Everybody knows the story of Heather Armstrong who was fired for her blog. From her pen name Dooce the phrase Dooced was born and is now part of our blog-wide lexicon. Now the blogosphere is full of writers and entrepreneurs who are trying to avoid Mrs. Armstrong’s fate. How can you write a blog or keep a MySpace/Facebook profile without getting burned for it? That’s the topic of a panel that I suggested for next year’s SXSW Interactive forum right here in Austin. I am ashamed to confess that I have never been to the Interactive portion of this festival and am determined to make it this year. One part of my multi-pronged initiative for attending this next year (without paying, of course) is to get my panel voted on and picked.
I want my panel to discuss the various ways you can avoid being fired (or not being hired in the first place) for your blog/online profile. And ways you can use your on-the-clock Internet time productively; by blogging or pursuing other online business ventures without getting nailed. I’d like to have a panel that includes both people fired for their blogs and those who have been able to keep both their blog and their day jobs going in tandem.
Fellow blogger Rohit Bhargava from Influential Marketing Blog featured my panel as one of the “panels worth voting for”. I’m right there under Kofi Annan (heard of him?) Thanks Rohit! So please give Rohit a vote on his 3 panel submissions; my favorite being: 10 Easy Ways To Piss Off a Blogger (and Other Mistakes Marketers Make).
And most importantly, in the name of free SXSW admission for the TrackSuit CEO, go and vote for my panel: Blog on Company Time Without Getting Dooced. And please, fellow bloggers, if you’re interested in speaking on my panel (should it be chosen) let me know. I’m pretty wide open right now to panelist ideas. Happy voting and I plan on seeing you at SXSW 2008.
Update: Thank you readers for your votes and support! My topic was chosen for a Core Conversation at this upcoming SXSW Interactive. I’ll be leading the discussion with my friend and business partner Ross Hunter. And guess what? They furnished us with passes to the Interactive and Film segments of the festival. I can’t thank you guys enough and I promise to make this talk interesting and informative!