Comments on: Tips on Live Blogging an Event

By: Sanjo-chan

Sanjo-chan — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 09:54:11 +0000

Thanks for the tips, Darren! I’ve always wanted to do something like this for my blog when I go to events in my niche, but I don’t have the equipment to do it; investing in an iPhone/iPod Touch is out of the question at the moment.

I did blog about an event back in the spring, but I wasn’t able to bring my laptop, so I couldn’t post about it until I got home… The day before, I noticed a lot of search traffic leading back to previous posts about the event. If I was able to bring my laptop, the results would have been awesome. But the next time I’ll go to an event, I should have the proper devices.

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 11:19:16 +0000

I followed a live news story yesterday, the first time I’ve done so for my site.

The story was the demonstrations at Newcastle United football club over the departure of their manager. The media expected trouble, and there was, but I was the only one around to capture it in some way.

I used an iPod Touch with the WordPress app, which is simple and brilliant for updating or creating new blogs in moments. When I was out of wifi range, I switched to the site’s Twitter feed, which saw a lot of action at the end of the day when crowds of fans charged the police.

For the first time I recorded video on my camera, and cut together my first video with graphics and images on iMovie.

My site was the only Newcastle-based news outlet to cover the event in real time and produce video on the same day. I loved it! There’s a round-up of links posts and video here:

http://newcastlecentric.com/news/live-blog-nufc-protests-in-newcastle

The only problem I had was that there was only one of me – when the crowd trouble occurred, I foolishly Twittered instead of recorded the event on video, thinking it was better to relay the news live than record it for later viewing. Dur! Still, I’ve learned for next time, though another pair of hands would have definitely helped.

Paul @ newcastlecentric.com

By: John Welsh

John Welsh — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 19:28:53 +0000

What about getting several people to attending an event to sign up to FriendFeed, encouraging them to bring camers, videos and laptops, and getting them going. Then projecting the result onto a screen so fellow attendees see what is happening. Afterwards, it can be used as a catalogue of all that happened.

By: Joel Drapper

Joel Drapper — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 07:16:12 +0000

You could use ustream.tv and a web cam. If that is allowed :P

By: Jeffrey Keefer

Jeffrey Keefer — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:33:33 +0000

Too bad I missed your original call for suggestions. I would have shared my blog post from last year http://silenceandvoice.com/archives/2007/07/27/liveblogging-best-practices-2/ or my Northern Voice 2008 presentation on liveblogging http://www.slideshare.net/robinyap/liveblogging-101

By: candy @ carrieanddanielle.com

candy @ carrieanddanielle.com — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 19:03:31 +0000

Great tips, thanks for sharing! Live streaming is also a good one – during the Beijing Olympics I was hooked onto a live stream on my laptop 24/7.

By: J.D. Meier

J.D. Meier — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 06:56:12 +0000

I like the point on “mood.”

Information sticks more when there’s the “emotional” connection.

By: bagus

bagus — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 06:42:58 +0000

Just heard about CoveritLive from here. Seems like a very useful tool. thanks for the information

By: impNERD

impNERD — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 04:41:05 +0000

Thanks for the link. *This* is what I love about problogger. You not only get great information from the Darren, but also great info from the commentators.

By: Ryan McLean

Ryan McLean — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:18:04 +0000

These are some great tools and very useful….if you understand what you mean by live blogging. I do not…can you please eplain this to me

By: Sid Savara

Sid Savara — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:02:39 +0000

I second the notion of using twitter. Some people live blog and update their blog, which doesn’t work well with Google Reader (marks the item as read). Other readers may keep pulling the new post, which could be equally irritating. I enjoy twitter – it lets me see everyone’s views on the live event, and I can easily come in and out of the conversation.

Plus, it doesn’t interfere with my normal “heavy” RSS reading – liveblogging tends to be lighter reading.

By: Ari Herzog

Ari Herzog — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 23:43:15 +0000

Thanks for the resources, Darren and everyone else. I need to absorb this.

By: Christian Seehausen

Christian Seehausen — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 23:15:54 +0000

Excellent advice. Thanks Darren and those who provided them.

By: Blogging Millionaire

Blogging Millionaire — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 23:13:53 +0000

Great tips Darren!

By: SEO Genius

SEO Genius — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 23:08:39 +0000

Sounds great to me, some very nice ideas here. Excellent and bookmarked.

By: gamermk

gamermk — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 23:06:43 +0000

I live blogged a conference once and one of the smartest moves I made was bringing a photographer. We developed a system ahead of time and by utilizing breaks I was able to share the whole conference experience including pictures every hour of the day.

The response was amazing.

By: Steven-Sanders

Steven-Sanders — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 23:00:50 +0000

All great ideas! I’ll have to bookmark this for future use.

By: Azmeen

Azmeen — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:51:25 +0000

Never heard of CoverItLive before reading this. Checked it out and it looks like a cool blogging tool. Thanks for introducing it!

By: abbas

abbas — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:48:00 +0000

nice post! very informative as usual

how do you like my site darren? its also about blog advice

http://www.TheBusinessOfMyBusiness.blogspot.com