29 March 2008 | Blogging | Jeff Rothe

The Blog Indiana Conference has been in the works now for at least five months, if not a lot longer. There are a handful of individuals who, tired of all of the great technology conferences taking place in cities on the east and west coast, decided to plan the conference themselves. The conference will be great for individuals interested in learning more about blogging with topics ranging from “Basics of Blogging” to “Web Analytics” and “Driving Traffic”.

The planning for the Blog Indiana conference started as a campaign on “The Point.com“. There were a number of local Indianapolis bloggers who supported the campaign, trying to get the necessary funds to hold the blogging event. But the blog conference organizers announced this past week that they found two sponsors, IUPUI and Compedium Blogware, and that the conference was going to be held in August on IUPUI’s campus.

Not only is this news exciting just because the conference is happening here locally, but the fact that there is a limit of only 250 spots for the conference is a huge plus. The other huge plus is the affordable price tag, only $49.00 for two days! Wow.

I have my reservations about the first conference. I will be attending, but I am looking for some very useful information on how to monetize my blog. Some of the local blogging talent has been announced, but I don’t know anything about the listed individuals. The topics haven’t been assigned, so it is hard to tell the how useful the information will be. Will the tips given be very specific to the grassroots success that worked for these bloggers? Will their knowledge be very specific to their topic area? They may be able to write, but are they good speakers?

The only other reservation I have is Noah Coffey (Coffey Design.com), one of the organizers. Another contact of mine recommended that I hook up with Noah if I had any excess work, or any programming work that where I would need a collaborator. I emailed Noah directly using the contact form on his site, but I didn’t get a reply. I would think that any work referral is a great thing, but maybe not. I am hoping that Noah’s just didn’t get my email, or just made a mistake and missed it somehow, then I can excuse a lapse in manners. To plan an event like this takes some serious dedication, so I have to believe that how the conference is run does not reflect how he responds to work request through his web development business.

Do the research yourself about the Blog Indiana conference. I will be reading more about the speakers, and for $50.00 for two days with networking in a small friendly setting, you can hardly go wrong no matter the content. I imagine that the first conference will have some success hiccups and some lapses in content. But as a local designer and blogger, we need to support this effort and continue for years to come to keep such a great conference coming back.