Stephen Nold

Why Blog?
May 24, 2007

By today’s standards, I suppose I am considered somewhat old school.  I do not keep a fancy headset hanging off my ear while I eat, I do not listen to my iPOD as I walk down the street, and I have not been a big blog reader.  It even took me some considerable time to transition from hard copy newspapers to free online content.

Actually, I have found a majority of blogs to be boring.  Blogs for the most part seem a little too informal, not concise with their messages and often times just a waste of my time with trivia and dribble that offers no value.  Yet, as some of my favorite technology columnists like Walt Mossberg with Wall Street Journal migrated to blogs, I set aside my prejudices.

Upon joining the ranks of the bloggers, I have defined some objectives for my content.  Keep me accountable to these goals:

- As a technology forum, I seek to provide education on high tech in the meetings industry.  My focus will be the tools, people and business processes that are introducing innovation to our industry.

- Fun is important as we have too little of it in the daily grind of our lives.I will strive to keep a humorous touch to my content.

- Every reader should come away with something new: a different opinion, a bit of new information or even a revelation about our community.

- I am smart enough to know that there are a lot of smart movers and shakers in this industry.  I hope to gather the opinions of those who are shaping the future and provide their opinions and insight.

- Participation is important and a forum is important.  Don’t be surprised if I launch a few sizzling topics that grab attention.  If you disagree with me, I want to hear it loud and clear on the website.

Ultimately, I want my web log to add to the world of knowledge.  I cannot think of a better way to contribute to this community than delivering insight that is valued enough to be referenced by others.

Moreover, I strongly urge association staff and meeting professionals to consider blogs as a unique way to dial into their own communities.  An association or corporate public web log should be designed on a simple philosophy: connecting people through the effective use of internet “thought threads”. 

If you want to launch a web log also, Rick Borry with Certain Software gives some great advice on setting up and managing a blog.  I consider Rick to be a forward thinker and a source of next generation of tools for our industry.

So now that you know my answer to “Why Blog?” - share your feedback, both good and bad.  Also feel free to let me know what technology topics you would like to see covered in the coming weeks.

Posted by Stephen Nold on May 24, 2007 | Comments (6)