Kem Meyer on Blogging

I have the privilege right now of sitting in a breakout session on blogging led by my friend and co-worker, Kem Meyer. Last year Nancy Beach showed up for a day at the Innovative Church Conference at Granger. She attended Kem's workshop on blogging, and then subsequently asked her to come to the Willow Arts Conference and teach the same session. Some highlights…

• She is using a very large marker on the white board…and she has good hand-writing.
• Kem recommends the book by Terry Storch and Brian Bailey called The Blogging Church. [I just read this book recently and agree!]
• She also said a good business book on the topic is Naked Conversations.
• Blogs don't replace personal conversations…they enhance the relationship you already have.
• Kem uses Bloglines for subscribing to blogs, and tracks about 100 blogs.
• To show how easy it is to create a blog, Kem demonstrated this and created a simple blog using blogger.com in just a few minutes.
• Two of Kem's favorite tools are Technorati and FeedBurner.
• It's very important to figure out your primary audience. Everyone will read it—but know who you are writing for.
• You don't want a "blahg" – keep it interesting.
• Don't just include links…include a nugget or excerpt so the reader can decide if it is worth their time to check out that site.
• Share resources—don't sell or promote.
• Microsoft has thousands of employee blogs, and their blog policy is two words: Blog Smart.

Kem did a great job with this session. She is a natural communicator, treats the audience well and responds to questions appropriately.