POSTS ABOUT THE CONFERENCE

Hi everybody! The 2nd Annual Kitlit Bloggers' Conference has come and gone. It was wonderful! Here we are (most of us) at the end of the evening:
Here is a Mr. Linky list to a roundup of posts by attendees. If you have written a post, just fill in the spaces below and your link will pop up. Thanks so much to everyone for attending; looking forward to seeing you all again next year or before!

So Where Do We go on Saturday?

It was brought to the attention of the global girl that a key detail was missing. After the fun of Friday, where do we show up on Saturday?

Please come to Sheraton Portland Airport Hotel,
Portland, Oregon at about 7:35 for coffee and name tags.

We are to your left as you walk into the main entrance of the hotel.
See you all soon!

Friday Night Fun

Looking forward to the weekend! Here is what's happening on Friday.

If you are local, you can choose to meet us either at Powells or Deschutes Brewery.

6:00 Gather at the hotel (those who need to gather at hotel), depart

6:30 Meet at Powells…Meet in the children’s /YA Section
Powell’s Books
1005 W Burnside
Portland, OR

7:00 or whenever so moved wander to Deschutes Brewery

Deschutes Brewery (walking distance from Powells)
210 NW 11th Street
Portland, OR

Public Transit Information:
http://trimet.org/go/cgi-bin/plantrip.cgi?lang=

Use the Max Red line from the airport.
Get off at Galleria/SW 10th Ave MAX Station
Walk between 0.2-0.4 to your destination
Fares: Adult All Zone ($2.30), Youth/Student ($1.50) or Honored Citizen ($0.95)

Questions? Email me at macrush53 at yahoo dot com

Tenative Agenda for the Conference

Here it is. We are looking forward to meeting you all. Please let us know if you want to join us on Friday evening. Please note the 4:00 offering, it is a meet and greet, set up a table with books, fliers, etc. Please let us know if you plan to participate.

Second Annual Kidlit Blogging Conference
Friday, September, 26
6:30 ish Meet in lobby. Go to Powell’s City of Books and then to dinner in the area.

Saturday, September 27
7:45-8:00 Check In Stuff
8:00-8:10 Greetings/ Welcome

8:10-9:00 Bridging Books and Blogs: A panel discussion about Kidlitosphere. (Mark Blevis, Alice Pope, Dia Calhoun, Lori Ann Grover, Betsy Bird

9:10-10:00 Making the Most of the Community: Blog Tour Events: Colleen Mondor/Jackie Parker

10:10-11:00 Two Offerings:
Six Questions for Every Blogger (target: beginning Bloggers): Anastasia Suen
Kick Your Blog Up a Notch (target: Int/advanced): Pam Coughlan

11:10- 12:00 Two Offerings:
CYBILS Forum: Jen Robinson/ Sarah Stevenson
There's a Podcast at the End of this Book: using audio and video to communicate online: Mark Blevis

12:00-1:10 LUNCH (with friends but on own)

1:10-3:00 The Bridge Between Authors and Book Reviewers: A Conversation: Laini Taylor/Jen Robinson

2:10—3:00 Promoting Your Book and Yourself On Facebook/My Space and Other Social Networking Tools: Sometimes a blog presence is not enough: you have a new book (or a new award or newsletter or... or... or...) to promote and you want to reach a bigger audience. Can the kidlitosphere grow outside of blogdom (and does it need to?)? Hear what's worked for others on social networks and around the web... and feel free to add your own ideas and success stories. Greg Pincus

3:10—4:00 Two Offerings:
Managing a Group Blog/ Creating an Internet Community: Class of 2K8/2K9

For Authors: Balancing the Personal and Professional on Your Author Blogs: Sara Zarr

4:15-5:00 Meet the Authors,( Illustrators, Agents): A time to have a table with your books, promotional etc.

5:00-6:00 Happy Hour/Time Before Dinner
6:30 Dinner

new conference shwag

Hi everyone! If you haven't yet registered for the conference, now is really the time! And even if you can't make it this year (or if you can), you can support the conference by buying stuff! Visit our new Cafe Press shop and get some shwag. There are shirts, mugs, and bags, all declaring our love of kidlit.







Here are some samples:

And there's more. Go HERE to see all styles. All proceeds go into the general conference fund. Thank you!

Conference Topics

Will you be in this year's photo?

Snail Mail is bringing those registrations in each day. Emails are showing up in the IN box for questions about the conference.

Bloggers want to see the following topics:

CYBILS
Beginning Blogging
Community blogging
Pod casting
Social networking to promote your blog (thank you Greg for offering to lead this session)

And

VLOGGING? Who will lead the session on Vlogging?

Mother Reader will be here to talk about what makes a great blog.

I feel a bit like the “little red hen” when I ask, “Who will help out?” Will you help?

Rumor has it that there will soon be some shirts and mugs for sale on Café Press in honor of the conference stay tuned.

Time to Register

Just ten weeks until we all meet up again. Time to register. Time to collect money. Time to plan.


