Tag Archives: blogging

Blogging Ohio FFA Convention

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BARNA couple of months ago I posted on the idea that blogging might be the best way to cover some events. Andy Vance (Buckeye Ag Radio Network) makes the case nicely with his recent posts from the Ohio FFA Convention. Check out his posts on May 5 and 6. Sounds like he had some wifi and was blogging away in real time.

“The anticipation is finally over! The 2006-2007 State Officer Team is taking the stage at this very moment!”

I wish he had created a category tag for this series of posts, and maybe a few images and a sound bite or two. But those are nitpicks. All the meat is there. I still have trouble understanding why the event organizers, in this case the Ohio FFA, don’t have an “official blogger” to do this as well. I could find nothing of the sort on their website. At the very least, check to see if someone like Andy is blogging and provide a link. Call it the “unofficial” blog.

I’m sure the thinking is: “No, no… we can’t do that. We have no idea what this Andy person might say about our convention.” Well, guess what? He said it anyway. And I found it and read it. And it was all positive. Well done, Andy.

Communicate. Sell. Blog.

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I was talking with one of our advertising clients today and we got off on to the subject of how a blog could help him tell his story. He works for a state agency so it is unlikely he’ll get permission to blog because government department heads didn’t get where they are by trying risky new stuff. But the client said that when he brought up the subject of blogging with some of the foot soldiers, their eyes lit up. They got a little pumped at the prospect (or as pumped as government workers are allowed to get).

About six months ago I posted on how I might use blogs and podcasts if I were still doing affiliate relations for our networks. Today’s conversation started me thinking about this again.

If I were a sales rep of any kind, I’d have a blog. I’d post about things of interest and use to my prospects. My blog would be how my clients (current and prospective) know me. If I could make it relevant enough, useful enough… my clients would come to me (or my blog). I wouldn’t have to constantly be begging for appointments. They’d call me up to do a lunch and talk about some idea I posted about.

Blogosphere bullshit, you say? Perhaps. My co-worker David has been posting on a new Learfield blog that illustrates this idea. His posts are informed. Passionate. They deliver value.

Selling has always been about communicating. Wanna communicate in the 21st century? Better learn to blog.

Blogging the NFL Draft

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The NFL Draft is under way and that’s a big deal in Green Bay, Wisconsin (home of the Packers). And all other NFL cities, for that matter. Bill Scott is the sports director for the Wisconsin Radio Network (one of Learfield’s state radio networks) and has been covering the the draft for 16 years. This year he’s blogging it.

In previous years we’ve put a live audio feed up on our satellite channel so Bill could do reports. And we’ve streamed the audio on WRN.com. But the physical setting and the timing just didn’t lend itself to this kind of coverage. Now Bill has his laptop and wifi so he’s blogging. I assume other media are doing the same.

I’ve posted on this subject countless times but still find myself a little amazed that blogging might be the best way to cover and event like this. Would live audio/video be better? Well, it would be good. But if you missed it, you missed it. The blog posts will be up there until we pull it down.

This is a first for Bill so it’ll be interesting to get his thoughts on this. Watch this space.

Programmer responds to Lee Abrams blog post

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Randy Raley calls bullshit on Lee Abram’s recent blog post (XM Sound). As a long-time jock (I still love that term) and programmer, Randy was “there” when Mr. Abrams was making his radio bones and offers a local radio perspective. In a perfect blogging world, Mr. Abrams’ blog would have his comments open and Randy could have added his. Then, Mr. Abrams could have responded. Then you have a conversation.

XM’s Abrams is blogging

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XM Radio “Chief Creative Officer” Lee Abrams is blogging. Today’s post reads like it might have also been an all-staff memo (and not necessarily today’s memo) but, hey, he’s hanging it out there and I hope he keeps it up. Would be fun to get even a tiny peek behind the scenes at XM. Couple of nuggets jumped out at me:

I can’t think of ONE FM station that would be worth taping and playing to the XM Staff. There are some OK ones, but most really are doing nothing especially interesting, compelling or new.

Local radio is dead. It’s irrelevant. For us we should be ALL OVER THE NATIONAL thing. Big ‘n bad ass. Local radio is a quaint relic. BUT—We are NOT taking advantage of this if we aren’t Talking to America.

It’ll be interesting to see if Mr. Abrams groks the “conversation” part of blogging (Turn those comments ON, Lee). He strikes me a a passionate, opinionated guy. Can he listen as well as he writes? We’ll see.

How can I blog you today?

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Sounds like my pal Chuck has figured out how to make blogging pay. He has event blogging down cold and I keep thinking I’ll read about more and more people doing this. For now, Chuck is focusing on agrimarketing events but there’s no reason someone couldn’t do this for any event (assuming you have a clue and a willingness to work 18 hour days). Could you get $5k for one of these gigs? And maybe work up to two a month? Shoot, that’s almost a business.

Link from Scripting News

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Earlier this year I was on a panel at the annual meeting of a bunch of PR associations in St. Louis. The hotel ball room was packed so when I got up to do my little bit, I snapped a photo. It’s been my masthead image for the last week or so. Imagine my delight to find a link and a reference on Dave Winer’s Scripting News (the blog I check first every day). The first place I ever saw this use of a masthead image was on Scripting News and I proudly appropriated the idea for smays.com. The notion that Dave Winer visited my little corner of cyberspace is just too cool for school.

Learfield Blog

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Last month we set up a blog for company news (new hires, expansion, etc.). An experiment as much as anything. And our CEO said he might post from time to time. His latest deals with doing the right thing. At one level it’s shop talk but he’s basically saying that in the early days of our company we did something that wasn’t in the best interest of our customers (affiliates and advertisers). He uses the example to illustrate a core value of our company. Do the right thing, even if it costs you some money.

In previous posts, I’ve expressed some doubts about whether corporations can blog. It’s just hard to find someone with the courage to speak with the honesty and openess that characterizes blogs. Okay, it’s a little easier to say what you think if you own the company. But I believe this post says a lot about our company and the people leading it.

You could take all of our brochures and news releases and stack them to the ceiling…and they don’t say as much about who we are and what we believe as Clyde’s simple blog post. Our employees can read that. Our business partners can read it. Our customers can read it. The world can read it. And they will “hear” the honesty and sincerety in Clyde’s words. This is corporate blogging at its best.

Posted by Clyde

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It’s a little too early to say that our company is blogging (corporately). But there’s a teensy, weensy spark that could become a flame. Clyde Lear –our CEO/President/Founder and All Around Good Guy– has dipped his toe in the blog pond. Several us always thought he’d be a natural and today’s post would seem to confirm that. For reasons known only to him, he asked a few employees at random what they were reading and posted the results. Why do I think this is worth a mention?

No news release. Nothing about our company’s growth. Just a little nugget about the people that make up our company. He didn’t ask the senior management staff what they were reading. He walked down the hall and asked the folks in the cubes. Clyde was once a journalist and has always been a good writer. I hope he becomes a regular blogger. He’ll have interesting and important things to say.