Why Us? The Strategy that Creates Community and Opportunity
Live blogging Blogworld LA 2011: This is the keynote session for the Tribes and Community track at Blogworld LA, by Liz Strauss.
Conference Pass To Blogworld LA available for Vanilla Blog readers
Vanilla Forums is a sponsor at the Blogworld and New Media Expo conference and expo happening this week in Los Angeles. To honor the faithful readers of this blog, we are giving away 1 conference pass that gets you to all the sessions including keynotes, and gets you entry into all the crazy parties. We are also giving away 1 Expo Pass that gets you onto the show floor and gets you into all the parties. Visit our Blogworld Contest Entry Form to register for your chance to win.
Speaking at WordCamp Montreal 2011 – July 9-10
This will be our second year in a row speaking at WordCamp Montreal and our 3rd WordCamp this year (Miami, Vancouver). Last year at WordCamp Montreal we did a talk on “Adding Vanilla to WordPress” which was very successful, however, much has changed since then! We have received a ton of great feedback on our “Building a Community Around your Blog” series of presentations, including 2 awards and a feature on SlideShare. So, we have decided to bring back the original talk that spawned it all at WordCamp Montreal.
Building A Community Around your Blog
Your WordPress site is a community, even if it’s not a powerful one yet. Are you doing everything you can to make it an interactive space for your users? Are the comments sections of your posts enough for them to express themselves? In this talk you will learn how easy it is to add forum plugins and widgets to your site, integrate SSO (single-sign-on) and take advantage of popular API’s to turn your blog into a real hub of interaction for your visitors. Read More …
We look forward to seeing you there!
BlogWorld and New Media Expo New York Day 2
Thursday May 27th -
After a very successful day 1 at BlogWorld we were pumped and ready for day 2. Our Forum About Forums sessions became so popular attendees were lining up to get in and scheduling their day around the sessions they wanted to attend. We also ran multiple one on one demos and on the spot training sessions for many interested organizations.
Vanilla User Love
During the expo we asked what people thought about Vanilla. Here’s just a small sample of what people thought. You can view all the videos on our YouTube Channel.
If you have any pics, videos, or Vanilla moments from BlogWorld NY 2011 please share and use #VanillaLove.
The Vanilla BlogWorld and New Media Expo NY 2011 Booth Team
From left to right: Cheryl, Brendan, Greg, Mark, Alexa.
Check out more pics on flickr.
Thank You!
We would like to thank everyone who came out and participated in our Forum About Forums during the 2 day expo. Thanks for all the great feedback and for help spreading the Vanilla word.
If you missed out on New York we will be exhibiting at BlogWorld and New Media Expo LA 2011 Nov 3-5, we look forward to seeing you all there!
BlogWorld and New Media Expo New York Day 1
Wednesday May 26th -
After a long hard day previously setting up our swank Vanilla booth it was time to show the good people of New York everything Vanilla has to offer.
The booth was buzzing all day long with excitement. The Forum About Forums sessions have been a HUGE success packed with attendees wanting to learn more about Vanilla, plus who can turn down a comfy leather couch 
Some brief highlights
- Everyone agrees that this year our booth shines the brightest, one attendee commented “I feel like I’m in my own little Vanilla world”.
- Another BIG win are the Vanilla Tee’s – it’s the big talk on the exhibition floor “How can I get one?”
- We never get tired of hearing how much people love Vanilla. It’s been an incredible experience getting feedback from our current users.
Vanilla groupies
#VanillaLove should be the hashtag for this years BlogWorld!
Vanilla user love
We’ll be recording throughout the show, here’s a small sample of what people think.
Make sure to come by our booth and check out our Forum About Forums sessions, sign-up and be entered to win an iPad2, and get an in demand Vanilla Tee!
Vanilla is heading to BlogWorld & New Media Expo 2011 NY
Last year we attended BlogWorld and New Media Expo in Las Vegas, we had such a great time that this year we decided to sponsor the event.
Vanilla Booth
Come hang out with us during the expo portion of the conference (May 25-26) at booth number 101 and meet the team, learn more about Vanilla, get some swag, and win prizes.
The theme of our booth is Forum About Forums. As part of that we will be facilitating a series of lightning discussion sessions both days. These sessions cover a variety of topics around forums and community building. To learn more about these sessions register for free to download the session schedule and get a t-shirt code to present at our booth.
Vanilla BlogWorld Forum
We are very excited that BlogWorld chose Vanilla as their official community software. We worked very closely with the BlogWorld team building a Vanilla community for BlogWorld NY and LA. We hope you enjoy it!
Open Source Week Vancouver 2011 recap
Vancouver – beautiful, clean, friendly, and wet! It rains so much that most hotels provide their guests with complimentary umbrellas, seriously. Despite the weather, I had a FANTASTIC time in Vancouver during open source week. I had the opportunity to check out a handful of small events, meet some really cool people, savour some fantastic seafood, take in beautiful sites, and of course the honor of speaking at WordCamp Developers and Make Web Not War.
It was also great to meet the west coast Vanilla community. I always enjoy heading to new cities and checking out the creative and unique ways people are using Vanilla in their projects, and Vancouver did not disappoint.
Speaking at Make Web Not War 2011 Vancouver – May 7
As part of Open Source week Vancouver we will be speaking at Make Web Not War. This will be Vanilla’s second year attending this conference. Last year we were community sponsors and this year we are very excited to be speaking. We will also be speaking at WordCamp Developers Vancouver.
Description: We will illustrate the benefits of adding a community forum to your WordPress blog/site. We will show you how easy it is to add forum plugins/widgets, integrate SSO (single-sign-on), and take advantage of the popular API’s. We will also look at real world examples of high traffic WordPress communities that benefit from these features and look at the various different tools you can use.
Speaking at WordCamp Developers Vancouver 2011 – May 5
This is our second stop on the WordCamp tour this year as we continue to demo our suite of WordPress plugins and widgets. I’m very excited to be heading out to Vancouver to be speaking at a very special WordCamp devoted to developers. As an added bonus, it will also be Vancouver Open Source week, so expect to see us around at various events.
Description: Turn your WordPress site (or blog) into a real community by discovering how easy it is to add forum plugins/widgets, integrate SSO (single-sign-on), and take advantage of popular API’s. This session will illustrate the benefits of adding a community forum to your WordPress blog/site by looking at real world examples of high traffic WordPress communities and the features and tools they use.
Building a Community Around your Blog 2 – Let the Comments be your Content!
This morning I had the pleasure of eating breakfast with around 6o of my friends at Social Media Breakfast Montreal. Not only did we gnosh on tasty treats provided by La Bistrote, I also had the opportunity to give a talk on “Building a Community Around your Blog 2 – Let the Comments be your Content!“. This is the 2nd installment in a series of presentations, I am currently working on, focused on community engagement, interaction, and integration principles and concepts. Make sure to check out part 1.
View more presentations from Brendan Sera-Shriar
