Success

I could write volumes about what the Blogs United accomplished this past weekend. I will try to keep it short.

The Martinsville Crew have set the standard for all future meetings. I think everyone enjoyed the speakers and workshops. To have the awesome line up of political figures take time to acknowledge the blogosphere is quite an accomplishment. Conaway Haskins has it summed up like this:

Where the two Sorensen blogging summits were nods by the so-called "establishment" to the growing prominence of the craft, the Martinsville event, with an agenda and guest list just as prominent, was yet another "Hello, World" moment. This grassroots movement was run by bloggers for bloggers about bloggers, and it drew the attention of notable politicians figures, future statewide and congressional candidates, and the oft-maligned MSM. Add one more notch to our belts. We are now part of the wallpaper.

Follow that link and read all of what Mr Haskins writes. When I started this blog over two years ago I would have never dreamed of what was accomplished this weekend. That everyday bloggers with hit counts from the teens to thousands would garner attention from political and media figures. That my friends is way cool. I fully believe that the power of the blogosphere will only grow. While it is true that not everyone reads or knows about blogs, it is fast becoming true that everyone knows someone who blogs. We write and we publish, then we talk to our friends who in turn talk to others. We see now that the savvy political figures from both sides are jumping on board. They are smart to do so.

I am not going to get into the specifics of speakers or workshops. My blog sister Kat has the scoop and links up on Cathouse Chat.

I will say meeting Jerry was an honor. He also hates compliments. To meet Will Vehrs and Norman was also great. As most of my friends know I really wanted to meet Flora. Such a graceful and honest lady and I am still in awe. I feel like I made a great friend in Chris from Spank that Donkey. We shared many laughs and many drinks. Susan and Kat have helped me through many bad days and spending time with them was priceless. My brother Alton and I did not get to spend much time together and we both know why(Wink). There will be another day for that I am sure. JR showed us all that we can podcast also. He and Republitarin also were very interested in coal mining. I think that is so cool. Meeting the famous Not Larry Sabato left me with this- He should never criticize how anyone dresses. I look forward to his fashion revue of this event. Watching this young man introduce Leslie Byrne was awesome. His admiration and thoughtfulness came through loud and clear. I think that is lost in the blogoshere most of the time. That we are all real people with real feelings. Spending time with Josh from Raising Kaine is a good example. We have argued in the past and meeting on an elevator was an awkward moment. Things change when you look a person in the eye instead of a page on a monitor. We had some great talks that I will always remember. We talked about goals and family. I came away the better for it and I hope Josh did too. I also met the Virginia Centrist. A very nice young man with a weak constitution. I am kidding buddy. I had a great time talking with you. Libertas has a good post up on Perseverando. We share similar feelings and I was glad to meet him. I want to quote his post

I think enjoyed meeting some of the conservative bloggers more than anything. Not because I was able to take pictures for future photoshopping, but because I realized they didn't have horns and were just as passionate about their beliefs as I am.

I think that was one of the goals of this meeting. That is why the social time was well planned.

This event was a huge success. The standard has been set and it will only get better. Brian Patton and I have wanted to have a SWVA blogger get together. Nothing on the scale of this event except good food and a lot of fun. I think we should get started on it soon. A fall get together would be great. The more interaction among bloggers the better.

Technorati : Blogging, Blogs United for Free Speech, Virginia