I got the fantastic news today: I’ll be speaking at BlogWorldNY later this year (June 5-7).

Topic: Responsive Web Design: One Website to Rule Them All…

I’ll be talking about what responsive web design is, and why it’s beneficial to make your site or blog responsive.  If you’ve never been, BlogWorld is, by far, one of the best conferences on either coast.  I hope to be going to both this year, same as last, and I can guarantee it’ll be worth every second spent.

Make sure to Join me at the BlogWorld & New Media Expo in New York City, June 5-7, 2012!

October is nearly over, and that means in just over two weeks geeks from all over will be descending on Los Angelas.  BlogWorld’s bi-annual conference hits the west coast this year with a vengeance, and judging by the lineup it’s going to be a fantastic conference.

It’s funny though.  I always joke around with attendees because I’m sort of an anomaly.  Everyone attending BlogWorld is a blogger, podcaster, or new media professional, and then there’s me.  As I like to tell people, I’m the mechanic in the room full of car enthusiasts – I’m the silent sentry that’s ever vigilant on keeping their websites up and running, performing well, and looking nice.  Not that I don’t blog, or podcast, or engage with social networks; it’s just that I’m so busy giving that my own blog suffers.  The old saying goes, “The cobbler’s kids shoes are always the worst” and that rings true every time on my own blog, podcasts (when I am recording them) and twitter account.

BlogWorld for me is a change to recharge.  I’ve heard it mentioned before that BlogWorld is what South-by-Southwest was before it got huge – not that it’s necessarily small!  But whereas people at SxSW can get by with a party pass and a couch to crash on, BlogWorld is definitely more speaker focused – you’ll want to attend sessions just to see what all the fuss is about.

Plus, because of the nature of the conference, you get the chance to meet people you’d never otherwise see (other than online).  Chris Brogan, Jason Falls, Darren Rowse, Guy Kawasaki – I could go on and on but these are people who are in the trenches living and breathing this stuff every day and you and I get to meet them.

BlogWorld NY, earlier in the year, was a turning point for me as a speaker.  I’d always loved (and still love) doing WordCamps and BarCamps, but this is the major leagues and the expectations are high.  I was honored to see a packed house with people stuffed into the doorway trying to get in.  It truly vindicated me as an influencer (at least, I’ve tried to live up to the hype).

So for me, BlogWorld is a chance to get away from the “doing” that goes on day after day and get a fresh perspective.  It allows me to meet people who are doing the day-to-day magic that I strive to do, and see that 1) They’re normal people, just like you and me, and 2) They are willing to impart their knowledge.

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If I’ve piqued your interest, you’ll be happy to know that there are two ways you can attend.  You can hop on a plane and show up, or you can attend virtually.  If you want to attend in person (and believe me, it’s worth it if you can) then you can use this link to get 20% off (or click on the button in my sidebar – both lead to the same link).

Virtual tickets are new-ish to BlogWorld this year, but they’re super cool.  You get access to all of the recorded sessions, plus some behind-the-scenes interviews, videos, and all of that other stuff.  Plus, it’s a lot cheaper because you don’t have a hotel or airfare to contend with.  You can grab a virtual ticket here and join in from the comfort of your own bedroom.

I hope to see you there – and if you are planning on attending, look me up.  More than likely I’ll be the one wearing the awesome fedora and talking to people about WordPress

Get. Stinking. Excited.

It’s that time again – as if BlogWorld New York wasn’t awesome enough, now I’m getting a double dose of awesomeness – west coast style.

I just got my acceptance email stating that I will be speaking at BlogWorldLA.  It’s November 3-5 at the LA Convention Center, and if it’s even HALF as awesome as New York was, it’s going to be a conference worth going to (hint: it’s going to be even better than NY, I can tell!)

I’m doing something different this trip: instead of staying in an expensive hotel, I’ve booked a room with someone else.  I used airbnb to find a private room near the convention center.  I found Shelly’s apartment, and she’s letting me crash there for the few days I’m around.  It’s just under a mile from the center, but at $55 / night, I can afford the walk (and it’s good exercise!) or take a cab (because I’m lazy!).

I’ve never done anything like room sharing before, but I’m always willing to try something new, and I’ve heard great things about airbnb, so I’m going to take a chance on it.  Shelly’s already contacted me about the reservation, so I’m pretty sure my hostess will be fantastic.

At any rate, I’ll be speaking on WordPress (as per usual) and making the most out of a WordPress blog.  I’m going to do it a bit differently though, so look to this blog for feedback on what to cover and things of that nature.

Here’s to a fantastic end to the year’s conferences with Blogworld!

(PS: If you want to attend BlogWorld, then by all means do it! – it’s worth every penny to go, and they’re discounted until September 21st!)

Ok, I promise this is the last post about BlogWorld… but I wanted to elicit a bit of a briefing from people who attended (or didn’t attend) my session.  Namely, I had a few questions I’d like to get some answers to:

If you attended…

1. Did you enjoy the session?
2. What was your WordPress knowledge going in
3. Did something I say or do convince you to switch to WordPress?
4. Was there anything I did or said that was incorrect or erroneous?

If you did not attend (or attended for only a short time)…

1. Did you consider attending, but reconsider later?
2. Did you attend and leave midway through
3. Why did you not attend / leave midway through?
4. What would have enticed you to come / stay?

Four short questions for each group.  You can leave your thoughts in the comments below and I’ll try to answer each and every one.

Thanks again, and see you in BlogWorldExpo Los Angeles (#bwela) in November!

This won’t be my last post about BlogWorld, but I think it will be one of your favorites.  While I was on the expo floor I got to meet up and talk to a lot of really great vendors (both of services and software) and see just what they were all about.  I wanted to share three of them with you because they really stood out.

