Area Bloggers Meeting Well-Attended

This is old news by now, if you read Chuck's Lakeland Local blog, but since I took notes, I felt obligated to write something brief (hopefully) on our recent area bloggers' meeting at Black & Brew.

First of all, a HUGE thank you to the owners of Black & Brew, who stayed open an hour later to accommodate our meeting.

For this meeting, we made a special effort to get women to attend. I'm proud to say there were five of us this time!

We also had a great mix of bloggers and blogger enthusiasts. There were people who don't have blogs, but like to read them, people who blog as part of their work and people who are blogging just for fun.

For those in need of some technical assistance, Josh Hallett and Chuck Welch were on hand. I've heard past reviews of the area bloggers gatherings as the "Chuck and Josh Show," but I don't think this meeting could be called that. From my vantage point, everyone got to offer some input, as well as ask some questions.

Jess Wilcox, the new editor of Polk Voice , was there. She's making an effort to get more Polk County residents blogging. Additionally, she wants feedback. So if you're surfing at Polk Voice and you see a post that strikes your fancy, leave a comment. If you want to see something on Polk Voice that isn't there, email Jess. She wants to make this a true community blog site.

Lakeland Police Department Assistant Chief Bill LePere also was there. His Inside LPD blog is designed to give the public more insight into the department's activities, and he doesn't want to shy away from controversial topics.

Steve, who has a personal blog appropriately titled Blogging This, was there. He has the term "brief blogs" down to an art form. I admire that. I obviously don't have that talent.

Travis represented his Winter Lake Church blog, which he admits doesn't represent the church very much. But you should check it out, because it has one of the funniest videos I've seen in a while involving a newlywed couple's first dance as husband and wife.

Cat Carter, who writes the YLakeland blog, also attended, as did The Ledger's Tom Palmer and Barry Friedman. Tom has a blog at The Ledger, and a blog about his volunteer efforts at Lake Blue Scrub, while Barry writes the What's New Online blog at The Ledger. Other attendees were Ginger and Sal, each of whom blog a bit on their MySpace pages, and Darby, who works for Polk County Tourism and Sports Marketing.

Billy Townsend, a Tampa Tribune reporter who blogs about Polk County at tbo.com, showed up as we were wrapping things up.

Gatherings such as this one help me learn more about blogging, as well as learn a little about why others blog. It's interesting to see what piques other people's interests.

Note: I didn't put everyone's last names in here, because unlike me, not everyone is an open book. So if you're in here by first name only and want me to add your full name, email me.