• smallerindiana.com is down :-( #
• @footndale Go Wings! #
• @ScottWilder A May #Indy #Tweetup would be fine, but sometimes people just don’t show up. You are so lucky we didn’t really shun you. #
• There was a suggestion for a mid-week #Indy #Tweetup. How about the 20thor 21st? #
• @stevillama Last year was my worst reading year yet, but I still managed to read 2 books. 4 so far this year. #
• I wish the church that meets down the road would stop spending money to send me full color, high-gloss promo pieces. I have a church. #
• @bnpositive Done. Now I’ll just get emails, I sure ;-) #

• Uploading spring break pics to Flickr. #
• Upgraded my blog to WP 2.5 on a whim. Like it so far, especially the auto update for plugins. #
• I have a private WP blog. I want to have automatic emails sent when I post. Don’t want to use feedburner. Suggestions? #
• @alxconn Thanks, just wasn’t hitting on the right keywords, I guess. #
• Weird. I went from manic-feeling-like-an-all-night-coding-session to really sleepy in about 10 minutes. Afternoon espresso must have run out #
• ma.gnolia is running very poorly today. #
• @douglaskarr Thanks. The Flip is awesome, but the digital zoom is really poor (turns out very fuzzy). #
• @douglaskarr The next closest camera I saw (at Best Buy) was $250 and was a standard-type videocamera. Can’t beat ease-of-use with the Flip. #
• In my classic style, I dropped my Flip Video. Son says I need a utility belt for small electronics. Holy cosmic klutz, Batman. #
• @pamslim Sounds like you solved the flipcam issue? I just treat it like an ext hard drive and copy the files off. #
• @pamslim Sounds like you solved the flipcam issue? I just treat it like an ext hard drive and copy the files off. #

• @edsai In my career, we started using Yahoo IM and then pretty much went to GTalk once it came out. But that’s geeks, not mainstream. #
• @pamslim I got a Flip on Friday to take to a blogging conference. It’s really fun and easy to use. Digital zoom sucks, tho, is just blurry. #
• @pamslim I like the idea of a video blog of starting a business. Go for it! #
• #Twitter changed their interface again. It tabs away when you type more than 140 chars. I can’t overtype and go back to edit anymore. Boo. #
• @drthomasho I’m not getting a stimulus check. It’s like taking a cup of water out of the deep end of a pool and pouring it in the shallow. #
• I wish I could kick the "two spaces after a period" habit I was taught when learning to type. #
• Look ma! I’m a video blogger: http://tinyurl.com/6kxlcl #
• Blogged about #BlogIN http://tinyurl.com/5rep36 #
• @pamslim I like it because I’m not worried about my kids breaking it if I let them use it (11 and 6). #
• I swear my high school typing teacher was a stand in for Frau Farbissina (of Austin Powers). Has so frightened me into period-space-space. #
• @gregorlove That was from @edeckers presentation on better writing on the web #blogIN #
• @stevillama Thank you for pointing out how old I am since I learned how to type on a typewriter. #
• I’m collecting links about the #BlogIN. Let me know if you have any I missed: http://tinyurl.com/5tu7er #
• Naturally, my sons’ soccer games are back-to-back almost every weekend, yet completely across town from each other. #
• At son’s soccer practice. It is sleeting and hailing. Should not have brought my laptop. Fingers almost too frozen to Tweet. Almost. #

The BlogIN at IUPUI was a great Open Space event. Thanks to Smaller Indiana and Compendium Blogware for sponsoring the event. The conference was, obviously, about blogging, but the main focus was not on a set agenda, but an attendee selected list of topics. If you’re not familiar with the Open Space format, it goes like this:

• Whoever comes are the right people
• Whatever happens is the only thing that could have
• Whenever it starts is the right time
• When it’s over, it’s over

This means the participants of the conference run the show. It’s very Agile and open-ended. If you don’t like a session you’re in, you vote with your feet: go find another session to attend. After keynotes by Chris Baggott (CEO of Compendium Blogware), Kevin Makice and Doug Karr, suggestions were made for breakout sessions. Topics included:

• Blogging 101
• Blogging on Smaller Indiana
• Political action blogging
• SEO and RSS
• Monetizing your blog
• WordPress tips and tricks
• Writing effectively
• Business blogging
• Video blogging
• Identifying local bloggers

I bought a new Flip Video camera and caught some video:

What I learned

One of the main points of attending a conference is learning. A few take-aways for me:

• Video blogging is easier than it looks.
• Both in video blogging and blogging in general, perfect is the enemy of good. Just get it out there.
• Blogging is about spheres of influence. We have different areas where we have conversations and things ripple out from there. Each person should feel comfortable sharing what they know in their sphere. It may be duplicate within one sphere but completely new in another.
• In order to build up the Indiana blogging community, we need to blog about Indiana.
• Finding other local bloggers is challenging.
• I suck as a live-blogger. I’m too interested in the topic to take notes I’m willing to post immediately.

BlogIN isn’t the only event happening in Indiana on the topic of blogging. In August there is a 2-day blogging event called Blog Indiana happening on August 16-17. I think many bloggers from BlogIN are excited to have another opportunity to talk shop here in Indianapolis.

