When is a blogger not a blogger?

I took part in an interesting session at SXSW today, a group discussion designed to come up with 10 Easy Ways To Piss Off A Blogger. Led by Rohit Bhargava from Ogilvy, the group was made up of a combination of bloggers, marketeers and PR professionals. As someone who has recently started a blog (and has an increasing addiction to it), but who makes a living from PR and marketing, it was really interesting to find myself sitting somewhere in the middle.

The list of ten (and a few more) came out of the discussion, and is posted at Longstation, but the really interesting angle for me was a debate regarding the status of bloggers, and how they should be approached by those of us in the PR world. Specifically, there was some discussion around whether bloggers should be treated as journalists, and whether or not they wanted to be.

Exporting the West Midlands

Seeing as I’m here in Texas as part of a West Midlands contingent, it was funny to stumble across this pub on my first trip into Austin. Is Shakespeare our region’s most exportable brand? Answers on a postcard/blogpost. I’m going to start a list. 

“We are all feeling our way in the digital world”

An artist’s impression of the Opening Remarks session at SXSWi 

As a self-confessed newbie to interactive, this comment by Henry Jenkins at today’s Opening Remarks session at SXSW no doubt had a greater impact on me than the 100s of other live-bloggers sitting around me at the Austin Convention Centre. I came to this event expecting to feel three steps behind most other delegates and prepared to google every other word in each keynote session.

But today couldn’t have been more different. It’s really opened my eyes to the fact that everyone involved in digital is on a learning curve. I doubt that my posts from SXSW will be ground-breaking to those who are already immersed in the digital world. But hopefully they will be an interesting read for those of you, like me, who are just starting to feel their way.

Texan sunset from the taxi

First thoughts on Texas….

…2 hours in. 

It’s a long way from Brum.

It’s very flat.

There is a beautiful sunset.

People are really friendly and excited that we have come over for SXSW, from the guys on the plane, to the taxi driver, to the hotel receptionist. There’s a real buzz about it. Even the hotels have ‘welcome SXSW’ signs outside. Can’t wait to see what it’s all about tomorrow!

Texas here we come

Is there an unwritten rule that says, ‘the day before you’re about to go on a trip – your workload will explode’? There seems to be a direct correlation between the number of days you are away from the office and the length of your to-do list.

However, this time around I shouldn’t be too far from my office, albeit a virtual one, despite being nearly 5,000 miles away. I’m lucky enough to be heading to Texas tomorrow for SXSW Interactive, thanks to support from Digital Central. A group of us are heading over to live and breath interactive media for the next five days, make some valuable contacts and share our experiences with the digital media community back in the West Midlands. My reason for going is to learn more about this fantastic festival , make some valuable contacts and spread the word about the Digital Media and Film Event taking place in Birmingham this October, which I’m project managing. I can’t wait. All I need to do now is attempt to clear the to-do list,  pack by bags and find my passport!

I’ll be posting my thoughts and SXSW experiences on this blog, and you can  find out more about what we’re all up to at www.sxswm.com. More news on the Digital Media and Film Event to come very soon.