Howdy, y’all!
Hey, no post here today; yesterday was my birthday and I’m takin’ a few days off. But I do have an article over at Joyful Jubilant Learning where I ask the pointless deeply profound question, “What’s a hill o’ beans worth, anyway?”
So pop on over there if you’re so inclined!
I’ll be back on Monday. If the creek don’t rise.
_________________________
Image: Homie on a Hill of Beans, by boeke
_________________________
Fifty-five years ago, an unnamed doctor took one look at me and pronounced these now immortal words: “What in tarnation – ?” (Y’know; after all this time, I must admit the events of that day have become a mite unclear. But I’ll bet I weren’t none too sure about him either! I’m just sayin’.)
Anyhoo -
Yup; today happens to be my birthday (sound of one hand clapping). I am 55 years old young today, a remarkably symmetrical-sounding number that merely reflects my body’s age, not how I see myself.
I tell ya, there were times when there was serious doubt about me reachin’ this particular milestone. Like that time I drove my bicycle right in front of a truck because I didn’t yet know how to use the brakes! (Ended up in the hospital with a scratch or two.) Or the time I accidentally answered the question posed by an *ahem* former girlfriend: “Does this dress make me look fat?”
However, by the Grace of God (and a vast army of extremely diligent angels) I’ve made it this far, and I’ll tell ya Bubba, I can’t wait to see what happens next!
Yee-haw, y’all!
_________________________
Image: 55, by Eva the Weaver
_________________________
Yee-Haw, y’all! No, wait… lemme say that again, with feeling: YEEE-HAAAW!
I’d like y’all to give a big round of applause (sound of big round of applause) for all the folks who participated in Blogapalooza! I’m tellin’ ya; it puts a tear in the eye when I see how many folks from all over the world decided to join us for this year’s event.
We also had an amazing cross-section of demographics represented this year. Folks from all over the world, published authors, university professors, home makers, teachers, reporters, high tech – and not-so-high-tech – folks; you name it, we probably had someone representing that group. (NOTE – In case you missed ‘em, a complete list of participants is here, while a list of the army of kick-starters is here.)
But naturally, that’s not the whole story. In fact, I’ve identified at least three very important lessons to be learned from the experience (not that there aren’t more, of course!) Naturally, I’d like to share a few of ‘em with you (which should come as no surprise since that’s, y’know, what I do).
First, a Few Numbers
Although some may not have realized it, this was actually the second Blogapalooza at the Zone (here’s the results of the first one), and statistically, this year’s event was nothing less than a blowout!
The first Blogapalooza had 33 entries. (Note I didn’t say “only” – hey, it was my first time; I was thrilled to get any!) This time there were 128 entries. Not bad, considering I was, well, only goin’ for 100, don’cha think? That’s a 388% increase over last year!
Not only that, but this year I asked a whole herd o’ folks if they’d be willing to help kick it off by sending me their posts early (to “prime the pump”, so to speak). Out of 62 people asked, 31 followed through and contributed their post prior to the kickoff date (Jan. 5), which translates to a 50% response rate – not bad by anyone’s standards! (By the way, no problem if you were asked but couldn’t do it. I promise you’ll not be gettin’ a midnight visit from Guido and the boys for a pep talk or anything. Really.)
OK, now for the payoff. During the course of the last three weeks, there were 1,258 outgoing links to your posts (well, not all to yours… you get my meanin’, right?) Now, divide that number by 128 participants and you get… well, lemme see now… multiply by 3… carry the 7 (hold on, I gotta get my shoes off to calculate this one)… that averages out to 9.828125 links per participant! (I’m tellin’ ya, it’s amazing how accurate you can be when you use all yer fingers and toes, ain’t it?)
Anyhoo, now on to three simple, yet powerful lessons I learned from this year’s experience.
The Power of an Invitation
One of the most interesting things I learned was related to everyone’s favorite topic: social media. The fact is, bein’ sociable is what social media is all about, right? But is it really all that valuable? Is it desirable? Is it kosher?
Well, maybe that last one is for better folks than me to decide… but on the first two, I’d say the answer is a resounding “yes”. As exhibit one, let’s take a look at what happened here.
When you get right down to it, folks contributed an entry to Blogapalooza because, well, I invited ‘em to! (Or someone else asked ‘em to.) That’s pretty much it! No money, no prizes, no book signing offers… well, you get the picture, I think. (Although a book offer does sound kinda nice, doesn’t it? Maybe one day when I’m rich and famous. Or when pigs fly, which is a far more likely occurrence.)
But if you think about it, this event is a great illustration of the (if you’ll pardon the much over-used expression) power of social media: people doin’ somethin’, simply because they were invited to take part. (Oh, sure; I’m greatly simplifying it for the sake of illustration, but I think you get my meanin’.)
Who Do You Trust?
