Blog Con 2019

Posted on by Thor

I stopped by Full Sail University to see the opening of this year’s Blog Con. Ford sponsored the event and several vehicles were parked outside the entrance. In the parking lot a woman had her arm stretched out in front of her holding her phone which she was  talking to. She was clearly recording a video of herself reporting about Blog Con. I have tried to sketch at Blog Con every year since 2009. It is a chance to see what is happening in this relatively new field of digital communication. This year’s theme was “Tell Your Story.” The Full Sail Live auditorium was packed. Blog Con had sold out.



Rachelle Lucas a Freelance Spokesperson, Writer, and Videographer was giving the key note talk. I sketched her as she waited to go on stage. She spoke about getting a trip to Dubai and being nervous about going to the Middle East. With world tensions so high she feared that she and the people with her might be dragged out into that desert to be shot. The trip however was lovely. She showed an Instagram photo of herself in a bathrobe sipping a cup of champagne. It looked like the ideal relaxing vacation. However the reality behind that image was something else. She had welts all over her arms and legs from mosquito bites. That was why she was in the bathrobe. 

Rachelle talked about walking through the lobby of the hotel with several gentleman carrying the campaign. Two older gentlemen seated in the lobby, I imagine them looking like the two guys in the balcony of the Muppets show, winked and nodded their heads. Had they seen the cameras set up in the hotel suite their imaginations would have gone wild.


Rachelle’s primary point was that social media like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter are platforms to help drive traffic to the place where the WHOLE story can be  told which is her blog. It was rewarding to hear that for once I might be doing something right since I use those media in the same way. 

She pointed out that telling stories is as important in society as the basics of survival. Stories have been passed down through the generations, filling history books, offering insights into our culture. They are central to humans communicate. We engage
with others through stories, and storytelling is a lot more than just a
recitation of facts and events. As human beings, we are automatically drawn to stories because we see ourselves reflected in them. We inevitably interpret the meaning in stories and understand ourselves better. It was helpful to be reminded that the simple act of sharing ideas every day has meaning and value.


After her Key Note, the  crowd was divided up into different groups. Someone would hold up a sign saying something like, Foodies and all the foodies would gather around the sign. I always feel like the odd duck out since what I do does not fit neatly into any of those categories. I’m not a mommy blogger, a foodie or a lifestyle blogger. Though I am starting to use digital sketch tablets, I’m not a tech blogger. I feel too old school to fit into the modern digital categories. I have so much to learn and Blog Con was a fire hose of information. Someday I hope to master the business of telling stories.

Florida Blog Con

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Central Florida Top 5‘s Bess Auer began the annual Blog Con three years ago. It has been an annual pilgrimage for me to cover the conference. This year’s conference, on Saturday, September 21, was at Full Sail University in Full Sail Live. It was a one-day gathering of the state’s biggest bloggers and social media pros. One of the sponsors was Bahama Breeze and a spokesman got up to the podium and announced that one lucky conference attendee would win an expense paid trip if they were seated at a table that had a Bahama Breeze certificate taped underneath it. Darn it, I wasn’t even seated at a table! Everyone scrambled, first feeling blindly under the tables with their hands and then getting on all fours to look. The lucky winner was in the back of the room. The theme for this year’s conference, was “Be Awesome!”

Pat Williams, an author, blogger and Senior Vice President of the Orlando Magic was the keynote speaker. His message was about how to be successful in life and blogging. “In tough times, you’re very teachable. Don’t waste those moments: turn suffering into lessons.” he said. His advice can be summed up in a ten step process…

1. Think the right kind of thoughts.

2. Say the right kind of words.

3.  Be specific in your goal setting.

4. Be responsible.

5. Seek out the right kind of friends.

6. Turn set backs into strengths.

7. Go the second mile.

8. Never give up.

9.  Character counts.

10. Love life and have faith.

Best Sketches of 2012

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Vote results are in for the best sketches of 2012.

1. July 18, (the Parentheticals),  nominated by, Mathew OGrady with 54% of the votes.

2. Oct 10, Blog Con, nominated by Bess Auer with 12% of the votes.

2. (Tie) Oct 24, Sunday in the Park with George, nominated by Zac Alfson with 12% of the votes.

3. Feb 21, Night of Fire. Analytics nominated post. With 4% of the votes.

3. (Tie) May 18, The Eighties Strike Back. Analytics nominated post. With 4% of the votes. 

3. (Tie) December 13th,

Last Tango in Paris. Nominated by Hengua, with 4% of the votes.

3. (Tie) June 6, NAMTA. Nominated by Analytics, with 4% of the votes.

 

3. (Tie) September 4, RAW: RADIATE. Nominated by Analytics, with 4% of the votes. 

 3. (Tie) January 5, We Buy Gold, Nominated by Analytics, with 4% of the votes.

To maintain the one a day posting schedule, here is a sketch of a Mall window display from the AADW Archives. The writing was on the window of a Saks Fifth Avenue store. The display was designed by Shepard Fairey of Studio Number One. Shepard was best known for doing the red white and blue Obama campaign poster.

