Thank You

Last year it snowed in Iowa.  A lot.

I remember the first few times part of my sidewalk was already cleared.  The next time I was out shoveling and the neighbor across the street was using a snowblower to clear his sidewalk.  Deep in concentration, I continued shoveling.  The next time it snowed,  my sidewalk wasn’t cleared.  As I finished shoveling, he was finishing his driveway.  I went over and said hi, asked him about his snowblower, and asked if he had previously cleared the sidewalk for me.  After he said yes, I thanked him and said how much it really helped, especially since I have a corner lot.  As I went back to my house, I thanked him again.

After that, the one sidewalk was always cleared.

A simple thank you works wonders.

So my list of “social media” thank-you’s follows.  Not trying to “name drop” – but giving my sincere thanks for those who have really made a difference in my blogging, podcasting, etc. trials. In no particular order:

• Adam Curry – podcaster and entrepreneur extraordinaire.  First played my promo for Rutter’s Ramblings, then started the Troy Needs an Ipod Contest, and later became a great online friend.
• CC Chapman – met through Adam Curry, later became a good online friend and met at Podcamp Boston 2 and Blogworld. Worlds nicest guy.
• Chris Brogan – Knew the name when we had lunch at Podcamp Boston 2, but not much else about him. Later he sent out a few retweets for my site here.  Someone I always go to for inspiration. And heck of a nice person.
• Joel Comm – A mentor, friend and inspiration.  What more can I say?
• Crew at Central Iowa Bloggers – you guys rock.  Always a source of inspiration and learning
• Bitmethod (Daniel, Neal and Igor specifically) – setting a high bar for doing the awesome
• Chris Pirillo – fellow Iowan, full-time video streamer… and good friend.
• Jim Kukral – First started talking about 2 years ago, now working on rebuilding one of his websites into a great resource for bloggers (see below)

And to everybody else Ive met at tweetups, barcamps, #cib, or just a cup of coffee someplace.  You all make a difference, I’m grateful for having such creative people as friends and colleagues.

Please

I have started rebuilding a blogging tips web site called “Ask The Blogger” – please take a look, subscribe, comment, interact, whatever.  I would love to build on the conversations I have at #CIB and develop it as a place for blogging tips and tricks.  There are a lot of websites out there offering the same thing – but this one is the place I finally feel “home” – and I’m inviting you in.

Have a wonderful holiday and great 2011!

Members of #cib (Central Iowa Bloggers) saw I tweeted about a new opportunity that I was getting involved in.  I haven’t given many details, but I think I am at the point where I can let people know about my new project, and my excitement over it.

I attended BlogWorld Expo this year, and finally met one of my acquaintances, Jim Kukral.  Jim and I have been talking here and there over the past couple of years ever since I discovered his Online Video Toolkit instructional videos.  We also have a common friend in Joel Comm.

At BlogWorld, I first met up with Jim at a party in the Luxor suite on Wednesday, where I made a joke about a tuna appetizer being bacon (someone overheard and tried to correct me, and I just rolled my eyes – it was a JOKE!) and then we ran into each other over the course of the conference.  I went to the Wiley booth and bought a copy of his book, and saw that Steve Garfield (whom I met at Podcamp Boston 2) was also there, so I took the goofy picture of me, them and their books.

Flash forward to a couple of weeks ago.

Jim sent out a tweet about a web site he was interested in partnering with someone – or outright selling it.  And it hit me.  This is what I was looking for.

With this blog, and also with my podcast, I have a tendency to talk about the medium instead of the niche I am trying to talk about. For instance, on my blog I blog about blogging, and on my podcast I podcasted about podcasting.  This can turn off readers/listeners who found your content because of your main niche, and don’t really care how much you know about the technical side of creating the content they are looking for.

So – what better way than actually doing a blog about blogging?  I had always resisted because Darren Rowse is such a powerhouse in that arena.  But this site is different in that visitors actually ask targeted questions, and those are the main basis of the content.

We are still getting things revamped and re-organized, but the new site is:

http://www.asktheblogger.com

I hope you check it out.

I attended a panel called “Are Daddybloggers the New Mommybloggers” at Blogworld Expo 2010. My good friend CC Chapman was one of the panelists.

I sat down, and for the first time that weekend did not take notes. I wanted to hear what CC had to say, and didn’t think any of the actual “topics” would appeal to me, or warrant writing down (for me).

Boy was I wrong!

Immediately at the start of the panel, the panelist expressed their distaste for the term “daddybloggers.” I have known CC a long time, and despite being a really smart social media maven, he has always blogged about his kids in an entertaining way. I heard he was starting up this new site/network called Digital Dads, but I figured it was just going to be a bunch of dads talking about parenting.

Yeah, I believed the stereotype.

As CC and the others explained, Digital Dads is not just about parenting, its about guys being guys. It’s a far cry from The Man Show, but just because they are guys, and they happen to blog once in a while about parenting, that doesn’t mean every post has to be so.

But the panel also ended up being an example of what not to do.

During the Q&A session, a representative from Disney who worked with the mommybloggers  recently, asked a question to the panel.  After it was answered, another attendee of the session got up and started pitching the Disney rep while the session was still going on near the front of the room, just feet away from the panel.  I could feel the tension rising, and each of the panelists shot looks of disdain in the direction of the man, but he persisted.  Rude, unprofessional and BAD FORM.

So what did I learn from a panel on daddybloggers?

- Don’t pigeonhole yourself or others based on a specific blogging “label”

- Don’t be a DB and interrupt a panel to pitch yourself to someone else at the panel

- Wearing a dress, wig and high heels isn’t for everyone

Did I mention CC also has a book coming out called Content Rules? More on that later…