A year ago, who woulda thunk it? Little ole' Jane being invited to speak on blogging!
A little over a year ago, March of 2004 to be exact, we started this blog after much pressure from our so smart partner and fiance, Tom. We did not especially want to build or write a blog -- "We're building a newsletter," we told him.
"No," he said, vehemently -- but softly. "You should start a blog."
Long story-short, he convinced us and Lip-sticking was born. Shortly afterwards -- after we got popular fairly fast because almost all of the folks we write about in Dickless Marketing were already blogging and they helped us achieve not only pagerank in Google, but a lengthy blogroll -- the real value of blogging became apparent -- we were creating a whole new network and community of folks who could advise us, inform us, and encourage us. Wow! We were on our way to fame, if not fortune.
Fame and fortune are not why we write Lip-sticking. Nor, is this a venue for personal news, although we do share some of that with our readers. No, Lip-sticking is for business and marketing purposes. As such, we were so good locally at talking about blogging -- and our blog -- we were soon being asked to help other business owners learn about blogging. That's when we, Tom and Yvonne, started the Business Blogging Boot Camp.
The success of my business -- both the marketing to women who shop online and the blogging for business (as well as the author services side) -- is directly related to the blogs we write. And, we are often asked to speak to business or networking organizations about blogging.
Last night we spoke to the Society for Technical Communication -- Utica chapter (if one of the members reads this, please send me the correct URL, the link on the national site is broken) -- at the Turning Stone Casino. 
What a treat! What fun! What great people and good food! After dinner, we managed to convey the benefits of blogging even without an internet connection! Luckily, we were prepared with useful screen shots of our favorite blogs (Tom Peters, Average Jane, Wonderbranding, Easy Bake Weblog, and more...) and numerous article quotes touting the business benefits of blogging.
Wish we'd had this report on blogs and newspapers, too, but...we didn't.
All in all, we think it went well. Our email box today reports the same opinion.
Who woulda thunk it...Jane speaking on blogging when we were so against it at first. If my friends could see me now...wait, they can! High fives all around!
What's not to like about that?
Without a doubt I know your speech was terrific! "What not to like?"
Posted by: Toby | July 16, 2005 at 11:43 PM