss.

Thoughts on Running a WordCamp: Connections and Inspiration

Aaron B. Hockley — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:47:37 +0000

Why have I run WordCamp Portland for the last couple of years? Perhaps it’s because I’m crazy. Or perhaps it’s because it’s a chance to bring together and get to know a whole bunch of really smart people. In our first year we tapped into a lot of local talent that was mostly unknown to many of the PDX tech scene “regulars.” We also had the UX lead for Automattic show us a preview of the next version of WordPress. RSS guru Marshall showed some of his power tools to an overflowing-into-the-hallway room.

This year, we’ll have Matt in attendance, along with Micah who is quickly becoming one of the most-known speakers on trust and influence. We’re going to have an e-commerce expert from Texas. Oh, and one of those Cheezburger guys. But those are all out-of-towners. I’m equally excited to feature local folks like performance expert Jason Grigsby talk about optimization and designer Tyler Sticka show how to make beautiful portfolios using WordPress. And with a title involving bondage, I’m curious to see what Cami and Dr. Normal have up their sleeves…

Sure, WordCamp is a ton of work. But there’s something to be said for the connections and inspiration.