ConvergeSouth wrapup:

ConvergeSouth 2005 set an amazingly high standard both in terms of its A-List presenters and the spirit and energy of the community that created it. It sent us home anxious to do our part to spread that energy to Charleston and the South Carolina Lowcountry (our contribution so far has been Lowcountry Blogs).

This year's conference was deliberately scaled back: From two full days to one, with fewer sessions and a much less ambitious social calendar. I talked to Ed at the end of the 2005 conference and he let on then that they were already thinking about dialing it down, that the two days were just too much, too draining, too expensive. Which is fine, because the people are still first-rate and the conversations are excellent.

Plus, if there's a better BBQ party than a bunch of bloggers at Dave Hoggard's house, I really can't imagine what that would be. Last year it was magic and it poured down rain and it didn't even matter. This year the weather was clear and cold and we sat around fires and I swear I'd make the trip just for that single event.

But I think we need more time. In retrospect, the two-day conference meant not only more sessions and more topics, but more surprise meetings and connections. Last year felt like attending something historic. This year felt more like a reunion.

The topic for 2006 was "You blog. Don't you want to do more?" Yes. But for whatever reason we didn't really have sessions formed around that really great original thought: The more. Not just the blogging, but the audio, the video... and why stop there? I want to learn more about all sorts of social tools: wikis, planets, Flash interactives based on Action Script, open-source tools for "activating" all sorts of self-organizing mini-communities...

Today's liveliest session, from what I hear, was the journalism session on "The Greensboro Model." But it was liveliest along the lines of old arguments that were really resolved in the past year. Objectivity has been debated in all sorts of post-modernist frames, along with claims about how the media is biased towards this or that political perspective. It's now officially boring. Either let's talk about what the standards of an objective, web-based journalistic process should be, or let's talk about the new roles of subjectivity.

And just because most people don't know that a discussion is over doesn't mean that we have to return to the uninformed position as a starting point. I mean, most people in America still don't know what RSS is, but we wouldn't have a session on whether bloggers ought to use feeds on their sites. Move the discussion along and we'll pick up the stragglers as we go. As Janet says, we've been talking about what's wrong for a long time. It's time to start moving toward solutions.

Some useful session topics, based on notes I took today:

How to get public information (for citizen-journalists); How to get the mayor to return your phone calls; "How to be fair," Case studies in Integrity, Building coalitions across the pro-am journalism divide; Best New Blog Tools of 2007; Best New Informational Tools of 2007; Tool, gadget and widget forecast for 2008; Search Maximization Strategies 101; Wild Ideas that Work; Getting started in Video (hands on?); A/V editing on the cheap; Libel and ethics; 36 Keys to Shooting Good Video (this was the actual title to a session I got in Berkeley in March: an incredible package of useful information); 10 Ways to Make Money Off Your Blog Right Now; How to Organize a Community Activism Campaign, Dealing with Trolls; Comments Moderation Options; Philosophy of Conflict, etc.

Sue Polinsky said there will be an off-season newsletter so people can keep track of what's going on for the conference. Cool. ConvergeSouth is a Greensboro thing, but I care about it and want to be part of it even though I'm in Charleston. Because Charleston needs ConvergeSouth.

THIS YEAR'S HEADLINE: The Entrepreneurs are here
Interestingly enough, the people who really stood out for me this go around weren't so much the bloggers and the non-profit activists and the journalists, but the people who were there because they've figured out that ideas are valuable. Business people. Smart ones.

James Harris describes himself as CEO and Chief Storyteller for his Atlanta-based company, Elemental Interactive LLC. If you didn't get to meet him, you missed out. Here's a guy who understands that technology serves story and that story serves anyone with a product to sell or a cause to promote. Jonathan Davis works for The Modern Workshop LLC. He understands how simple Web tools can give groups like the VFW more power to promote their legislative agenda... and how to link those audiences to the advertisers who want to reach them. Andrew Lunde  is a technologist with intelligence streaming off him like a 100-watt bulb, asking perceptive, insightful questions all around the conference.   These three didn't come to ConvergeSouth because blogging is neat: they came to learn, to meet smart people, to keep their fingers on the pulse of a revolution that is developing so quickly that it wears out descriptive titles faster than a taxicab wears out tires.

It is worth remembering: While those of us in the traditional media argue and cajole and plead with our coworkers and decision-makers to even consider these new concepts, some very bright people are investing their time, energy and creativity in new ideas that are going to simply eat our lunch. I wish I could convey the urgency I feel to everyone who works in media for a living: The competition isn't just coming: It's HERE. Shouldn't we at least suit up?

Photos: The great Bora Zivkovic of Blog Around the Clock (among others) does his annual ham-it-up with a ConvergeSouth speaker. This year's recipient is  Elizabeth Edwards (top). Bottom: Ed Cone gets a photo.

Comments

[Heather]

Dan, thank you so much for the updates. I wish I could have been there, it sounds fascinating.

[Antonella Napolitano]

Thank you for the updates!!
Last year was great!!I really wanted to come but Italy is...pretty far! ;-)

Did it rain this year at the BBQ?
See you...maybe next year?
Say Hi to Janet!

Ciao! And good luck for LowcountryBlogs!

[coturnix]

Great to see both of you yesterday. And I am so stealing that picture on top and posting it on my blog!!!!