Blogging While Brown Announces Workshop Lineup

The Blogging While Brown Conference Planning Committee is pleased to announce the line up of confirmed workshop presenters. This group of presenters is a ridiculously talented group of individuals who stepped up to the plate to share their vast range of knowledge, education and real world experience to advance the growth and development of bloggers of color. They have our extreme thanks and gratitude for their service.

A town hall meeting and two "un-conference" breakout session topics will be announced at a later date. To register for the conference, go to bloggingwhilebrown.com. Speaker biographies are available here.


The Ultimate Blog Experience
Technology Keynote
Angela Conyers-Benton and Markus Robinson
BlackWeb20.com

Ever get the feeling you are 1 among millions of blogs? Looking for a way to stand out from the crowd? The Ultimate Blog Experience workshop will help blog publishers enhance the functionality and appearance of their blog. Attendees will learn what it takes to publish a top blog and how to implement traffic building strategies, beautify design, use widgets to your advantage, and develop engaging content. Come
prepared to take notes.

Secrets from a Media Insider:
How to Make News and Make the News Work for You
Carmen Dixon (“Carmen D”)
http://allaboutrace.com/

This interactive workshop will take you behind the scenes of how television news media works. Want your story featured on a local, national or cable news show? Learn who to call, the best time to call and what all producers and reporters are looking for.

Learn the basics of becoming camera ready. Interested in becoming an "expert?" We'll cover that, too. What's in your press kit? You don't have a press kit? You'll learn what any good press kit must have and should look like. And last but not least, the press release. By the end of this session you'll have a headline and a first sentence ready to go. Important: The session is only an hour and there is a lot of ground to cover. You'll be given a handout to take away, but just prior to the conference please watch at least two full half hours of network news broadcasts and at least two entire local news broadcasts.


Podcasting 101:Hosting a Podcast in Conjunction with Your Blog
Fanshen Cox and Heidi Durrow
http://mixedchickschat.com/

This workshop will cover the necessary steps for producing and hosting a live or recorded podcast to compliment your blog and how to expand readership by allowing participants to hear your voice and contribute to discussions. The workshop will cover various podcasting services and the process of producing a podcast.

“Umoja” From a Black Blogger's Perspective
R. Wayne Hicks ( “Villager”)
electronicvillage.blogspot.com

There are currently in excess of 70 million blogs. Everyday 120,000 new blogs are created. With so many people blogging out there, how do we find each other and how can bloggers of color work together to leverage new media content creation with social change? How did we get here and where do we go from here? How to we work together to get there?

“Umoja” is the Swahili word for “unity.” This workshop will cover on the history and future of the Afrospear, a group of African American bloggers, but it will also focus on how bloggers of color can work together to support and publicize the work of other bloggers. As part of the workshop, the presenter will cover the Black Blog Rankings, a unique blog ranking system that tracks and publicizes Black bloggers and how that system has helped to build the readership and exposure of Black bloggers.


Blogger Rights
Shwana Ruth-Bridges, Esq. (“Attorneymom”)
charactercorner.blogspot.com

Sometimes the internet can look like the days of the Wild West where anything goes. However, there are rules and if you violate them, you and your blog could face serious consequences. From free speech versus intellectual property law to defamation and those perilous “terms-of-use” agreements on popular free blogging services, this workshop will highlight some of the rights, liabilities and responsibilities all new media content creators face when they wade into the blogosphere.

For questions about the conference or conference sponsorships, you can email the conference planning committee here. To register for the conference go to www.bloggingwhilebrown.com.