A Blog Around The Clock

There are 57 days until the Science Blogging Conference. Continuing with the Thanksgiving break in highlighting some of the people who will be at the Conference in January (and the list is growing - already at 144 registered participants), here is some more about what will be happening on the Friday pre-conference day.

But first, I have to say Happy Seventh Blogiversary to my friend Anton. Yes, you read it right: SEVENTH! Holy cow! He is, like, in bloggy years, a Methuselah with a long white beard! And he and Erin had to make some tough decisions recently - to stay or to move to Cleveland? I tried to stay out of that, as I am far too biased wanting them to remain in the area. So, I am thrilled to learn that this is what they decided in the end. Congratulations Erin! And have a grand time in Zanzibar!

Something that Anton has been doing for years now (and he is very good at it - I watched him in action a couple of times!) is organize small-group Blogging101 sessions and help people start their own blogs. His post An Introduction to Reading and Writing a Weblog is one of the Top 40 blog posts that a new blogger should read, according to the 'Internet Hunger' blog.

We did a Blogging101 session last year, on the pre-conference day, but this time around Anton is even more ambitious and has organized an entire 9am - noon session "Build your blogging skills". He'll start with an introduction to the world of blogs (and science blogs in particular) from 9am to 10am.

Then, each participant needs to choose one of the two sessions running from 10am till noon. One is for beginners who want to start a blog for the first time (using Wordpress.com). This will be a hands-on session in a computer lab, slowly taking people through the simple steps to starting their own blogs.

The other is called "Take your blog to the next level: Have a pro help you improve your blog. Limited one-on-one tutoring." where Anton and several local blogging masters will help bloggers make improvements in their blogging, from the way their blogs look, through adding and using new functionalities and gizmos, to tips for success.

So, if you are interested in participating in this session and can make it to the area on Friday morning, please sign up for it during the registration process or, if you are already registered, send Anton or me an e-mail asking to be added to the list of participants (it is limited by the number of machines in the computer lab, so don't leave this decision for the last moment).