January 23, 2006

Arts Presenters Conference Blog Doesn't Live Up to Hype

The Association of Performing Arts Presenters is hosting (January 21-24) its 49th Annual Member Conference in New York City.

From the conference home page, you can access the official blog for this event. This blog could have been a lot better. After being in the meeting and convention business for more than 12 years, I can appreciate how difficult it is to publish a blog on top of carrying out all of the other responsibilities of managing a conference. But at the same time, if an event organizer does create a blog it ought to be done right.

Here are my thoughts about this conference blog:

First, this blog over promises on the conference home page: "Want to hear what this year's buzz is? Click here to visit the Conference Blog to get the scoop." There are only six posts by two people. And only three of the posts describe on-going events at the conference. Plus, just about all of the authors listed in the right-hand column are not posting to this blog at all.

Second, there are five photos and not a one features a live human being. Is it really interesting to see a floor plan of the tradeshow?

Third, there is an audio podcast (scroll-down right-hand column) with a synthesized voice. There's an actual computer voice that reads the posts of this blog. It's sort of funny to listen to, but after a minute or so it gets very bothersome.

Fourth, there are no links to other arts blogs. The rules of blogging are not written in stone and bloggers can do whatever they want. But the intention of many bloggers is to be part of a community. So for a conference for arts presenters not to have a blogroll of visual and performing arts blogs doesn't make a lot of sense. Plus, by exchanging links with other bloggers during the months leading-up to this event, this conference could have gotton a lot of free promotion.

Five, the blog post about conference keynote speaker Harry Belafonte is not really appropriate given his recent controversial comments. Blog readers are encouraged to watch a video clip from The Daily Show that mocks Belafonte's recent trip to Venezuela where he harshly condemned Bush and his administration. I happen to think this Daily Show clip is funny.

Belafonte was invited to be the keynote speaker at this Arts Presenters conference. His bio on the conference website reads:

Harry Belafonte has been called "the consummate entertainer" - an artist in every field in which he has participated - a recording artist, a concert singer, a movie, Broadway and television star and producer. A true renaissance man, Belafonte also has long been active in the human rights struggle and is globally held in high esteem for his activism. He has won multiple awards for his work in entertainment and countless more as a civil rights activist.

Belafonte's views - including his strong condemnation of President Bush - are of great interest to and shared by most of the delegates. At his speech on Saturday, according to an Associated Press story running in yesterday's Washington Post, Belafonte "drew a stranding ovation" for comments such as "We've come to this dark time in which the new Gestapo of Homeland Security lurks here, where citizens are having their rights suspended."

So I'm all for humor (and condemning the Bush administration, probably not in the same terms as Belafonte), but it strikes me as strange that they're treating Belefonte in a light-hearted way when the delegates, press and other bloggers are taking his remarks very seriously (read blog posts about Belafonte's remarks at Arts Presenters Conference.)

And another point about this Belafonte coverage. If one is going to blog on behalf of a conference, it's a good idea to know what others are writing in newspapers and in the blogosphere about your event. For example, do the organizers of the Arts Presenters know that there's a Washington Post article about Belafonte's speech and that bloggers have been commenting about this speech? If they did, then they could write a meaningful follow-up post to their blog offering the "official" perspective of what Belafonte said and its meaning to the conference delegates.

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