(photo by Chris Garrett, from SOBCon09)

SOBCon09 is now history, and all the “digiloggers” have returned to the blogosphere, blending the analog with the digital and keeping the human ahead of the platform.

With this wind at our backs Liz Strauss and I have forged ahead with planning for SOBCon2010, and we’re pleased to report that we have a date and a place:

April 30- May 2, 2010

Summit Executive Center

Chicago, Illinois

That’s right, we’ll be gathering again at the same great facility where we’ve held the last two SOBCons-

We also have a theme for 2010 - “Where the Virtual Meets the Concrete“.

Or as I like to call it - “The Return of the Digiloggers, Part 2“

But there’s a catch.

We can only accommodate 150 people, max.

This is a gathering where size does matter, and we really want to keep the numbers at a level where we maximize the value of the learning and interactions.

So that’s why we’ve already opened up registration, so those who would like to get a head start on reserving a seat to this event can do so, right now.

Because I know you don’t want to miss it.

But we also know that plucking down cash so far in advance is a lot to ask.

Therefore, we are announcing the “Reserve Now, Pay Later” program. It’s a “three-fer”:

1. You get a seat early, and rest easy - your there
2. You get a deeply discounted rate - $300 off the “at the door” price
3. You only have to put down a $95 deposit now - and just pay the rest by December 31, 2009

Here’s what you need to do:

• Go to the SOBCon2010 Registration site
• Click “Enter Discount Code“
• Put in this code: paylater10, then click “apply discount“
• Buy your tickets at $95
• Pay the remaining $500 per ticket to us by 12/31/09 to keep your seats (I”ll let you know how to do that)

To take advantage of this program you need to act quickly - the $595 rate, and thus this program,  expires on July 3, 2009

Note once again: If you do not pay the remaining balance due by 12/31/09, you will forfeit the $95 deposit and lose your seat to the event.

While you’re visiting the registration site, also take a minute to look at the video highlights of SOBCon09 (by Ramsey Mohsen).

(Note: edited on 6/15 to get Ramsey’s name correct)

Liz and I hope you can join us at the 2010 event, and even better, we hope you can take advantage of this program.

We’re counting the days! Already.

Many thanks.

Terry, Liz & Phil Gerbyshak (1st SOBCon07 speaker)

I’ve just returned home from SOBCon09 in Chicago - a weekend gathering of 130 friends and social media practitioners with open minds, big hearts and tons of ideas.

This is the third time Liz Strauss and I have hosted this event, and just as the first two, I was totally blown away by the positive energy and “can-do” spirit of every single person who attended.

It was a perfect environment for valuable and focused  learning - and learn we did.

For nearly three days we had an ongoing conversation about the value of this medium as it relates to our business and personal goals and objectives - from seemingly a million different directions.

We talked about building trust, shaping personalities, defining personas, staying true to ourselves - and that was just the first two hours.

After we “gut-checked” ourselves with statements like  “free doesn’t pay the rent”, we dug deeper, looking at the nuts and bolts and the blocking and tackling of our businesses, from the “thing itself” to all the discipline, focus and preparation that is needed behind the scenes to fully flower our ideas and passions - and oh yes, make some money.

We realized that our “audience” can extend well beyond what we might have thought before, and we would be well served to make the changes necessary to make us accessable to all who would want to reach us.

And then, day two.

Are we hitting our social media targets?  Can we really market on Twitter? How valuable are those conversations?  Do we have our analog act together as well as our digital?  (Don’t you love panels!)

We learned that how we look and how we act as  “in the flesh” humans is more directly linked to our online sucess than we think.

We realized that warhorse axiom “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it”  HAS to apply in our digital world too, and we got some pretty darn good tools to figure it out.

We tossed around (with great vigor) the notion that social media can and should only be a part, and oftentimes just a small part, of an integrated whole.    It’s not the be all and end all.    And beware of those  “experts” who say otherwise.

And finally, the person who stared this whole thing put it all into perspective, in the form of a simple little house.  One with a great big heart in the middle of it.

Then, the next day, we got a chance to apply what we learned for the benefit of our wonderful sponsors.

What SOBCon is creating, in my view, is a new breed of businessperson - the “Digilogger“.

A Digilogger is someone, or a company,  who can successfully synthesize what has and always will work on the “analog” side of the fence and blend it seamlessly with the digital tools we now have at our disposal.

Put even more simply, it’s making sure the platform is the extension of the human, instead of the other way around.

It’s old school merging with new school, into something meaningful, vital, vibrant and better still,  successful.

And that’s what the “S” in SOBCon is all about.

Yes, I’m a Digilogger.  And now, after three years, those ranks have grown by leaps and bounds.