Now, a corollary to the previous lesson is that little word we all love to hate: trust. See, folks also did what I asked because, for whatever reason, they trusted me. I don’t say that in a proud way, mind you; the truth is I’m tremendously honored that so many would do so enought to participate in this event. (Yep; It’s all I can do not to insert a line here about a bridge I’d like to sell you. But I, uh, won’t.)
Anyhoo – I think part of why folks trusted me (at least, for this) is because they believed I would do what I said I’d do: point folks to their websites. And that’s the lesson: do what you say you’re going to do. Hey, it’s a “three-fer”: plain, pithy and powerful.
Guilt Virtue by Association
One of the reasons this event was so much bigger than last year’s was through my association with the fine folks over at HighCallingBlogs network. There are over 300 (and counting) blogs in the network now, and thanks to Marcus Goodyear and Dan Roloff, I was given the opportunity to appeal directly to the membership for help in kicking things off.
What amazed me, though, was how many folks jumped aboard right from the get-go! Now that was gratifying, I’ll tell ya! And it illustrates yet another point: that some folks will trust you based on who you associate with. Because of many of these folks, we had a great start to this year’s project. And because of you fine folks, we topped my goal of 100 posts – by a considerable margin!
Yep; half the battle of getting to know new folks is knowin’ enough about ‘em to know you’d like to associate with ‘em, right? But how do you do that when you don’t know them at all. Well, you can start by looking at who (or is it ‘whom’?) they are associated with. Hey, it’s not a perfect system – and you need to be careful about judging a book by its cover (so to speak) – but at least it’s a place to start.
Kinda begs the question, though: Who do folks associate with you?
So What About YOU?
All right; enough bloviating from yours truly.
What about y’all? What did YOU learn from Blogapalooza this year? Was it worth your time? Did you make any new friends? Was it everything you hoped for? And… what about Mary Lou?
Leave a comment and let us know, why don’cha? As always, we’ll leave the light on for ya.
_____________________________
Howdy y’all!
Hey, just so ya know, a big part of the success of this year’s Blogapalooza was due to the help of some truly wonderful and generous folks! Yessir, there was whole herd o’ folks (31 in all) who volunteered to write their posts – and submit them early – just so there’d be a full week of posts already scheduled when Blogapalooza kicked off back on Jan. 5.
In fact, I want to give a special mention to Karen Hanrahan who zapped her entry to me within hours of the call goin’ out! I mean, the ink had barely dried on the email! Pretty impressive, I’ll tell ya, and it earned her the honor of havin’ the first post. (Hat tip, Karen!)
Now, to ALL my fellow writers who helped get things goin’ this year, I hereby award y’all the honorary title of “Bubba“, and salute you with a great big ol’ tip o’ the Middle Zone hat!
Here’s the list of Bubbas, in order of their appearance. To read their guest post here at the Zone, click on their name; to visit their blog, click on the blog’s name. (However, do not pass Go, or collect $200.)
Thanks for makin’ this year’s Blogapalooza so extra-special, y’all!
_______________________
OK; you may be wondering why the above image is upside-down. Well, that’s because (wait for it now)…
… it’s OVER! (Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Sorry.)
Yessir, as of midnight last night, the 2nd annual Blogapalooza extravaganza officially ended, and lemme tell ya folks, it was one heckuva party!
That’s right y’all; the gravitationally challenged human person of the female persuasion (and you’re free to interpret that any way you like) has expressed herself musically, and we all know what that means, don’t we? (Sound of bell) Yep, it means BLOGAPALOOZA is now history (sound of audience crying out in disappointment)!
My goal this year was 100 entries, but I’ll tell ya folks; we kinda blew the top off the ol’ Palooza-Meter over there on the right! Now that the smoke has finally cleared, the grand total came to… 128! (Sound of crowd cheering) That’s right, y’all were part of something really special here at the Middle Zone! I’m proud you folks would honor me enough to take part, just because you were asked. No prizes, no money – just honoring a request from a friend.
Now that’s social media at its best, wouldn’t ya say?
Anyhoo, without further ado (because as you know, further do would be just plain silly) down below you’ll find all 128 participants, listed in the order of their appearance here at the Zone. The post titles were all the same, of course (“What I Learned From 2008″), except the names were changed to protect the innocent to identify the author, thus: “What I Learned From 2008 – (writer’s name)”
In this list (which keeps on goin’ like the Eveready Bunny), the writer’s name links to their guest post here at the Middle Zone, while the blog’s name links to, well, their blog. Works nicely that way, don’cha think?
Many thanks, y’all – and of course, a big ol’ tip o’ the hat to ya!
________________________
Note from the Proprietor: In case you’re wondering what it’s all about, well, we’re smack in the middle of BLOGAPALOOZA! Hey, you’re welcome to join in the fun if you like! All ya gotta do is click that cute little link and read all about it!]
___________________________
Guest post by Brett Duncan who writes over at Marketing In Progress
January: “Don’t Drink Piss” Setting the scene for a year of economic bailouts and stimulation, this tried and true advice has been ringing in my ears for a year+ now.
February: In the Groove Great advice from a dear friend on the conditions in place when we really feel happiness.
