I’m in Las Vegas currently and yesterday appeared on a panel at Blogworld and New Media Expo. We discussed “Finding Your Voice.”
It was a bit unusual in that half the people attending were interested in their literal voices (which you can hear in their podcasts) and the other half were interested in ‘voice’ as in style of writing. In fact, the mix worked out fine, with more cross-over between these two approaches than one might have expected. The key points to keep in mind if you have or are considering getting a blog or podcast:
• let your personality be reflected in what you write
• often your true voice appears after a period of imitation of writers you admire
• don’t be afraid that some people won’t like you and the way you write (some won’t, so what?)
• keep posts short enough to read fairly quickly (break up longer posts into parts)
• let your passion for your topic be the driving force—your excitement will come across
As for the best platform, one speaker was enthusiastic about WordPress, another championed Typepad (this blog is written on Typepad, you can find out full information at typepad.com).
If you missed this year's Expo, it'll happen again in September 2008, and if you're seriously interested in blogging or podcasting, including how to turn them into profitable ventures, it will be well worth considering a trip to Las Vegas next time.
