Overwhelming. A room packed full of people — bloggers, neighbors, friends, curious people, press.
It will take a few days to decompress from the event. To synthesize what happened there. So many people. So many ideas. Such passion. Such creativity. So many margaritas.
No Words_Daily Pix’s musical slide show was a great start to an evening of many words. The first scheduled reader, Rabbi Andy Bachman, was nowhere to be found (turned out that he had a rabbinic emergency) so Pastor Daniel Meeter of Old First Blog graciously sanctified the event with words of prayer in Dutch.
Writer and visionary Steven Berlin Johnson, author of "Everything Bad is Good for You" and "Ghost Wars." spoke about what inspired him to develop Outside.In, a way to access neighborhood blogs by zip code.
Lumi Michelle Rolley, whose blog No Land Grab is a portal to and a repository of vast amounts of information about the Atlantic Yards controversy spoke with passion, energy, and humor about traditional media’s neglect of Atlantic Yards and Brooklyn in general.
Robert Guskind of Gowanus Lounge spoke movingly of his 17-hour days spent trekking from the Gowanus to Williamsburg to Coney Island to report on and photograph the latest development news.
Brownstoner’s Jon Butler came as he is. No longer is he the incognito blogger with the Wall Street job. He spoke about quitting his day job and the ways in which his blog unexpectedly created a community of like-minded readers and tipsters, who he keeps up with daily.
Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Report, was awarded a superhero cape for his heroic efforts to cover the Atlantic Yards comprehensively. He disputed Outside.In’s finding that Clinton Hill is the bloggiest neighborhood. With characteristic rigor, he analyzed the survey and found that it is actually Prospect Heights that deserves that title.
Finally, Eleanor Traubman of Creative Times told of her desire to report on the creative people in her midst who inspire her. She spoke of tracking down 100-year-old Eve Zeisel, the legendary ceramic designer, and meeting with her in her apartment. Creative Times, Eleanor said, is an attempt to inspire others to be creative and to think outside of the box.
The open mic was perhaps the evening’s best invention. More than a dozen new bloggers (blog names to come) got up and described their blogs for the crowd. A really fun ending to a great line up of interesting speakers.
In addition to the crowd of more than 140 people, the event was quite the media sensation. WNBC News was there. A story aired on the 11 pm news and will be on the morning news, as well. Gersh Kuntzman, editor of the Brooklyn Paper sat in the front row. The New York Times sent a reporter, who is doing a story about Brooklyn blogging. A reporter from the Daily News, who is starting a Daily News blog about Coney Island was also in attendance. A representative from the Washington Post was in town and made a point of being there.
I just started a walking tour through park slope-prospect park. I was raised in area and love the tranformation thats going on in slope,and looking to become more involed in the community.
Gotta agree that having the person at the door great people with a brusque “Who are you?” wasn’t exactly the way to imbue the event with a feeling of fuzziness and friendliness. And this is coming from someone who was on the list and at the event.
actually the only reason i got to get in was because i naively didnt know where the entrance was and came up the side stairs while it was already started, there was an empty chair just waiting for me..the gentrification and real estate stuff is really important but I understand why the folks more involved with creative endeavors felt a little alienated, at least I did, but that’s just me i’ve felt alienated since i was born!
What the blog about stuff that’s annoying in NYC? I can’t remember, but I’m pretty sure I’d love it. (It was a shout-out near the end.)
Sadly, I had to put my two kids to bed so got there ‘late.’ When I responded that I was ‘not on the list’ (who knew one existed?) I said no. Then I was clumsily told (thank you Kim Meier) that ‘fire code regulations’ prevented anyone else from being let in. I guess I’m not in your in-crowd. Please, think of something better to say next time.
Pretty white and non-diverse, dontcha think?
Eric writes: What I’d like to see in the future is less focus on the anti-ratner/development bloggers and more focus on the diversity of what people post, be it text, photos, video. I may be in the minority but it seemed the bulk of the event was an anti-arena rally.
One of the best rewards of blogging is the connections one has with viewers/readers, and i’d like to hear more about that and less about Bruce Ratner
I agree whole-heartedly. Although I had an enjoyable evening and met a number of very nice people, I found the real estate-centrism very irritating— and I blog about development on occasion. I also read real estate blogs regularly.
