Blog Indiana: Spotlight and Ticket Giveaway!

Believe it or not, there’s more to the Midwest than cornfields, cows, and the flatlands. The Midwest is kickin’ with blogging and social media just like the East and West coasts.

One of the conferences representing the Midwest is Blog Indiana and it’s sure to be a fabulous experience. With the first conference taking place in 2008, it has grown in size, content, and popularity over the last couple of years. Blog Indiana takes place in August 20-21st, 2010 in Indianapolis and includes a free Social Media 101 session for all attendees! It may be this month, but you can still buy your tickets to attend (affiliate).

What makes this conference unique?

Part of what makes Blog Indiana unique is the same reason why we started the conference: there just aren’t a lot of midwest social media conferences that don’t cost an arm and a leg, much less any that happen in Indiana. We pull together a great group of local experts on a variety of topics and work very hard to improve each year based on our attendee feedback.

What are some of the highlights or features of this conference?

One highlight this year is our Social Media 101 workshop that we are offering as a bonus to ALL attendees the day before the conference starts.

After two years of putting on this conference, we found a certain group of our attendees are still very new to social media. This workshop (that is included for attendees) helps give conference newbies a kick-start into the world of social media (and helps them get more out of the rest of the conference).

Another highlight is the array of networking opportunities. As much as I love building the session schedule, often times the real learning and unique experiences happen in between sessions. This year we have tons of opportunities for networking and just meeting people. From our very interactive website allowing you to see which of your friends are attending the conference, our personal session schedule builder, to our free after hours events—you should find much to do and learn this year.

We will also be selectively broadcasting some sessions live via www.BlogIndiana.tv (the site is still being developed, but you can bookmark the page if you are interested and can’t attend).

Does this conference have different learning tracks or focuses?

Our 3 main focuses are: Marketing/Business, Publishing, and Tech. Most of our sessions fall into one of these categories. As always, you can pick and choose which session meet your needs throughout the day.

If you could share your top 3 tips for conference newbies, what would they be?

• Come prepared. Good conferences will provide you with paper and pens, but it never hurts to have extra. Bring a power strip and make friends instantly.

• Be ready to schmooze. Bring business cards and be friendly. Most people will tell you the best part of any conference is about conversations they’ve had with other attendees. Listen.
• Be present. This one might seem odd to some, but take care of as much of your personal and business obligations before attending the conference. The worst thing is to pay for a ticket, fly to a conference, pay for a hotel and have personal or business issues interrupting your ability to fully experience the event.

How can people find out more information about your conference or contact you for questions?

Our website is www.blogindiana.com/2010 and we are very active on twitter at @blogindiana. We’re friendly, contact us about anything. Thanks!

Blog Conference Newbie’s Thoughts…..

I know what you’re thinking… “Boy, I wish I was going to Blog Indiana!” Well, guess what? Now you can! Thanks to the fabulous conference coordinators, Blog Conference Newbie is giving away (1) ticket to the conference and it can be yours.

****This contest has ended. Winner was @PunkinMama.*****

Here’s How To Enter To Win This Fabulous Ticket!

Each option below is (1) entry and you MUST leave a separate comment for EACH entry

• Tell me why you’d like to attend Blog Indiana
• Follow Blog Conference Newbie via RSS, email subscription, or Google Friend Connect (email subscription must be activated to count)
• Follow @UnXperiencedMom on Twitter (b/c that’s where I tweet blog conference info from!)
• Follow @BlogIndiana on Twitter
• Tweet about how you entered to win – (1 tweet daily counts if you leave a separate comment each day for your tweet)
  “I entered to win a #BIN2010 tix from @unxperiencedmom & Blog #ConferenceNewbie & so can you!  http://ow.ly/2maKj”

Here’s the necessary “fine print”….

To enter, you must be 18 or older. The contest runs from 10am EST on Friday, August 6th through 12pm EST on Tuesday, August 10th. Make sure at least one of your entries includes a contact method (i.e. Twitter, email, blog). (1) winner will be chosen shortly after the contest ends using Random.org. The winner has 24 hours to reply, otherwise another winner will be selected. I did not receive any compensation for this contest. Should there be an issue with the ticket, the winner should directly contact Shawn or Noah, the Blog Indiana Conference Coordinators.

Don’t forget to come and chat with others about Blog Indiana in the forum section!