How to use this Page

The final panel.

The final panel after a chock-full day.

Who were these lucky bloggers?

The Reading Tub; Ernestine from Reading is Fundamental; Gina from PBS Booklights; and Jen from Jen Robinson's Book Page.

The topic: coming together, giving back. Individual bloggers, acting as individuals, can only do so much. So "coming together" can be as simple as a multi-blogger targeted blog, such as Guys Lit Wire. It can be about a book blast tour, like those organized by Chasing Ray, which is driven by bloggers.

Then there are the various literacy initiatives that different bloggers have either started or joined or promoted. Share A Story, Shape a Future is a literacy blog tour; "to encourage each other to reach beyond ourselves and do it in a way that we are neither judging nor instructing others." Mark your calendars; March 8 to 14, 2010, is the next Literacy Blog Tour. And, by the way -- this event is in Chase's.

Gina spoke of the history of Booklights and PBS; how it was started and pulled together. Just another great example of how blogging can be more about "me." (says the blogger who is all about me.)

I loved hearing Ernestine talk about RIF and Carol Rasco's entry into blogging (Rasco from RIF) and tweeting. RIF is as old as I am (um, actually, I'm a few months older, lol); and it's a great reminder to all of us that blogging and social media is not about the new kids on the block. They have provided "4.5 million children with 16 million new, free books and literacy resources each year." Yep, that's millions.

Finally, Year of Reading reminded us of the National Day of Writing. Which was two days ago; and because I knew my timing would be off, I blogged about that a few days ago.






Amazon Affiliate. If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy

Authors, Bloggers, Publishers (and ARCS): A Panel Conversation.

I cannot say much about this one -- because I was on the panel/moderating it.

Instead, I'd just like to thank the panelists for making this such a great panel and so much fun!

So thank you to Laura Lutz, Paula Chase-Hyman, and Sheila Ruth.


Amazon Affiliate. If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy

Gregory K of The Happy Accident has posted the twitter kidlitcon transcript from kidlitcon 09.

In other words -- it's the tweets of those who used the tag #kidlitcon during the conference, in an easy to read, first to last format.

Since many of us tweeted the names of sessions as they started, you can read this in two ways. Either just read through for the conversations we were having; or find our posts about individual sessions, read them, and read the tweets going on during those sessions.

Amazon Affiliate. If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy

So, if you're looking for someone to speak at your organization about not only the power of social media, but also the right way to use that power? And how we don't have "luck" but we make "luck," through work and awareness and putting yourself out there?

Ask Gregory K of Gotta Book & The Happy Accident to speak.

Wow, wow, wow. Once again, I did such a good job of listening and absorbing that I didn't really take a lot of notes. But overall, I'll say this: Greg is brilliant.

Really.

Because he shows that things just don't happen; we make them happen. We create our own luck by putting ourselves out there, networking, knowing our priorities and keeping to them, being smart and mindful, having a goal and working towards it. And that one can be that assertive and positive and dedicated and do it in a graceful way that is not all "me me me." And that things take time and understanding and work. Work, work, work. But smart work.

Anyway, back to topic. Have I mentioned Greg's brilliant? Cause he is also a terrific speaker.

Greg used his personal story to illustrate the power of social media; but also lifted the curtain to show that it didn't "just happen." He wasn't just sitting at the drugstore soda fountain.

So, anyway, can I do any justice to Greg's presentation?

Social media is about celebrating -- ourselves and others. We all want to celebrate good news.

Listen to the wisdom of your network.

There is no one key to using social media because we all use it differently; what do we have in common? Connection.

The name may go away -- but social media itself will not. So don't worry about "will twitter last" -- social media will last.

How to be successful? Prepare; find your home; filter; and travel.

Online: trust and your reputation is EVERYTHING. (my aside: so, so true! And what those who don't understand the Internet don't get; they think it's a way to hide and pretend when it's just the opposite.) You are what you say and do; we are what we say and do. Best way to build trust online? Transparency.

Also: manners! Bring your manners. There is a difference between promotion and celebration.

Supporting your friends and your industry is important; being supportive does not mean that you never criticize or say anything negative.







Amazon Affiliate. If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy

This was a split session; one for writers, one for bloggers. I went to the blogger one, It's All About the Blog by Book Nut, Biblio File, Miss Rumphius Effect, and A Year of Reading.

A variety of things were discussed:

Book Nut: Participate in weekly memes (Sunday Salon, Weekly Geeks) and challenges to be a part of the bigger book blogging community.

Biblio File: Talked about how to get into reviewing for places like School Library Journal. She spoke about doing this by having that goal in mind; so in other words, if you have a goal and want to work towards it using your blog, be mindful of that goal.

Miss Rumphius: talked about Poetry Friday, NonFiction Monday, Timeslip Tuesday. Miss R also gave a shout out to doing round-ups the old fashioned way; not relying exclusively on Mr. Linky, but rather putting together a post with a sentence or two for each blog that participated and how they participated. She also mentioned the Carnival of Children's Literature.

A Year of Reading: championed co-blogging, as Year is two bloggers. Also discussed opportunities made available via blogging and blog connections, and mentioned how this in part led to her being on the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) Notable Children's Books Committee. She has also written professional books about teaching for Stenhouse Publishers.

Some general discussion followed; seriously, some of my favorite parts about the whole kidlitcon is just the discussions that sprang up, over breakfast, breaks, lunch, after dinner. I got so caught up in the conversation I stopped taking notes. Long posts versus short posts, ratings versus no ratings, how much (or how little) plot summary.



Amazon Affiliate. If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy