@Stephen here again, to share with you some of the projects and business development that is happening in and around the SOBCon Community.
Today we are featuring Mary-Lynn Foster, the VP / Executive Producer for Bigg Success “THE HOW-TO, CAN-DO PLACE FOR PEOPLE ON THE MOVE.”

Target for Bigg Changes

One of the sessions from SOBCON that really hit home for us was the one Lorelle hosted. She asked everyone to present a tagline about their blog in 10 words or less. To be honest, we couldn’t do it. We sat at a table of bigg thinkers like: Anita Bruzese, Kristin King, and Steve Sherlock.

We already knew we needed to niche down our concept more, but this session really fortified that for us.

We decided to “Work with Liz”…the great thinker, Liz Strauss, and we recently completed our 6 session consultation. We are so excited for what is coming to Bigg Success!

- a unique platform to stand on
- direction for setting up offline revenue
- a simple tagline that tells you what we are about and how we can help you (yes in UNDER 10 words!)
- an addition to our logo that enhances our tagline
- a fun way to personalize our blog better (think twitter). We were challenged with this b/c it is a two-person blog
- we’re now thinking vertically and horizontally with our upcoming content for better re-purposing
- we are thinking differently now…we see a bigger picture

We have a lot of work in store for us, but our target to have our bigg changes in place in the coming months.

We’ll let you know here and we can’t thank Liz enough!

I just have to add, if you are looking to lift your online business to the next level, Liz is an amazing person to work with!

One more thing, SOBCon was so good for us. We are so close to our business, this brand we have built. It really helped us to have professional outsiders looking in and sharing their insight.

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On Plurk, a newer microblogging/presence app, we have been having a series of “plurkshops,” an online DIY workshop where we start a topic and discuss it in real time, effectively turning Plurk into a chat room. This has been peer-to-peer knowledge sharing at its best. Some plurkshops have yielded over 600 comments in two hours, with the quality of the information shared being impressive. That’s a firehose of words, of course, so some of the participants have started writing recaps to summarize the discussion and put it into perspective.

In fact, the Plurkshop on Social Media Management is particularly insightful. Read about it all here [link].

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Stephen Smith here, or @Stephen as some of you may know me. Liz and Terry have invited me to do a little guest-posting here at the SOBCon blog and I am thrilled to be here.

I trust that you are all still as excited as I am about what you learned and the people that you met at SOBCon 08. I am working diligently on applying this crash course in Biz School for Bloggers and can hardly wait to show you all what I have been up to (it would go faster if I was better at code!). I’d also love to see and share what all of you have been up to as well.

To that end I have volunteered my services to Liz, Terry, and Co. to get in touch with all of you and help you get the word out. These are some of the things that the SOBCon community is interested in:

• Do you have a new blog, inspired by something that you learned?
• Do you have a new product or service?
• What are you doing to make your blog into a business and what would you like to tell the SOBCon community?

How would you like some help in getting the word out to the thousands and thousands of subscribers that we collectively communicate with? Of course you would, and here is how you can do it.

Please send me an email [stephen at hdbizblog dot com] or

DM me at Twitter [hdbb_stephen],

I will be happy to write/collaborate with you on an article for the newsletter and/or the SOBCon blog. We all have our own communities and could definitely benefit by sharing our efforts in new circles, to new eyeballs.

Who knows? One or more of us may be able to help you over an obstacle, see a new perspective, or make a suggestion about something that you haven’t anticipated.

Two heads are better than one, even if one is a cabbage. Think about how much 200 heads can achieve!

I am looking forward to hearing from you.
All the best,
@Stephen

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So, in the spirit of SOBCon, we’d like to present a virtual “do-over”. Jared has posted his slides at this location:

Awayfind Presentation

Check it out, and show Jared some SOBCon love!

Ready for SOBCon09 yet? Liz and I are already talkiing about dates next May. Stay tuned!

All my best to the SOBCon family, and thanks for all of your love and support.

Terry

SOBCon09 is already being planned. Send us your feedback and your ideas or leave a comment right here.

