Blogging

I’m not a big conference guy.  For better or worse, I don’t go to a lot of them.  It really comes down to the fact I’m rarely inspired.  But as you can tell from all of the blogging, Echo is different for me.  This is a conference where I felt challenged daily, but I also feel equipped in very practical ways to head home and try to improve my skills.  So thanks to all of the organizers, presenters and attendees at Echo 2010.

As I leave Echo, here are my favorite insights from Dallas.

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Rhett Smith is a pastor, therapist, blogger and technology savvy guy.  During his Echo Conference session, he talked about not letting social media and technology replace your in-person relationships.  Here are a few notes.

• Family is Rhett's accountability for using new tools. How will using a new technology effect my relationships with my family?
• "My vocation is, at each moment, to make the person in front of me the most important person in my life."  -Ronald Rolheiser.
• It's not...

Scott McClellan is the super tall editor of COLLIDE Magazine and despite mocking his own Echo Conference session title, he doled out some great advise for being a good blogger.

Here are some take-aways from the notes I took on this session.

Design

• It's what you show the world. It's how you engage and invite people to your blog.
• Even blogs can use a "I'm new here button."  Blogs present content like a TV show, some people will join in mid-season and need to know some of the...

New Federal Trade Commission rules went into effect at the beginning of this month creating new disclosure standards for bloggers and other social media users. Basically if you’ve received a free product to give away, write about or endorse, you have to say so. The same thing is true if you’re getting cash to endorse something.

Business Week reports:

"For the first time, the revisions specified that bloggers, like mainstream media outlets, are required to disclose any "material connections"...