Living the "Blog Elevated" Experience: Moving from "Cowboy" Time (Stephenville) to "Island" Time (Galveston)

This weekend, we (Victoria, Diana, Amanda, Dr. Tony Edwards and I (Dr. Jennifer Edwards) attended the Blog Elevated conference in Galveston, Texas.

Stephenville, TX to Galveston, TX" was an exceptionally long drive, but it was definitely worth it. Here is the schedule for this year's conference...

We signed up to volunteer at the conference and it proved to be a VERY rewarding opportunity! We were able to network with the Blog Elevated staff and they definitely included us as one of the team. We exchanged business cards with the Blog Elevated attendees and now we follow many of them on Twitter.

Also, we were able to network with the different brands present at the conference to see how they connect with bloggers through Brand Ambassador programs (and other neat, creative engagement opportunities). This is potentially another applied research topic focused on social presence via influential bloggers. The Social Media Coaches (undergraduate and graduate students) actually left the conference with clarified research interests and a few internal collaboration opportunities.

I was very excited for the students to meet Kami Huyse (@KamiChat) from Houston, TX. She is definitely a top-notch blogger who embraces networking and connections via social media. Kami is definitely one of my aspirant bloggers.

Next year, we would love to be asked to speak/volunteer at the Blog Elevated conference (or a similar conference). This was definitely a great opportunity for the students and also for the board members who attended the conference.

We cannot wait until next year! THANKS Blog Elevated!

Sincerely,

Jennifer