The Theme: "Bridging the Worlds of Books and Blogs" (Portland is know as Bridgetown with its ten bridges crossing the Willamette River.)


The Place: Sheraton Portland Airport Hotel. The Sheraton has extended conference rates between September 24-September 29, if you wish to stay longer. Breakfast is included.

The Cost: $60.00 for the conference (dinner included) and $30.oo for dinner

Registration: Kidlitosphere Registration

Stay tuned. More to come.

Getting the ball rolling

Hi there! It's getting to be time to plan the 2008 Kidlit Bloggers Conference in Portland, Oregon. We hope that all who attended last year will return, and we hope to see new folks too. If you blog about children's books (or YA), or if you are a writer of children's books (or YA) who blogs -- we'd love to see you there.

Details
The date: Saturday, September 27, including banquet-style dinner that night
The place: We're making the final decision about the hotel as soon as we get an idea of attendance. If we can get as many folks as last year (or more), we're shooting for either the Embassy Suites or Sheraton near the airport in Portland. One of the great things about Portland is that the airport is only a few miles from downtown and is easily accessible by the MAX (light rail). (The hotels are also right by the new IKEA, by the way.) Sign up quick so we can move on the Embassy Suites -- it's a great spot, with good conference rooms, complimentary happy hour cocktails, good breakfast included, and a little brook that flows through the lobby!
The event: We'll need lots of feedback before we decide on the day's discussions. One thing we'd like to do is establish two separate "tracks" -- one for reviewer bloggers, and one for author bloggers, with the opportunity to mingle and learn from each other. We'll have two meeting rooms, so we can break out into two groups for parts of the day.
Friday night: We absolutely must convene at the famous and wonderful Powell's Books on Friday evening, and get together for dinner at the neighboring brewery after. We will try to set up a group author event for that night, depending on who's attending. We'll keep you posted as it develops.
Sunday brunch: Depending on interest, we can set up a last get-together on Sunday.

Portland is beautiful in September, and it's a really easy city to get around in without a car. If you bring a spouse or your family they'll be able to get downtown or to the zoo and Washington Park on the light rail. It's also only about a half hour drive from the airport to the fabulous Columbia River Gorge, famous for its waterfalls and amazing hikes and views:
(If you rent a car, there's a great loop drive up the Gorge and around Mount Hood, where you can see the hotel where The Shining was filmed. It'll also be apple and pear season in the orchard country there on the slopes of Mount Hood: beautiful.) The stunning Oregon coast is only an hour and a half drive west; I highly recommend an extra day to see it:

What we need to know now, so we can really plan, is: who's coming? We'll need a certain number of attendees to be able to afford the hotel facilities, so we can't really proceed until we get some yays and nays. So, if you are definitely planning to come, please sign into the comments below and let us know. The conference fee will be $50 and will cover the facility rental, coffee, and dinner on Saturday night. Hotel rates are still uncertain but are likely to be in the $109-$119 range, including breakfast.

More details coming soon, but for now, we'd just love to know if you think you can come!

(If you do sign in, leave your name as you'd like it to appear below, plus your blog link. Thanks!>

1. Jone MacCulloch
2. Laini Taylor
3. Anastasia Suen
4. Adrienne
5. Jen Robinson (Jen Robinson's Book Page)
6. Andrea (Just One More Book)
7. Mark (Just One More Book)
8. Jim Di Bartolo
9. Jackie Parker (Interactive Reader)
10. Anne Levy (Book Buds)
11. Kelly Herold (Big A little a)
12. Colleen Mondor (Chasing Ray)
13. Maureen (Confessions of a Bibliovore)
14. Lynn (the Imaginary Blog)
15. Alma Alexander
16. Betsy Bird (Fuse #8)
17. Kate Schafer (aka Daphne Unfeasible)
18. Liz B. (A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy)
19. Elaine Magliaro (Wild Rose Reader)
20. Sarah Stevenson (aka A. Fortis) (Finding Wonderland)
21. Kelly Wilson (Wilson Writes)
22. Farida Dowler (aka Alkelda the Gleeful) (Saints and Spinners)
23. Pam Coughlin (MotherReader)
24. Camille (BookMoot)
25. Gregory K. (GottaBook)
26. Elise Murphy
27. Nancy Arruda (Bees Knees Reads)
28. Diane (Biblio addict)
29. Nancy (Booktalks Quick and Simple Blog)
30. April Henry
31. Cassie Richoux (Bookwyrm Chrysalis)
32. Michele Thornton (The Snarkmamas)
33. Kirby Larson
34. Kim Baker (Wagging Tales)
35. Katie (Pixie Palace)
36. Maureen McQuerry
37. Suzanna Leigh
38. Christine Fletcher
39. Beth Cummings
40. Lorie Ann Grover, rgz diva/author
41. Dia Calhoun, readergirlz diva blogger

Maybes
1. Gina Marysol Ruiz (Cuentesitos)
2. Mary Ann Librarygrl
3. Jess Jessmonster
4. Amanda Hubbard
5. Doret (The Happy Nappy Bookseller)