Northern Voice

How many bloggers can you fit in a minivan?

Apparently an awful lot, as per the above photo. This Saturday, along with about three hundred others, I braved the sleet and trekked out to UBC for Northern Voice, Canada's blogging conference.

What happens at a blogging conference?

Well, it was surprisingly fun.

Firstly, I met a lot of unexpected bloggers. Like Laurie, whom I shared thanksgiving dinner with a couple years ago in Whitehorse, not knowing that we both kept Yukon blogs. Or Amy, who fittingly enough, I met at the bike cleaning night that was her first entry on the new Momentum Magazine blog. Or Tammy, who is aiming to review 50 books in one year! Or --especially for Sean O and his Morning Brew--Marc Lee, a member of the local labour-and-lefty economists posse and a founder of Relentlessly Progressive Economics.

Second, I learned a lot. For example, I've been curious about podcasting for a while. But when I went to buy an mp3 recorder, I got completely mired in compatibility issues between the players, my operating system, and all the software. I shelved the idea. But on Saturday I met Uncle Weed, aka Dave Olson -- a local who semi-regularly puts out SEVEN podcasts!!!!!!! In a mile-a-minute, Dylanesque, low-tech performance of tossing out cards with short messages like "podcast", "passion", and "plan", Uncle Weed made it seem easy. Like all it took to become a podcaster was some time, an idea, a computer, a little enthusiasm, and $20.

There were a lot of fabulous sessions: everything from knowing your legal rights and responsibilities as a blogger; to some cutting edge exchanges about wikis (this may sound dry but actually it's pretty neat -- wikis are a fabulous way of organizing practical, participatory on-line resources, in fact behind-the-scenes BR bloggers share one); to really great information on all aspects of shooting and editing photos for the web.

Apparently the Friday sessions and the Thursday night dinner with Lee LeFever also rocked. Luckily almost the whole conference is available via podcast.