Blog Con

Posted on by Thor

Blog Con, organized by Bess Auer of Central Florida Top 5, was held at the Orlando Science Center on Saturday September 15th. The event was sponsored by Florida Institute of Technology and it was even bigger then last year’s event with about 120 attendees. I arrived a bit late and ended up missing the keynote speech by Lou Mongello in the morning. When Bess greeted me she helped me upload the conference schedule onto my iPhone. It was an impressive little program specially designed for the conference. The first talk I attended and sketched was Marketing Yourself – How to build Your Media Kit by Callie Cowen. Callie was a working mom from Venice Florida who blogs about her journey to a healthier lifestyle and hopes too inspire a few other “wannabe athletes” along the way. I had never considered making a media kit for my blog although I had seen many kits when I worked in the magazine business. She offered plenty of food for  thought.

Different rooms were set up so break out groups could attend different sessions running simultaneously in different rooms. Mark Baratelli who runs thedailycity.com gave a funny and cynical look at how he finds content that leads to a passionate following. He ironically noted that attending “Tweet Ups and other social media gatherings is a waste of time. Mark used to organize the Mobile Art Shows in Downtown Orlando and he had people gather at local food trucks to sample the menu. The food truck angle eventually morphed into the very successful food truck bazaars that he sponsors now. He lamented that getting people to contribute content t thee blog was usually a wasted effort in which time was spent with meetings to get people involved but in the end the contributions would dissipated since, well, people don’t put in much effort when asked to work for free.

My favorite talk was by Josh Murdock who showed us a whole bunch of fun widgets and gadgets.  There were gadgets for animation, film editing and all of them were free or cheap. Who could ask for more? Justice Mitchell gave a great talk on Storytelling and Problem Solving: The Keys to the Infectious Blog. He made it clear that as bloggers, we are all contributing to an ongoing dialogue by telling stories which is a tradition that began way back in the days of the cave man. He advised on creating content that helps people solve problems noting Myth Busters as an example. On Myth Busters they begin with a premise, they apply science and they form a conclusion. There was one session on Analytics that went way over my head. Apparently there is a numbers crunching attribute to this blogging business that is something I have been blind to. Blogging isn’t easy. But this day was a great way to get informed to try and catch the social media train before it leaves the station.

Pirate Day!

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I was running late getting to the Orlando Science Center (777 East Princeton Street, Orlando Fl)  to attend and sketch Blog Con. It was raining so I sucked it up and paid $5 to park in the parking garage across the street. Walking across the glass enclosed walkway to the museum I passed children in costume as pirates. The place was packed full of pirates. The conference I was there was informative but I played hookey long enough to sketch the pirate at the entrance who quickly made balloon sabers, swords and cutlasses for the kids. The second two kids got their swords, they would be fencing and stabbing each other in the belly.

Leonardo Da Vinci‘s flying machine was suspended from the ceiling. Made of wood, I highly doubt it would fly, but the pirate seated next to me said the pulley systems would multiply the force applied to the winch six times.  Any time folks would walk by this friendly pirate would say, Arrrrre ye having a good time. I heard this said so often that I wanted a saber to run me through. Pirates behind me were rolling dice to pick crew mates. A wench informed me that quarters below deck were quite cozy.

Central Florida Blogger's Conference

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The Central Florida Blogger’s Conference was hosted by Bess Auer of the Central Florida Top 5 Blog. When I entered the Maitland Middle School gym, Marc Middleton was giving an inspiring and insightful presentation about his National program called “Growing Bolder.” His presentation stressed that we can achieve anything we set our sights on. He punctuated the point by showing video of a woman who was 109 years old who loved blogging. She said writing every day kept her sharp and always curious.

At lunch I got to meet Laura Tellado who runs a blog called “Holdin’ Out for a Hero“, which promotes Awareness of Spina Bifida. I learned about her cause and we batted ideas back and forth about blogging. She introduced me to the QR code which magically brings up a web page using a smart phone. The first thing I did when I got back from the conference was to design a new business card with a QR code on it. Working daily on my own blog I never realized the wide variety of specialty blogs out there. When so many specialists mix it up there are unexpected and exciting results.

The day offered many new ideas and concepts. I am still trying to digest all that was discussed that day. I feel that I have a whole lot of catching up to do and I am proceeding one step at a time. I was told by a fan of my blog that I don’t tweet enough, so I will work on that. So many people at the conference were professional Public Relations and marketing experts. Which was both intimidating and exhilarating. Everyone offered me new insights and leads. Although this conference was smaller than the izea Fest Blogging Conference I sketched over a year ago, it had the advantage of being more intimate, offering more opportunities to meet fellow bloggers. At the Eden Bar afterward, I got to talk to Maria Diestro from Second Harvest Food Bank. This chance meeting will result in my sketching and reporting on the great work this organization does.