March: Making Connections vs. Making Impressions In our fast world of tweets and pokes and networking and social media, it’s important to distinguish if we’re making connections or making impressions. There’s a big difference.
April: 5 Traits that Separate Good Salesmen from Bad Whether you’re in sales or not, we all deal with sales people. And we all know what we like and what we don’t. Why aren’t these traits more common in the sales folks we deal with every day?
May: World Domination and Your Business After playing quite a bit of Risk over a summer vacation, I came away with 19 vital lessons learned from playing Risk that easily applies to business strategy.
June: Enjoying the Process We can all pick things to do where we enjoy the end result. But real joy comes from when we do something that we actually enjoy the journey of getting to that end result.
July: Pen Marketing Can Be Fun After stumbling across this fun website for Tul pens, I actually managed to get myself a free set. You’ve got to check out the graphological analysis.
August: I Have a Crush on LinkedIn After one experience with LinkedIn asking for referrals, I walked away a huge fan.
September: Polarizing As the presidential elections rolled along, we marketers got some great fodder for thought. One of the main lessons is that only audacious, polarizing actions get attention.
October: Weathering the Storm As the economy plummets, the overall spirit of “weathering the storm” is becoming the popular chant. Maybe it’s not such a good idea.
November: A Privilege As easy as it is to look at taking care of your customer as a task, a duty, a job, whatever; think how things would change if you saw it as a privilege.
December: You’re Disgusting In the spirit of change and New Year’s Resolutions, here’s my challenge: figure out what it is that disgusts you about your life, and go change it.
___________________________
Brett Duncan is the sole writer of MarketingInProgress.com, a blog trying to make sense of the blur that is today’s marketing landscape. A born-and-bread Kentuckian who now lives in Dallas, Brett enjoys helping small businesses use the tools available to them today to get the word out about what they do.
___________________________
[Further note from the Proprietor: Hey, if you're interested in having your own "best of 2008" posts highlighted right here at the Middle Zone, then by all means, click on this link: (BLOGAPALOOZA: What I Learned From 2008) and read all about it! BLOGAPALOOZA will be open for entries from now until Sunday, January 25.]
___________________________
[Note from the Proprietor: In case you're wondering what it's all about, well, we're smack in the middle of BLOGAPALOOZA! Hey, you're welcome to join in the fun if you like! All ya gotta do is click that cute little link and read all about it!]
___________________________
Guest post by David Bowles who writes over at Westward Sagas
Although I’ve been blogging since June 2006, last year was busy as I tried to finish Adam’s Daughters: Book 2 in the Westward Sagas, and I missed posting in a couple of months.
January: Dinner with My Ancestors was a submission to the Carnival of Genealogy answering the question: If you could have dinner with four of your ancestors who would they be and why?
February: My Blog Roars: Powerful Writing was a response to a meme in which I shared my top three tips for powerful writing.
March: On the 227th anniversary of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, A Tribute to Ancestors and Patriots honors my ancestors Adam Mitchell, who fought in the battle, and his mother, wife, and children, who hid in the family’s spring house near the battlefield that spread onto their farm.
April: Judge a Book by the Cover describes the challenges I faced getting the perfect cover for my historical novel Spring House: Book 1 in the Westward Sagas.
June: Who’s Training Who?, my entry in WILF Animals, tells that while I thought I was training my constant companion and best friend, my yellow Lab Lulubelle, she was really the one training me.
July: As a proud patriot and Son of the American Revolution, I posted photos of the July 4th celebration at Let Freedom Ring: Independence Day Photos.
August: Talkin’ Texan, an entry in the Carnival of Genealogy, shares how words my family uses regularly aren’t always understood by others, especially non-Texans.
September: David, Lulubelle, Storytelling, and Jonesborough covers the International Storytelling Festival that Lulubelle and I attended.
October: In Experiencing History in Tennessee, I share my awe at being in the place my ancestors lived and my amazement at visiting the birthplace of Davy Crockett after spending so much time researching genealogy at the Alamo.
December: Merry Christmas includes not only my holiday greetings but also my thoughts about Christmas cards.
___________________________
David Bowles is an author and speaker based in San Antonio, Texas. The novels in his Westward Sagas are historically and genealogically accurate stories of his ancestors, fictionalized only to add dialogue and to fill in the gaps when history is lacking. He blogs at Writing the Westward Sagas: Adventures of Genealogist and Tale-Spinner David Bowles – Telling the Family Stories.
___________________________
[Further note from the Proprietor: Hey, if you're interested in having your own "best of 2008" posts highlighted right here at the Middle Zone, then by all means, click on this link: (BLOGAPALOOZA: What I Learned From 2008) and read all about it! BLOGAPALOOZA will be open for entries from now until Sunday, January 25.]
___________________________
Middle Zone Musings is a comfortable place to stop, have a cup of coffee, swap a few stories and share practical ideas for the real world. I don't ask for much, just a bit of your brain every now and then. Have a seat, take a load off, and relax...