Are you next? If you haven’t already, join the SOBCon family and find out.

My heartfelt thanks to everyone who attended, supported, and sponsored this event.

And Liz, I dedicate this post to you.

(Oh, and mark your calendars - SOBCON2010 is April 30- May 2)

About six weeks ago I wrote a poem dedicated to “all who I’ve come to know on this medium in my three years of blogging”, entitled “Dog Years Are Like Blog Years“.

Not long after that post went up, Amy Derby and I were bantering on Twitter about how I should find someone to write music to it. Amy suggested I chat with John Haydon.

I looked up John’s MySpace music site and gave his original tunes a listen. He was good. Darn good. On top of that he writes an excellent blog about Social Media for non-profits, CorporateDollar.org. (Oh, and he had already signed up to come to SOBCon09).

We started cyber-chatting ourselves and the next thing you know he volunteered to write the music to “Blog Years are Like Dog Years“, with the goal of having it ready by SOBCon09, so we could perform it live then.

Well, I got the finished product yesterday from John, and I quickly decided I couldn’t wait for SOBCon to share it with everyone.

So, John and I present to you for your downloading pleasure, the world premiere of our “new single” (right click and do “save as”):

Blog Years Are Like Dog Years

(Music performed, written and sung by John Haydon, lyrics by Starbucker).

Here are the revised lyrics so you can follow along:

(Copyright 2009, John Haydon & Terry Starbucker)

You start like a child, eyes open wide
To possibility, of what lies outside
Guided by teachers, showing the biz
Tom, Phil & Rosa, Trevor and Liz

Thoughts on a page, feeling your way
Wondering if folks want to hear what you say
Before too long, you begin to be seen
By Mike, Ben & Lisa, Chris & Christine

You put names to faces, as SOBs
Fast moving forward, like a steady breeze

Then you blossom - a child of thirteen
Still not assured, trying not be mean
But more friends arrive, and things start to click
Thanks Mary, Maria, Jodee and Rick

You grow strong, a young blogging adult
Independent and tough, with cause to exult
And those who raised you, begin to lay low
Like Easton, Tim, Ellen, Kammie and Joe

All these good people, sharing their views
Too many to count, too many to choose

Blog years are like dog years
Flying through posts like a bat out of hell
Leaving mentors to rush ahead
The lure of bigger numbers always in your head

But I shall never forget, those who held my hand
In those childlike days of this new land
But now I’m an old man of the blogosphere
And you will always be welcome here

You put names to faces, as SOBs
Fast moving forward, like a steady breeze

Thank you John, for taking the time to do this - I am so grateful. It just makes the sentiment I meant to convey that much more meaningful.

Friends, download and enjoy - and see us perform it live at SOBCon09!

Don’t forget to check out John’s other musical treats at his MySpace page.

In the wake of SOBCon08, I’ve been exposed to many more great writers, and many more viewpoints on the craft of blogging. Even though I’ve been at this for over two and a half years, I was amazed by what I still didn’t know, or understand, when it came to putting content out there that was readable, compelling, and engaging.

Reading posts and advice from those who have “cracked the code” has led me to step back and reevaluate the three fundamental questions that I believe confronts everyone before they write their first post:

• Why am I doing this?
• And for whom am I doing it?
• How will I gain satisfaction from it?

Back in December 2005, when I set up Ramblings From a Glass Half Full as a lark, my answers to these questions were:

• For the fun of it
• Myself
• Getting things “on paper” that just needed to get out

That rationale served me well the first year or so, because I was essentially putting a hodgepodge of stuff out there about things that interested me and not necessarily needing much of an audience to read it.

I also was very curious about what others were doing with this medium, so I started reading a lot of other blogs, and commenting on them.

Then I discovered Technorati. And links. And “ranking”. The competitive spirit in me started to rise up, and the answers to the fundamental questions came dangerously close to changing to this:

• For a high ranking
• The people that will link to me
• From a high ranking

Fortunately, I never quite got to that point, but it did put what I was doing in a much broader context, and so I thought more about things like RSS feeds, blogging platforms and presentation, SEO, and social networking sites.

Once I corralled my competitiveness and vanity I made an important promise – that I would never post something because I felt I “had to”. And, more importantly, I got involved with Liz Strauss and SOBCon07, which put the relationship side of this form of communication front and center.

That put me about two years on, and the answers to the fundamental questions now looked like this:

• To share my learning and life experiences with other people
• Myself (and those who may be able to use it for their own benefit)
• Getting back what I give from my readers, and forming lasting friendships

I then changed my platform to WordPress, changed my look, and kept writing with my latest answers in mind. With my posting I was now much more focused on drawing responses and engaging in conversation, but I still was writing about a wide variety of topics (take a look at my categories and you’ll see what I mean).

