This past weekend we were at the 2009 Northern Voice Personal Blogging and Social Media Conference in Vancouver and it was incredible. The speakers and attendees alike came from a diverse set of backgrounds and made for a good mix in the crowd to stimulate conversation. Bloggers, academics, activists, people from industry, representatives from government and people just passionate about social media all came together to share some great ideas. I think everyone came away with a great experience and a lot to think about.
This year's conference also seemed to marked by spirit of anticipation in the air as everyone was aware that the following year was bringing the Olympics to Vancouver. Social media's ability to capture events taking place at a local level make the Olympics an incredible site for citizen journalism. The question on everyone's mind, raised in the panel Then and Now: Citizen Media and The Olympics, was how this would take place. The University of the West of Scotland's Andy Miah did a remarkable job of illuminating how the presence of the Olympics changes the communications landscape of its host city. Coming off last year's games in Beijing where there wasn't much room for citizen's journalism, let alone traditional journalism, there are a lot of people who hope that Vancouver can do a better job of embracing social media. With less than a year until the games, its important that these issues are being raised so that we can address questions about how social media will be included the Olympics.
There were too many other great presentations to mention here. My personal highlight was one of the last sessions on saturday. The last session of any conference poses a particular challenge since most of the attendees have already had their brains crammed full and by then the additional cups of coffee are providing diminishing returns. This makes for a tough gig but Northern Voice attendees were in for a treat. Dave Olson led a discussion between Kris Krug and Bev Davies on the topic of Rock and Roll Photography and gave us a rare journey through the worlds of amateur and professional concert photography. It was beautiful, inspiring and hilarious - a cherry on top of an already great weekend.
This year tickets sold out in just three days and the organizers are trying to figure out how to make next year's conference accessible to more people while still retaining the close-knit feeling and intimate nature that made for such great conferences in the past. If you have any ideas or want to get involved with next years conference, drop the organizers a line or add to the wiki.
See you next year!