I participated today on a panel at the Atlanta PRSA and Atlanta Press Club's joint meeting. The panel was called All the News That's Fit to Blog: How Technology Is Changing the Face of the Media.
The lone woman on the panel (good thing all of my BlogHer preparation groomed me for what it's like to be representin' even if I didn't make it to San Jose!) I participated with some smart guys -- fellow blogger Kevin Howarth, Managing Editor of Techlinks; Scot Safon, Senior VP of Marketing for CNN; Dan Greenfield, VP of Corporate Communications for Earthink; and Larry Street, Partner & Internet Lawyer for Morris, Manning and Martin, LLP. What's Up Interactive's Richard Warner moderated the panel at Maggiano's in Buckhead.
I enjoyed the experience--one that I generally try to avoid whenever humanly possible because it takes me so far out of my comfort zone that I'm not sure I can find my way back. The audience's questions were awesome--that was the part I enjoyed the most. People who had the enthusiasm and guts to ask whatever blogging-type questions they had on their mind. And I think I even said a few coherent things.
Kevin and I being the only bloghards on the panel had an immediate connection and I got all jazzed when he would answer a question, and then I'd want to jump in and add to it, but panels have an interesting dynamic and order to them. It's probably a good thing we weren't sharing a mic and that Scot was seated between us. There really is an art to participating on a panel and being able to think fast, respond quickly and get the right thoughts from brain to mouth to mic in the allotted time.
Scot Safon is a master at relating meaningful annecdotes that cut to the heart of the question, and Larry Street had some great lawyerly advice and gave a shout out to free speech. Dan Greenfield mentioned that Earthlink is now lookng for a full-time blogger. A REAL GIG, FOLKS. Dave Taylor has more thoughts on the job, plus a job description readout, here.
Anyway, I'm beat from a long day, so more later.
P.S. Ha-ha, Kevin--I posted first. ;-)
