Outdoor Bloggers Summit: Proposed Agenda Items

Kristine got the ball rolling on the Outdoor Bloggers Convention, and I've spent a great deal of time thinking about it since she published her posts last week.  I was encouraged by the interest from other bloggers she generated and got really excited when Othmar suggested that we get the Motor City Madman Ted Nugent to host the event.

I have no idea if that is even a remote possibility, but it certainly doesn't hurt to think big.  Judging from the comments made on Kristine's site by Othmar, who is a pro staffer for Heirloom Custom Turkey Calls, his vision of this idea is as a major event.  He suggested that it was not even realistic to think about having it this year because of the planning involved.

Rex is at the opposite extreme and sounds like he'd be happy to just get the outdoor blogging community together for a few drinks.

Meanwhile, we've eliminated Rex's Christmas Place Plantation as a site for the event.  I suggested Michigan, which is Kristine's home base and which I think led to the Nugent idea.  Phillip suggested doing it at a ranch in Texas, and everyone seems to agree that it should be at a somewhat "central" location.

There's been some back and forth about the name as well.  Kristine doesn't like "convention," and Othmar called conference "stiff."  His idea of referring to the event as a summit is the best I've heard so far.

In order to iron out some of these issues, I propose we appoint a five-member board of directors to decide on things like when, where and a name and to set the agenda for the event.  Since Kristine took the lead on this project, and since she's a marketing professional instead of an amateur like me, I'd like to nominate her as chairperson.  Othmar and Rex would be great choices to serve on this board as well, and I'd be glad to volunteer.  I would also be willing to defer to the writers of better-known blogs such as the Black Bear Blog or The Outdoor Pressroom if any should volunteer.

I look forward to hearing from the rest of you on how best to make these decisions.  In the meantime, here are some of the things I've been thinking about.

When: My heart says the sooner the better, but my head says to take our time in planning the event to ensure we maximize exposure.  I definitely can't do it in August of this year and would only do it in October or November if we have it somewhere we can hunt.  January or February would probably be best for me, but obviously that depends on. . .

Where: I like the idea of having it at or near Gun Safety Innovations HQ in Michigan, but I'm not sure about going to that state in the winter.  Don't get me wrong.   I've never been there, but I hear it's cold.  I also wonder if it might be easier to have it at a time and place where we could do a little fishing as opposed to hunting.  That might be a little more relaxed; we wouldn't have to worry about transportation of firearms, and I'm reluctant to give up a weekend of hunting here to go hunt somewhere with which I'm not familiar.  Of course, if we actually had a good outfitter host the event it could be a different story.  A Texas ranch might be fun, and Florida in February is great.  Rex suggested Chicago or St. Louis, but those places seem like they might be kind of expensive.  I could be wrong about that. . .

What to Call It: Just to reiterate, I vote for Outdoor Bloggers Summit.

What We'll Do: Here are some possible agenda items.  I'm not married to any of them; they're just suggestions.

Friday-Bloggers hit town and check into their hotels or cabins or pitch their tents or whatever.  Those who get there early enough can go fishing or golfing before the first planned event, which would be a meet-and-great, cocktail hour and cookout for Friday evening.  We could all get together and swap some stories and talk about what we want to accomplish.

Saturday-It would be nice to have a few speakers, but I'm not much on sitting through lectures all day.  If it was up to me, I'd go fishing again in the morning, and then maybe we could all get together for a good solid breakfast at around 10 a.m.  We could have a speaker or two while we eat, and then we could each set up our own little booth, as could any sponsors we get.  We could use the time to share information, thing like: "So how do you get those YouTube videos on your site?"  And "Have you ever actually gotten a check from Google AdSense?"  Maybe we could block out some more time for speakers, particularly representatives of event sponsors around mid-afternoon.  After that we could all get together and do some more drinking and eating.

Sunday-Norm would be the best blogger I can think of to kick off Sunday's festivities.  After he's said a few words, and we've all eaten again we could get to the event finale: the Product Showcase.  It would be an opportunity for all of us with products to promote like Othmar's turkey calls, Kristine's Gunslinger, Jim Braaten's calendars and myself and the Captain with the mythical BIO Rod, to show off our stuff.  It wouldn't be so much to try and sell directly to the other bloggers but more to provide them with information on the products in case they want to blog about them.

What happens after the Product Showcase is up in the air in my mind.  We could all go fishing again and then get together for one more meal before shoving off for our respective homes on Monday.  Or we could say our goodbyes and split Sunday night.

If you're a blogger with something to promote or sell, this will be a great opportunity to do so.  And if you're someone who just blogs for fun, this will be a great opportunity to have some.  If you're like me, it's about all of the above.

Let me know your thoughts in comment form here.  Or feel free to email me at outdoorblogger@verizon.net.  I'll be sure and forward any correspondence I get to Chairperson Kristine!

Comments

[Jon]

February or March would be a good time. Michigan is too far north. Florida sounds interesting. Ted Nugent would be a great host. Someone needs to gut up and ask him. Maybe he would have it at his place?

[Rex]

maybe Las Vegas.
the Big Game Outfitters Conference is there and it might be a chance to tag along if we can put it together, I will check. It is a sporting and hunting extravaganza!

[Matt]

When is that one?

[Kristine Shreve]

Matt, you rock!!

I like the Outdoor Bloggers Summit for a name. I still like Michigan, and not just because I live here. Although if we do it in Michigan, May or June might be a better time.

I also may have a contact for Ted Nugent. I'll have to see.

I'm not much for Las Vegas, but that's just me.

I'll probably e-mail you with a bunch of ideas later.

[Kevin Paulson]

I am more then willing to help out with some of the planning. I really believe it does not help us to have our entire discussions on the blogs. Our readers are coming out to our websites to read all about hunting and our adventures. I suggest we start a blog on blogger that we allow lots of contributers to and everyone can log on and post ideas and such and see what we can create. I suggest using blogger only because you can have tons of multiple users for one blog and it is easy for everyone to use. I am already planning on the Shot Show and I am sure we can get some free passes as press and create some real relationships and great opportunities for everyone to learn about products and create tons of content posts.