Livefyre

I’ve already written a blog post about them, but they’ve basically replaced the commenting system in my blogs (formerly powered by Disqus). I love the fact that they utilize the WordPress commenting moderation system and only replace the visual element instead of having to learn a new panel to navigate through.

MapQuest

Yes, THAT MapQuest.  They’ve come out swinging with a new interface and one of the more feature rich map builders I’ve seen.  I’ll be doing a demo soon, but take it from me: if you do anything with maps and want a completely custom experience, then you should give their Map Builder WordPress plugin a go (once again – full review coming later)

WebDoc

HTML5 is coming through like a hurricane, and as more companies build in support our mobile devices become happier and better to use.  WebDoc takes a lot of the guesswork out of HTML5 by allowing you to create “WebDocs” with video, audio, photo slideshows, and even voting and counter widgets.  But it’s not just one – you can add any number of elements to a WebDoc.  Want a photo with a voting widget? Done.  A slideshow with a countdown? Perfect.  Simply publish and drop in the embeddable code into WordPress.

As an example I’ve dropped a few of my New York photos into a slideshow – I have to say, it looks “mighty fine”.

I’ve made no qualms in (sometimes a little too much) mentioning that I will be speaking one week from today at BlogWorldExpo in New York City.  I’m pretty excited, considering that I missed last year’s conference for the birth of our lovely son #2 (Sorry BlogWorld, it was totally worth it .  As such, I’ve seen numerous lists come out that showcase the “best presentations for XXX”, where XXX is some sect of marketing or social media.

Not to toot my own horn here, but if you will, allow me the five minutes to give you an elevator pitch on the benefits of learning WordPress.  Whether you get it from my session, or whether you find your own go-to WordPress guy to tell you about it, or whether you do research on your own, WordPress is worth a look from even the most technophilic marketer.

WordPress Powers 14.3% of the Internet

Yes.  The entire Internet.  That means that 3 out of every 20 sites you go to has a good chance of being hosted on WordPress.  That number remains high as you look at the top million Alexa rankings (I’d quote a website statistic, but I can’t for the life of me find it… it’s well above 10% though).  With more and more corporate entities (like Time and Network Solutions) switching their main sites to WordPress, chances are that if you have to do writing of any kind for a blog or website, you’ll end up needing to know your way around

WordPress Allows for Rapid Deployment of Microsites

A seasoned WordPress veteran can get a site up, coded, and designed well in a matter of days (sometimes hours!) but that’s nothing – that’s what we are paid to do.  The real trick is making it to where non-developers can still get in, install, and manipulate things without too much trouble.  WordPress isn’t known for its “5-minute Install” for nothing, after all.  With the proper hosting account you can install WordPress, get a premium theme up, drop in some content, and have the basics of a website up in around 2-3 hours.

WordPress <3 Google, and Google <3 WordPress

Granted, any website can rank well (and some WordPress sites are horribly done on the SEO standpoint, but for the most part the top themes are optimized from the get-go for great rankings.  With proper use of H tags, content in it’s proper location, great tags, and a good linkbase in and out (which WordPress makes super easy), a site can rise in the ranks quickly (with the right content, of course).  Plugins like All In One SEO further the control you have, giving you finite control down to the “keywords per page” level.

So, if you’re in the neighborhood next week and feel like learning a little about WordPress, stop into my session.  It’s on Wednesday at 11:30, Room 1A16.  If not, message me on twitter and I can tell you everything you need to know. Until then, WordPress is worth a second look – I did, almost 3 years ago, and it’s literally changed my life.

I’m finally getting around to debugging and debriefing myself regarding BlogWorldExpo.  There were so many great sessions and speakers that it’s hard to pick just one or two or a few to talk about.  Hopefully this gives me an excuse and great content to write about for a while.

I was talking to Jeremiah Owyang over email about his session (and Blog World in general), and how a lot of people really balked about the point that their customers own their content and control their brand.  I’d never heard a crowd get tense before, but you could literally hear the crowd of business PR managers and marketing people start sweating.  They’d heard it and heard it and heard it, but it took Jeremiah hitting them in the gut to really drive the point across.

But then, over email, he asked me a question I’d never thought of before:

“Imagine if your server got deleted –how would your customers rebuild your website?”

I really don’t know how to answer that, simply because it’s my website, but I wonder… how would you rebuild it?  Would it be the same as it was, or would you tear it apart and rebuild it from the ground up?  Would you want things to be the same as they are, or would a revolution be the end result?

This isn’t a rhetorical question – I am seriously asking this, because I am seriously wanting to know.  Leave your answers in the comments below, and let’s see whether my own website needs a gut check.

It’s official – my plane tickets have been purchased, my itinerary has been loaded, and I am well on my way to getting things ready for BlogWorldExpo in Vegas.  It’s my first conference of this magnitude (I love speaking at BarCamps and WordCamps, don’t get me wrong, but there’s something really cool about being invited to speak at the largest blogger conference in America) [side note: I will be hanging out in the WordPress Genius Bar and will be attending some of the WordCamp sessions too, so it’s two… two… two conferences in one!]

My session will be on “Designing a Killer Blog” and I’m going commando for this one.  No, not that type of commando… I’m going no slides, no notes.  Well, OK, I’ll have notes, but i’m going to be showing a lot of sites and showcasing why those sites are great designs.  Then, at the end, compile the notes and see what the final verdict is as far as great sites go.

So, If you’re heading to BlogWorld and want to link up, give me a shout – i’ll have a busy week, but it’ll totally be worth it (and if you’re flying in on Wednesday, who knows – we may be on the same flight!)