If the Blogfest gets pigeon-holed as being a south Brooklyn anti-development b*tchfest, you are going to turn off a lot of bloggers who would otherwise provide the ‘diversity’ everyone (seemingly) wants.
Just a little constructive criticism.
H
It was good to see the faces of some of the people I read. Having organized community events myself, this was well done. The limits of the physical space was what prevented more from coming, and the news media showed up quite early. How about having it at the Brooklyn Lyceum [ the bathhouse ] next time?
What I’d like to see in the future is less focus on the anti-ratner/development bloggers and more focus on the diversity of what people post, be it text, photos, video. I may be in the minority but it seemed the bulk of the event was an anti-arena rally.
One of the best rewards of blogging is the connections one has with viewers/readers, and i’d like to hear more about that and less about Bruce Ratner
I recently spoke at PodcampNYC [ http://podcampNYC.org ] and part of my talk was about that connection with people. http://ericrochow.com/?p=140
Thanks for putting this together. Eric Rochow
http://gardenfork.tv – a video podcast about cooking, gardening and other stuff
http://ericrochow.com views on Web 2.0 and How to make it work for you
http://colebrooknews.com a community blog
Sorry I missed it, Louise.
I was a bit disappointed…we showed up right around 8, and I had RSVPd the day before (the first I had heard about needing to RSVP, even though I knew about the event a month in advance), but no luck, we weren’t on the list. I guess my email got lost in the shuffle.
We made the best of it and had a beer at The Gate. I agree, next time, I think some sort of registration service might be a good idea.
Thanks again for taking the time to organize such a great evening!
In all fairness I have found the post where they mentioned capacity ahead of time. Fair enough on that front and I stand corrected. But if capacity is really the issue than why not simply say “we’re at capacity” and call it a day. Nobody is going to argue with that. This is very different than saying “who are you again? oh. sorry. we can’t let you in then” as if you’re working the door at puff daddy’s party. at an event hosted by a blogging mom no less.
At the end of the day, its obviously not a big deal. Maybe consider using eventbrite or a similar service next time and if you can only hold X amount of people, cut off registration once you reach that threshold.
Thanks for putting that together Louise…it was interesting to see the faces behind the blogs…and yes Aaron, it was filled to capacity!
Aaron, dude, if you didn’t make it inside, how do you know it wasn’t “because of capacity”? The place was so packed I was afraid they’d call a fire marshal, and the pre-press was explicit about space limitations and the need to get there by 8 to get in. Arriving at 8:30 and whining…oh, let’s clear away the karma and just say thanks, Louise, for working so hard for a unique, visionary and very fun evening, and for generously opening the floor to newcomers. I had a ball meeting so many Brooklyn live wires I’ve known only in cyberspace. (Next year, if the cliche isn’t dead yet, let’s all come in our pajamas! But not, please, our underwear…)
community? sadly some of us have to actually work but when I got there roughly 30 minutes after 8 I was greeted by a snooty lady that told me there was a “list” I had to be on in order to enter. A list, I might add that isnt mentioned anywhere online. that kind of attitude for what amounts to a community gathering at a public place in my own neighborhood is lame beyond words.
it speaks volumes that you brag about people from the washington post, the ny times and other news organizations attending a meeting about blogging and community when you are turning away people from your actual geographic and on-line community. a bit ironic, no?
It’s not that nobody was being allowed in because of capacity… I’m sure if I was a member of the “increasingly irrelevant traditional media” everyone derides it wouldnt have been a problem. all in all a good example of bloggers taking themselves a bit too seriously.
Terrific job Louise. Thanks to you, Oh-so-Feisty Piano Chick, Hep PhotoGuy, your sis, Old Stone House’s Kim Maier and the other volunteers for your hard work. We all had a great time.
Talking to reporters afterwards (News 12 was there too), a couple took to heart our criticism of the mainstream media. I want to point out that I was only being half sarcastic when I thanked them for leaving Brooklyn virtually uncovered.
Yes, if Brooklyn’s extraordinarily rich neighborhoods got more coverage then some of us would have a lot more free time. On the flip side, many speakers pointed out that bloggers, embedded in their neighborhoods, are naturally better suited (even though some work in their underwear) than beat reporters to cover their own communities.
The difference between last year and this year is that bloggers seem to be getting more comfortable in their roles as the eyes and ears of the community.
Louise –
Thank you for organizing the Blogfest. It’s because of your vision and hard work that we bloggers are much more of a community now.