• Bought a Flip Video. Took a bunch of footage at #BlogIN but the thing hangs when trying to download the video to my laptop. #
• As much fun as editing video is, I’d rather be sleeping. Gonna try again (to sleep, that is). #

• Eldest son: Wisconsin is the dairy state. California happy cows only make Easy Cheese. #
• Lazy morning. Haven’t even gotten out of bed yet but caffiene headache is starting, do I’ll be up soon. #
• Goal! Youngest son scored his first goal and his team first goal in his first soccer game ever. #
• and it was a left footed kick. Not bad for a kintergardener #
• At the #BlogIN. Thankfully, we’re online now! #
• @douglaskarr keynote at #blogIN. #
• @drthomasho 50 or so people? We’re looking forward to your presence. #
• Zack Legend teaching us about Video Blogging (breakout session 1) @ #blogIN. #
• #blogIN – The local blogger conversation is a great topic. Glad I stopped in. #
• Bunch of geeks in a room talking about Twitter and tweeting at the same time. Hilarious. #blogIN #
• Blogging isn’t about SEO. It’s about a human network. (Build that instead. Please people, not computers.) #blogIN #
• @ScottWilder lol. Isn’t that true. #
• Post from the #blogIN keynotes: http://uhri.com/blog/index.php/archive/blogin/ #
• @noahwesley If you want to build traffic to your website, start placeblogging about Indianapolis because no one else is. #
• #blogIN – Somebody should do a mashup with Google Maps and Smaller Indiana. Let’s see where people in SI are located. #
• @MzHartz As long as we don’t turn into a vapid echo chamber, we can talk about Twitter all day long. My wife needs to hear the benefits, tho #
• Followup to #blogIN – is there anywhere for #co-working in #indy ? #
• #Noblesville reminds us of #Appleton. #
• @alxconn I would either be a permanent resident with my own desk and dual monitors, or just a nomad in once in a while with laptop. #
• @alxconn Programming on one monitor is just painful. #
• @alxconn The interaction with others would be nice, plus a conference room if I ever needed it for client meetings. Otherwise not really. #
• @alxconn I only use the local coffee shop once every couple weeks if I start going stir crazy. #

Zack Legend is a prominent video blogger here in Indianapolis. Zack found that he wasn’t a good writer, but that video was really his niche. Currently, his biggest claim to fame is the video blogger for the Indianapolis Colts. His biggest secret? He shoots video with his point-and-shoot Canon camera.

In his session (which I understand ran straight through the second breakout), he showed us how he goes through the process of editing video.

Highlights:

• 2-3 minutes is the right length.  How short can you make a video?
• Point and shoot cameras are less intimidating than a video camera.
• Microsoft Movie Maker is the easiest way to do this in the Windows world.

My biggest takeaway from this session is that video blogging in the "YouTube generation" doesn’t need to be a highly produced affair.  It’s not the Super Bowl. Let’s just get the video out there. Don’t worry about how professional it is.

Keynotes

I’m here at the Smaller Indiana blogging unconference, BlogIN. We’ve been through the keynotes, two break-out sessions, and are now in the third. I’m a horrible live blogger, apparently. Granted, I hosted a "Blogging 101" session, so I didn’t take many notes in that one. For the keynotes, Chris Baggot, Kevin Makice, and Douglas Karr talked about their blogging experiences. Here’s the few chicken-scratch notes I took in the keynotes.

Chris Baggott

Chris has been blogging since late 2000. His main motivations were, honestly, selfish: He felt he had ideas worth hearing.

Had some goals … you should have goals too.

Employees are 5 times more credible as bloggers than the CEO.

How do you measure conversion in corporate blogging. That’s the important thing.

Kevin Makice

(blogshmog.net)

Kevin has been writing a personal blog since 1999. Started doing this as a way to introduce the world to his son (or was it vise versa?).

He uses his blog to build connections with other people.

What’s great about blogging is that it connects lots of different people providing lots of different perspective.  No one has the right answer and that makes it powerful.

Blogging is about transparency.

Need to understand that blogging is something that is a new medium.  You should not be afraid to make mistakes and learn from the best.

Douglas Karr

Google is essentially the web.

Blogging is about spheres of influence  We have different areas where we have conversations and things ripple out from there.

Analogy of Burj Dubai building – blogs are built on a wide base.

Some advantages of blogging:

• Transparency
• Consistency
• Passion
• Participate
• Momentum – steady consistent effort.
• Committee
• Coordination
• Measurement

Disadvantages to blogging:

• Transparency
• Time
• Hypocrisy
• Anonymity
• Conflict
• Measures

Why does he blog? For fulfillment and answering questions for other people.  "Great podium to communicate with people I’m already connected to."

• Just got bit by an alligator (head). #
• @garyvee Authenticity is being yourself, no matter what you are. Being real seems more like being hip, which may not be authentic for some. #
• @footndale You can do it! #
• Decided to take @pamslim ‘s advice on backing up. Just did a simple copy to USB HD. Suggestions on actual backups for XP? #
• Just turned down a business opportunity because I felt it would not mesh with my world view. It’s tough to say no to work. #
• @footndale POD Boom – good choice today. Need to find The Crystal Method remix of it, not on iTunes, though. #
• Love officing from home. No traffic to deal with. Mowed the lawn in the middle of the day just because I felt like it. #
• Only going to end up getting 4 fish with the tank. May go the chiclid route, although I really like angel fish and schools of tetras. #
• darn. Best Buy is sold out of the Flip Videos #

• "@ replies to the people I’m following" seems to be the better Signal to Noise ratio. #
• Need to make a third trip to the Mower Shop to get the right part. This time I’m brining the broken part and the right mower model number. #
• Trip to the Mower Shop averted. Just read the installation directions instead. #
• My McDonald’s Hot Fudge Sundae, with extra Hot Fudge that I PAID for was disappointing. There was no extra Hot Fudge. #
• Hey Twitterverse: What do you use to edit video on Windows? #
• For the life of me, can’t find the propane tank for the grill. "Does it look like a torpedo, Dad?" Yeah. You think it’d be easy to find. #