Then came SOBCon08. This time around, I spent a lot more time with folks who did this for a living or as a centerpiece to a business, and did it very, very well. While I differed greatly from them in my current objectives , I couldn’t help but be mindful of the advice they were dispensing, particularly about maximizing a blog’s “reach”.

Which brought me back once again to those three fundamental questions. Now that I’ve experienced a great deal of the personal satisfaction that comes from the “getting back” and the many friends I have made, I find that I want more. I want to change “other people” in my “Why” answer to “as many people as possible”.

I feel like I’m at a crossroads. This blog has taken on a life of its own, and now I want to nurture it, feed it, and grow it even more – but I sense may I need to make an adjustment.

Since a lot of the advice I’ve seen suggests that a blog’s ultimate “reach” is tied to sticking to a specific niche or a theme, I’m debating whether I should tighten up my writing focus – just Personal Development? Just Business Commentary? Just Leadership Principles? Only Discourses on Half-Fullism? Eliminate the one-offs on my musical tastes? Or have more than one blog?

As my internal deliberations began I found one more piece of advice that suggested that if a blog really wanted to find out what was engaging its readers, then it would be well served to just go ahead and ask them. Now that initially spooked me – do I really want to find that out? But the more I thought about it (and “road tested” the idea with my Twitter friends – yet another interesting use for this service), the more I wanted to do it.

So, I’m going to take that advice, and turn to all of you. Join my debate. What content is bringing you here? What content would bring you back? Should I tighten my focus? Or keep doing what I’m doing?

Because I want to give you the best of what’s inside my head and my heart, knowing that the greatest rewards are in what you’ll give me back.

Let the conversation begin!

I’ve fallen into Twitter and I can’t get up. Nor do I want to.

I’ve capitulated.

It was only six months ago that I expressed, right on this blog, my reservations about Twitter:

“I admit I’ve had mixed feelings about Twitter myself - I registered many months ago, but have really yet to post to it. Between my life, my job, my blog, and everything else, I haven’t been able to get to the point where I can chronicle my activities in that manner.”

I had it very wrong. It’s not just a “chronicle of activities“.

Here’s what I just said on a very, very good post about Twitter by Chris Cree:

“Ah yes, Twitter. You know what it is? It’s the “ticker tape of collective thoughts”. They stream in front of you in a way that is strangely relaxing, not unlike watching a real stream up in the mountains. I really resisted this too - really. I didn’t think telling people what I had for breakfast was really interesting (or relevant). But I missed the point. When I saw the fun people were having with it at Blogger Social in NY last month, I finally got it. And jumped into the stream. And now I’m flowing just like the rest of you. Life is strange, because it is so capable of surprising you. Twitter really surprised me.”

The thing that really locked me in was how we used Twitter at SOBCon08. I had just finished my opening comments on Saturday and sat down in front of my computer in the back of the room, and decided to check-in with the Twitter stream. Sure enough, there were attendees “Twitting” to each other about what they were seeing, hearing, and feeling.

“What a cool backchannel!” I thought. I jumped in, and in the process, also posed questions about the sound quality, the temperature in the room, and a host of other things I wanted to get immediate feedback on. And feedback I got. All good and useful, and I didn’t have to interrupt the flow of the conference to make needed adjustments.

We saved a ton of time simply because we opened this backchannel, and in the process we found “reason number 136 that Twitter is really useful” - as a “quiet” feedback mechanism for MC’s at conferences.

Yep, that’s a “business use” if I’ve ever heard one. Even if some people think it’s a cult

Ruth Marie Sylte came up with even more institutional uses for Twitter on this post. Even folk-rock stars are using Twitter!

I’m so pumped about Twitter now that I just HAVE to break out into song (to the Sinatra classic “Come Fly With Me”):

Come Twitt with me, lets Twitt lets Twitt away
If you can use, some exotic prose
Theres a blogger in far bombay
Come Twitt with me, well Twitt well Twitt away

Come Twitt with me, lets float down to peruse
In Twitter land, theres a blogging band
And they’ll toot their flutes for you
Come Twitt with me, well float down in the blue

Once I get you on there, where the air is rarefied
Well just glide, starry eyed
Once I get you on there, We’ll follow you so near
You may hear, posters cheer - you’re a Twitterer now!

Twitter wise its such a lovely day
You just post the words, and we’ll link the blurbs
In each and every way
Its perfect, for a social network swoon - they say
Come Twitt with me, well Twitt we’ll Twitt away

By the way, I’m @Starbucker, and I’m a Twitterer. Fully capitulated.