Announcing the Book Blog UNCON

WHO?   Book Bloggers

WHAT?  An unconference dedicated to book blogging

WHY? Book Bloggers asked for an event that focused on entirely on book blogging.

WHEN?  Monday, June 4, 2012

WHERE?  The Center for Fiction, Midtown Manhattan

COST?  FREE.

Jeff, aka The Reading Ape,  proposed the idea of an unconference on March 21, after it became clear to him that the alternative, BEA Blogger Con, was not going to be the kind of event he had hoped for.  It turns out that there are a lot of people who share that sentiment. It is not that BEA Blogger Con will not be a valuable experience for those who choose to go. If they have not attended the Book Bloggers Cons of the past, then attending this new event will definitely be a worthwhile experience.  For many of us, though, the event will not focus enough on the actual book blogging.  We want a forum where we can share our experiences, trade ideas, and have a whole room of other bloggers with whom we can discuss new ideas.  One commenter envisioned it as a giant twitter chat, but with everyone in the same room.  With snacks.

The beauty of an unconference lies in its flexibility.  The event is what it needs to be on that day. We will decide, as a group, what we talk about and who leads those discussions on the day of the UNCON.  We will all have some idea going in what we want those topics to be and (likely) who will be leading those sessions, but we are not going to set a strict schedule that must be followed.  For some of us, that is going to be a new concept, so Jeff is going to come back and talk more about that in the near future. In order for this model to work (at least the first time around), we are going to limit the number of participants to 100 book bloggers – and it will be a book bloggers only event.

The Center for Fiction has been generous enough to donate their space for the day. We will be asking for volunteers to help with some things on the day of the event, like set-up and clean-up.  We will also need to round up some of the materials that we might need that day (easels, large paper pads, sharpies, nametags, etc).  All informational materials will be made available digitally after the UNCON through this blog, so there is no need for copies.  We are not giving away swag. There will be plenty of that over the course of the week. We are not seeking or accepting sponsors.  And all of us on the planning end are volunteering our time, too.  The UNCON is free.  Period. And if you think you’d like to attend, just fill out the simple registration form.

We just want you to bring yourself, your ideas, and some lunch money.  Oh, and if there is a local who wants to work on figuring out the best options for lunch that day, let us know.  In fact, anyone who wants to volunteer their time that day should send us an e-mail – BookBlogUNCON [at] gmail [dot] com.  We also hope that you will help spread the word.  Talk about it on your blog.  Mention us [@BookBlogUNCON] on Twitter. We look forward to hearing from you.