Darren Barefoot links to some Northern Voice-related information. I'm attending the conference this weekend, and will attend the blogger meetup just before. Looking at the conference schedule, I can say without a doubt that in the morning I'll be attending Julie Leung's session on blogging about family and the session on 'community blogging'. (Podcasting and video blogging are boring.) The toss-ups in the afternoons are between promoting weblogs and increasing traffic (because Suw Charman is one of the panelists) and "Blogging in Academia", even though I'm done with school for the foreseeable future. A more difficult toss-up is between the session on citizen journalism and personal blogging styles.

While at the conference, I'm bringing my laptop, but won't take notes or surf during the presentations or even join the backchannel if there is one. I'm not taking photos either. I just want to sit back and listen to what the speakers and panelists have to say rather than concentrate on whatever technology is directly in front of me. As a straight computer nerd, my skipping out halfway through a Python conference to go watch the Gay Pride says something about how much I like going to these kinds of things, though I'm looking forward to meeting some people, non-locals and locals alike who share a passion and who I already know are interesting people.