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Webster University PR Institute Live Blogs My "In a Fog About Blogs?" Seminar

The PR Institute at Webster University in St Louis, live-blogged the highlights of the the day-long seminar entitled "In a Fog About Blogs?" that I presented yesterday. That's me (L) with Webster School of Communications Dean Debra Carpenter. The creation of the University's PR Institute and the blog seminar were part of the Master's Thesis of Nancy Higgins, Webster Special Events Director.

They've done a great job on the blog posts, so I will just add a few observations:

Quotes of the day:
Answering a question about why he started blogging, Dr. Craig Hildreth, author of the inspiring The Cheerful Oncologist blog, said explained that it originally was an outlet for his grief over losing two related patients. He sells hope, he said, and he wanted to share his message of hope with patients all over the world.

He found the experience of joining the social media revolution "...was like leaving the earth in a spaceship." He quickly found his voice and says he is thoroughly delighted with blogging.

St Louis Mayor Francis Slay (D) blogged about his presentation at the seminar here

Mayor Slay: Blogging is Fun
He pointed out a fact that many people forget -- blogging is fun. The mayor, who says he uses staff only for editing and formatting, claims to write all his own posts in about an hour a day.

Mayor Slay's blog doesn't have comments, he explained, because he doesn't have the staff to check the validity of identities, or to deal with comment spam. While I think comments are a crucial part of what makes blogging a conversation, I find his response acceptable.

Hey! Mayor Bloomberg! Where's Your Blog?
Now if only Mayor Bloomberg would blog. Or buy himself a blogger. Oh yeah, I forgot... he doesn't need to listen, or debate.

Kurt Greenbaum, Interactive Editor of The St Louis Post-Dispatch, who made some excellent points about blogging, took the requisite swing at bloggers:
"They run the risk of getting to the point of nobody paying attention in the tug of war between 'arrogant mainstream media' and the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants blogger." Bloggers, he repeated several times, have no editor, and are not objective.

And, of course, journalists are.

corporate+blogging, blogging+seminars, blolgging, B.L.+Ochman Webster+University, thecheerfuloncologist. mayorslay.com

Categories: Blog Bashing, Blogging and Moblogging, Business Communications, Commentary, Corporate_Blogging, Events, Marketing Strategy, Public Relations

BL Ochman | Oct 18 05 10:29 | TrackBack (0)

Comments

BL,

I want to thank you for the truthful knowledge that you shared with us at Webster University on Monday. I truly enjoyed your presentation and the style in which it was presented. I go to a lot of conferences, and very few speakers keep my attention during their allotted time... whatever that might be. You kept my attention the entire day… for that I am grateful.

Keep up the great work!
Beth

Posted by: Beth Lammert at October 19, 2005 12:18 PM

Thank you so much Beth! Can you see? I just got an inch taller.

I'm really happy that you found the information helpful.

I tried really to stuff an awful lot of new info into everyone's head in a short time :>)

I learned a great deal from all of you too.
BL

Posted by: B.L. Ochman at October 19, 2005 2:05 PM

BL,

Quick question... is it acceptable for an intra-organizational blog to have several contributors? I want to start a blog for the communications department here at Ascension Health, but I want to be sure that blog etiquette dictates that it's okay for more than one person to author articles. Thanks ahead of time for your response!

Beth

Posted by: Beth Lammert at October 21, 2005 5:04 PM

It absolutely is acceptable to have multiple authors. And it means that no one person has to spend huge amounts of time on the blog.

Posted by: B.L. Ochman at October 22, 2005 12:23 AM

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About BL Ochman

Blogger, social media strategy consultant to Fortune 500 companies, and sought-after corporate speaker B.L. Ochman heads the creative team of whatsnextonline.com. She also publishes the Ethics Crisis blog for SRF Global Translations

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