Live blogging #mnblogconf (Minnesota Blog Conference) in St. Paul

Here are some intermittent updates from today’s Minnesota Blog Conference in downtown St. Paul:

3:03 pm
I’m ODing on blog talk. Need steak and open flames, anything three dimensional will do. More later.

11:35 am
Egg salad, because I live dangerously.

11:14 am
Me to “blog-to-book” presenter: “How do I break out of regional base to national audience?” Her: “Be quirky. Everyone is looking for the next Garrison Keillor.”

Mofo! That is my whole bit! I need a phone number! Er, I mean … Life in a small town sure is quaint and quietly significant.

10:18 am
My elevator pitch: “The Iron Range’s fastest growing, most influential daily blog.” Back home that is either confusing or pretentious. Here it’s a reliable laugh line. I have no home.

10:02 am
Line to “share” at blog writing session is loooong. Even I, Aaron J. Brown, a noted writer, am too sheepish to make it longer.

9:25 am
Met Star Tribune columnist and blogger James Lileks. I read him all the time as a teenager when I was deciding to become a writer. He was wearing a Red Owl grocery store t-shirt. I mentioned how the former employees of the defunct Hibbing Red Owl still have a reunion. He lamented how today’s grocery stores don’t have anthropomorphic animals on their signs. He went on to offer his concern about bacon advertising, specifically the trend for animal mascots to endorse the consumption of different animals in self defense. We shared thoughts on how some animals are willing to sell out their own kind in self-preservation. Good talk, good talk.

9:04 am
Good quotes from a.m. Keynote:

“If you’re proud of what you’re putting up there the numbers really don’t matter.” -Patrick Rhone

“You’re never alone on the internet. Well, you’re actually alone most of the time, but there is the illusion of never being alone.” -James Lileks

8:32 am
Having WiFi difficulties. Flashbacks to 2010 DFL convention in Duluth. Bad trip, man. Bad trip. Lots of excitement here, though, and the absence of “balloting” should prevent any further comparisons.

8:01 am
Here’s the scene. It’s the opening moments of the first-ever Minnesota Blog Conference. A growing group of people in their late 20s and 30s (and cool old people!) who spent their teen and college years awkwardly attempting to interact with others are now interacting with others. It’s a proud moment. There is coffee. And AV equipment to mess with. These things help.

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