Supercool School: How to Run a Virtual Blogging Event Like a Famous Blogger

Note: Liz Strauss was so generous to edit & comment this post so that you can benefit from her wisdom ( she was my inspiration for the EduBlogger Event07 and the blog-mentor of the event). You have to check out SOBCon07! Liz comments are written in purple :)

The most effective way to use a blog is by hosting a virtual blogging event. A virtual event is more then a method to boost your traffic - it´s a fun, exciting & inspiring way to build long lasting relationships and to give something back to the community.

And the EduBlogger Event07 has shown us that you don´t have to be a famous blogger to make it happen.

I thought I would share my experience and the lessons I´ve learned from my blogger event so that other new and aspiring bloggers will follow and host some amazing events on their blogs too. So let´s start...

What is a virtual blogging event?
Very easy...just a crowd interested in a specific topic that comes together to listen to expert speakers, discuss and network with other like-minded people. And what makes this "virtual"? Your blog!
The difference lies in the environment: the speakers don´t speak - they post on your blog. The discussions and Q&A sessions are held in the comment box under the specific posts. That´s a very powerful way to use a blog.

Ok - got it.. but why should I want to host a virtual blogging event?
Wow...there are soooo many reasons. Here are just a few of them:

You build great relationships
You do something special
You boost the conversations on your blog
You get more link-love
You can give something back to others
You get great & unique content for your blog
You get more traffic

Wait a minute, Steli . . . You you you. it's not all about the blogger putttin it on, Is it? That's not at all why I put on my virtual conference. I hope that no one thinks that's why I did.

I did it because

My readers got information from great sources.

My readers got to meet each other and talk about things they are interested in.

My readers got to get lots of information in a short time.

My readers got introduced to some of the best bloggers that I know.

Virtual Blogging Event Blue Print:

Planning:

Get clear about the purpose. What do you want to achieve with it? What are your goals? Who is your audience and what do they want?

Think about the theme. What could be a cool theme for your event? Something that your audience and the potential speakers would enjoy being part of?
Find a mentor. This way you can stand upon the shoulders of a giant and learn from someone who already did what you want to do. Liz helped me - so I am willing to help you if you need me :)
Give yourself three times as much time as you think you need

Speakers:

Friends come first. Contact your existing blogger friends first and ask them to attend at the event. The response rate will likely be much higher with people in your network than with total strangers. After the first people agreed to participate you can the leverage the results to persuade other bloggers to commit to your event as virtual speakers.
Make new friends. I suggest that you have a look at the blogs you read but do not have a connection to the author yet. What could be a better way to make new friends? Ask them if they would like to write a post for your event and become virtual speakers.
Get clear before you contact anyone on what you want them to do. Write down the who, what, when, where, why, and how. Have a sample to send them so that they know what they are making a commitment to do.

Organization:

Date/Time of event:
Time Zone:
Break:
Setup a session time for every speaker:
Setup the session intervals:
Deadline for the speakers to send you their posts:
Promotion tools (graphs etc.):
Marketing on your blog:
Marketing on the speakers blogs:

Again know which of the above you think are important and who is going to do what. Write down what each of these things is and have sample of what they look like.

Running the event:

Publish the first post
Send a message to the speaker to tell her the post is live
Write the first question to the post so that things get started
Go into the comment box and refresh frequently to participate in the discussion
Deactivate the capcha function of your blog (if you have any) to make it easier for people to comment

Monintor the back end to make sure no new visitors comments end up in the spam catcher.
Repeat the process for the second post, third post...etc. It´s hard to keep on top of the discussions if you have several of them going on at the same time. I suggest you use tabs to open a window for every session and trust the speaker to handle the situations.

Aftermath:

Relax and have a look at the results
Send a message to your speakers and give them feedback
Write a post about the event and what you´ve learned

Thank every speaker.
Here is the original message I send to hj barraza , Jon Bennett , Florence Meichel , Peter Haslam , Liz Strauss , Joshua Hwang , TONNET , Pat Aroune, TONNET Pat Aroune Steve Dembo and Tiara Shafiq after the EduBlogger Event07:

"thankx to all of you guyz´n´girlz for making this day so special!
You Rock!!! This is a remakable day for me - I will always remember what you
did for me & for this event...

Much love & respect!
Steli Efti "

That´s it. It´s easier than it looks - you can do it too! Start planning your event today :)

Here are my results from the EduBlogger Event07:

11 insanely great posts from supercool bloggers
1,100 unique visitors ( usually I have about 100-150 unique visitors on my blog)
160 comments
15 diggs
30 links
42 emails
lots & lots of power & love :)

Mistakes I learned the hard way:

I committed to late to a time& date. Many speakers had to cancel their participation after receiving the time & date from me. Don´t ask people to speak at your event without telling them when it will be.
I could have tried harder to please my speakers. Some speakers wanted another time for their session and I could have asked more speakers to switch time with them.
The session intervals where too fast. At the EduBlogger Event07 we started every half hour a new session. I suggest an hour because the conversation needs usually a little time to start and half an hour is simply to fast.

Virtual Blogging Event Challenge:

I would like to challenge some great bloggers to make an event on their blogs: YoungGoGetter, Ilker, Ugonet and Sam.

Comments

Steli I met a lot of interesting people and got my ideas stretched a very worthwhile day. Thank you for inviting me

Posted by: Peter | April 09, 2007 at 03:16 AM

You are right Steli I should. I will have to work on it! i will study all you have written on your experience first, thanks!! I went to podcampNYC Saturday and I was very impressed with the level of support the podcasting community gave each other.

Posted by: Ugonet | April 09, 2007 at 03:44 AM