Let the Blogging Begin!

Paragon finally has a blog!

After much hemming and hawing, Drew, Phil and I have finally gotten this show on the road.

We’ve been talking about getting this blog going for a while, and the BlogSavannah Un-Conference ’07 is what finally tipped the scale. I think the three of us were motivated through meeting so many interesting folks, and of course, we learned a fair amount as well.

Speaking of the Un-Conference, I can’t think of a better topic with which to jump-start my blog. For a novice like myself, I couldn’t have asked for a better beginning than attending an event like the un-conference, where questions were welcome and there was a spirit of collaboration. Big thanks to Drew Odum, The Creative Coast initiative (TCCi), Savannah Now, and all the presenters.

Thursday night was the fun social gathering at Venus de Milo. Many a new friend has been made during happy hour in Savannah. This was no exception. A few glasses of wine and we were ready for the un-conference.

As usual, I was doing a bit of multi-tasking the next day. While, I had to miss a chunk of the sessions in the mid-afternoon due to a previous engagement, I did manage to attend Podcasting 101 presented by Phil Sellers and Business Blogging 101 presented by Chris Cree before I had to head out.

Phil Sellers, with his background in broadcasting, proved himself to be quite knowledgeable about what equipment was out there. Even though the guys and I don’t have podcasting plans at the moment you never know. I definitely enjoyed the session and I’m sure the information will be useful to some of our clients at the very least.

Business Blogging 101 was also great, but one of the participants seemed intent on dominating the session. Although I didn’t get a lot of new information, it was nice to get a recap on some of the things we’d been talking about at work. More than anything else, I came away from the session with admiration for Chris Cree. As someone who has spent a lot of time as a group facilitator, I know how tough it can be when you’ve got someone in the group who does not like to share airtime. Chris proved to be classy and fairly skilled at sliding the discussion back onto the tracks. The whole group seemed to be pitching in at one point. It was entertaining.

When I eventually made it back to Bryson Hall after my meeting, I went to Scott Larson’s session, Journalist -or- Blogger. I met Scott and his wife through a close mutual friend some time back, and figured the session would be fun as well as informative. I was right. It was interesting to hear different takes on the definition of blogging vs. journalism. Good session Scott!

On Friday night, Drew and I headed over to Cha Bella for dinner with other un-conference participants. It was a lovely evening, and gave me the opportunity to chat with Josh Hallett from Hyku Media, Angel Ratcliffe from TCCi, Amber Rhea and Rusty Tanton. There were a number of other folks there who were seated a bit out of conversation range, including Phil Sellers who was telling a great story about Savannah history as a racing venue. Nice group of people.

Throughout the entire event, we were videotaping the speakers and participants. While we ended up with a few hours of footage, we are only going to post a few short clips that we hope you enjoy.

Thanks again to everyone who made the un-conference happen.