7 Precious Responses by SOBCon08 Participants:

“The subtitle of the conference should have been ‘Hugfest 2008′. […] This will be one of my enduring take aways and I am deadly serious. […] One thing is for sure. You have to make SOBCon09.” - Chris Garrett

“It’s been quite a weekend, by any measure of meaningfulness. […] So, what am I going to do with this information? I’m going to concentrate on my readers more and stop trying to drive traffic as a primary goal. If I take care of them, they will take care of the rest.” - Jesse Petersen

“People, if you’re not here, you are missing out big. I’m so, so serious about this. SOBCon is one of the least expensive and most valuable conferences I have attended to date.” - Kristen King

“One of the big themes I picked up from the event is the importance of community. I used to think it was conversation that was important, but there’s a difference between the two. Trust develops among a community.” - Matthew Murphy

“The session Saturday was so packed full of ideas that inspired me and lightbulb moments that my brain was numb by the close of the session.” - Chris Brown

“My head is so overstuffed with ideas that I couldn’t possibly write them all down.” - Sonia Simone

“After all, in the blogosphere, it really does boil down to people.” - Timothy L. Johnson

And on that note …

SOBCon08 Photos - Business is About People

More SOCon08 images here.

Once again, thanks to all who helped make SOBCon08 an unforgettable professional and personal experience!

What did you think of SOBCon08? What lessons did you take home?

I took 5,613 words of notes. Here are 50 of the most precious.

Let your content be an ambassador for what you do. - Chris Garrett

Own a space, not just a channel. - David Bullock

Businesses are full of people. - Chris Brogan

Don’t sell people what they need - sell them what they want, because if they want it, they’ll need it. - Liz Strauss

You get what you give. Give more of you. - Wendy Piersall

What was your favorite quote or thought from SOBCon08 today? What did you think of the speakers? What will you do differently because of what you learned here?

Write down your personal mission statement - something you could say in 12 words or less if somebody held a gun to your head. - Anita Bruzzese

A subscriber who is not interested in buying something is not good for your business. - Brian Clark

What’s your promise? Who’s going to love what you do? - Lorelle VanFossen

More to come.

SOBCon08 kicked off in grand style tonight as dozens of bloggers and entrepreneurs enjoyed a cruise on the “Summer of George,” which floated us all through a brief downpour on the Chicago River and into the clear, windy night on Lake Michigan.

Christine Kane sang beautifully (while playing the guitar … and keeping her balance!).

Liz Strauss moved us with her masterful words.

The food, drink and conversation warmed our hearts.

Open Comment Night was never flashier, funner or more unforgettable.

Follow the SOBCon08 Flickr pool to see photos and videos from the conference.

Thank you to all our sponsors and organizers for putting together a night to remember.

On to a great day of learning and masterminding tomorrow!

What did you think of SOBCon Day 1? Who did you meet? How did you like the atmosphere?

Welcome to SOBCon08, a business blogging conference like no other.

The blogger conference runs from today through Sunday.

Dear Mother Nature, please be nice to our event!

Official SOBCon08 Updates

•  Follow the official SOBCon08 blog right here or subscribe to the SOBCon08 blog RSS feed
• Bookmark the official SOBCon08 wiki or get RSS updates when the SOBCon08 wiki changes
• Follow the official SOBCon08 Twitter account
• Follow the official SOBCon08 Flickr group

SOBCon08 Attendee Lists

• Liz Strauss has published a full SOBCon08 attendee list.
• I’m updating the list at the Visionary Blogging wiki SOBCon08 page.

 SOBCon08 Attendee Live Updates

• Many SOBCon attendees have listed their contact info and itineraries at the official conference wiki.
• Dozens of SOBCon attendees have added their Twitter accounts to the SOBCon08 Crowd Status page. (Want to be added? Send a Twitter message to Chris Garrett and ask him to add you to the SOBCon Crowd Status page.)
• Bookmark the Google Blog Search results for the latest SOBCon08 related blog posts or grab its search feed
• Bookmark the Tweet Scan search results for SOBCon08 related Twitter updates or grab its search feed

SOBCon08 Live Photos and Videos

• The SOBCon08 Flickr photo stream offers a SOBCon photo blog.
• There’s an official SOBCon08 Flickr group.
• Steve Sherlock has written an anthem for SOBCon08

How to Participate in SOBCon08 Online Stuff

• Spy on all of the above links - we like attention!
• Comment at all the SOBCon attendee blogs you can - nobody I’ve met yet bites.
• Talk to SOBConers on Twitter - chit-chat is great and you can even use the SOBCon08 hashtag
• Comment at this blog and we’ll suck you in to the conversation.

Enjoy SOBCon08, everyone!

P.S. We owe some link love to two more SOBCon08 attendees: Chris Brown and Clay Collins.

Fasten your seat belts, folks!