National Performing Arts Convention Follow-up

Lindsay Live | Jun 18, 2008 | 1

The Online Salon Movement Panelists (from left to right): Drew McManus, Joshua Kosman, Lindsay Dreyer, Dave Urlakis, and Monica Reinagel

As many of you know, I was invited to speak at the National Performing Arts Convention in Denver, CO last Thursday on a panel discussion about the role of blogs and new media in the performing arts community. What an enlightening session we had!  

Our panel, The Online Salon Movement, consisted of the perfect mix of bloggers who each had something different and unique to contribute to the conversation.  I learned so much during our discussion, but perhaps the most important thing I realized is how much we bloggers are on the forefront of something huge.  With new media soaring and traditional media shrinking, arts organizations without blogs will soon be living in the dark ages.

But I also learned that it's not just about having a blog, it's about having a GOOD blog. It's about creating a hub that readers will bookmark and return to time and time again. Anyone can log onto blogger.com and create his or her own page, but having a successful, well maintained blog is much more difficult and time consuming.

During our discussion, we came up with the some of the most common mistakes bloggers make:

• Infrequent updates
  
• Boring content
  
• Spelling and grammatical errors
  
• Copy and pasting press releases (Ok, ok, I do this sometimes, shh!!)
  
• Not encouraging reader participation
  
• Not having a distinctive voice
  
• Lack of focus
  
• Not enough photo and video content
  

The list could go on and on forever...

By the end of the discussion, I felt really proud to be a part of the Dancer Universe blog.  Every time we log in, we are helping to facilitate the kind of dialogue that is absent from and often discouraged in the dance studio.  Whether we realize it or not, we are strengthening the bonds of the performing arts community with each and every key stroke.

So let's continue meeting new artists, connecting with old friends, and exchanging thoughts and ideas. Happy blogging :-)

A big thank you to everyone at the National Performing Arts Convention.  Hope to see you next year!

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Enthusiast, Blogs, National Performing Arts Convention, Pop Culture (all tags)