Event Blogs Take Center Stage

Yahoo updates us on the Democratic National Convention's use of blogs. The Boston Globe first covered this a month ago with an oft-linked to article “Blogs Colliding With Traditional Media.” In addition to providing a select group of bloggers with press credentials, the DNC created its own blog for the event.

Disclaimers: I leave it to the folks at Poynter to decide if bloggers rubbing elbows with journos is the end of civilization as we know it or simply another perspective covering the event. This is also not a political post, but considering a blog is a personal op-ed page, I will note that the technology seems to be perfect for politics.

What intrigues me about this story is how it shows event-based blogging is one of the best uses for a blog in a corporate setting. In fact, “temporary blogs” based on a time-sensitive subject may be the key to corporate America adopting this technology.

The Event Blog’s Impact on Corporate Blogging could be considerable because they:

• Establish Boundaries. If a company knows the blog will only be used actively for a defined period of time, they may be more comfortable in handing over the publishing reigns. Michael Schrage coins the phrase plogs—for project Web logs in a recent CIO article and shows how they might help support project management (great reader comments attached to this one). Post-project, the blog serves as an online archive for future reference, or it can be revived for the next project. I built a time-sensitive blog covering a specific current event that will not be updated after this summer. The fact that you can update a blog instantly does not mean you have to.

• Minimize Risk. Many companies weigh the decision to blog based on what they already know about blogs. There are not a ton of great business blog case studies out there just yet. The perceived risk of launching a corporate blog is still high. A hard deadline like an event date might help establish a comfort level by minimizing the risk of starting a corporate blog.

• Relinquish Some Control. There is no need to "police" the blog. And corporations will be more agreeable to putting a publishing tool in employee hands if they know they'll get the tool back.

• Enhance Traditional Media. Take the show daily for example. More than half of this standard trade show publication is laid out prior to the show and does not reflect the bulk of the real show news. Blogs are perfect for up to date event coverage and it encourages show attendees to contribute their own take on the show.

• Get Attention. Event blogs are more likely to get a test run. How many times have you seen companies "experiment" at trade shows to get more booth traffic? Sometimes is has painful results, but overall, companies are willing to try something “unconventional” and new when planning an event in an effort to stand out. The DNC blog is certainly helping the Democratic party do this.

• Provide Metrics. In addition to measuring blog traffic, quantitative feedback is readily available through a blog. Even more so for an event blog. After most events and projects, there is typically a "post-mortem" discussion where everyone analyzes what worked and what didn't. These discussions yield feedback pretty quickly allowing you to determine the impact the blog had on the show.

In any event...wading into blogging will involve some mistakes, but sometimes that's the best way to learn. Event blogs help address the concerns most corporations have about blogs. We'll surely see a variety of corporate blog experiments in the next 12 months. Hopefully none of the side effects will involve legal action.

Comments

[dave]

Here is the URL of the Networld+Interop blog that was done live from the event.
http://loop.interop-comdex.com/weblog?id=C0_32_1

It received substantial notice from vendors who wanted to play a role

[steve M]

Awwsome event blog and the best way to boost your brand exposure,advertising and marketing, Thats perfect for trade shows / expo's / lobbies / point-of-sales / exhibitions / conferences by the help of innovative banner stand display and large format printing service because links are not that visible as compare to banner ads. You can get more information on this subject at http://www.vividads.com.au

[Rob]

Hey man,

great blog im gonna bookmark this for the future, some really good ideas in it. please check out my website as well which shows all the top uk events that are happening near you.

Rob

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