Phantascene.com's Journal: Free Blog Conference in Las Vegas

I have rarely been as irritated about the high cost of flying in and out of Alaska as I have been this year. Why? Because I would love dearly to be able to fly down to Las Vegas this November, to attend the first annual PostieCon that is being held there on November 10th at the Las Vegas Convention Center, but the cost of airfare and a room and other miscellaneous expenses just makes it impossible. Not when airfare alone is in the $1,000 range.

But ohh to attend PostieCon... the speakers the informative panel discussions, the interaction with other bloggers that know what it is like to spend day after day needing to write just for the love of writing. To meet others that understand that it is okay to make money blogging and how to make the most of a blog.

If you have any interest in blogging, and a chance to get to Las Vegas, then you should attend PostieCon. The convention is the best way to learn what blogging for money is really all about and to meet the people that make it a great experience. No, not the speakers or convention organizers, I am talking about fellow bloggers. Average people that maintain their own blogs and enjoy what they are doing, those people that you talk to online and who you have spent time getting to know through the power of their writing on their blogs. That is the true power behind PostieCon, that is where the most value is for any blogger in my humble opinion, is in getting a chance to meet others that understand, a chance to lift a drink together and toast everyone's continued success as bloggers. Not as paid bloggers, being paid is nice, but anyone that is being paid is there because blogging is their passion. Any writer can tell you that you do not write for money, you write because you have to. Because it is an incurable disease that grows chronic in the mind of writers. No one blogs to make money, we blog because we have a passion for writing and a strong desire to share our knowledge with others. But it's always nice to be paid for what you love, and that is what PostieCon is about, learning how you can make money when blogging is your all consuming passion.

One of the reasons that I would love to be able to go would be to attend the session with Sherry Heyl as a speaker: Building Blog Value & Traffic. Her site, What A Concept!, has been informative and very interesting for me to read, and I would love to get a chance to hear what she would have to say in person.

I must say, though, that I think if I had been laying out the schedule for the event, I probably would have placed the "Deconstructing Your Blog" session as the first thing in the event. It makes sense to me since that sets everyone to thinking about how their blogs could be improved from the beginning and would make, I think, for better understanding of what people are explaining throughout the remainder of the sessions. I could easily see myself at the end of the day listening to what they are saying during the Deconstructing Your Blog session and looking at my notebook for the day and going "Oh... I guess that would be wrong for me then...." about note after note after note I had made through the other sessions.

Otherwise the entire thing looks like a great event that I think no blogger should miss out on, whether they want to be paid for blogging or just learn how to present the best blog possible for their readers. It's a free convention and, whatever your opinion on paid blogging is, the seminars and information and networking that can be made would be of major help to bloggers of any level.

And don't forget to stick around after for the Blogger's Choice Awards, you'll need to attend PostieCon to get into the Blogger's Choice Awards, but I'm better they'll be well worth the trip all on their own.

There's still time, maybe I'll find a way to make it... doubtful, but if so, I'll see you all at the open bar! Have enough fun for me too if I can't get there!