Like so many in the blogging world Mike Sansone is one of those folks who doesn’t sleep much.

But a guy maintains a powerhouse blog like ConverStations with over 2,000 folks subscribed to his feed, consults and coaches with business leaders to help them start and improve their business blogging sites, hosts the ConverStations Workshop Podcast, and has a family doesn’t have much time left over for sleep.

Mike is the unofficial leader and champion of a steadily growing group of Iowa business bloggers which some of us have been known to jokingly refer to as the Iowa blogging mafia.

Here’s some of what Mike says about himself in his bio:

My passion is to build community – offline and online. I’ve done this through property management, online community programming, volunteerism, and – for a short time – as an assistant pastor at a Baptist church in Maryland.

I earn my keep as a Blog Coach, helping companies and professionals launch and improve their business blog sites.

• I believe that we’re all contagious (whether we admit it or not) and we each choose which contagion to spread.
• I believe that at the core of ourselves, we are each still very much like the 5-year olds we once were, just wanting to be liked, have fun, and be curious.
• I believe that I’ve used the word “that” too much in this biography. I believe I can see you smiling as you read that. I believe if you’re not smiling right now, you will be after you say this out loud: supercalifragilisticexpealidocius (good thing that’s not a website).

What do you believe?

Mike will be bringing many of his Iowa associates to SOBCon ’07. And we’ve got him lined up as part of a powerhouse panel that will be covering marketing, branding, business blogging and more.

You aren’t going to want to miss it. Register to reserve your seat today.

Hi everybody, Starbucker here. I started blogging on my site “Ramblings From a Glass Half Full” about 15 months ago as a lark – because one of my friends at work suggested it.

Little did I know what my little “hobby” would allow me to do – radically change and expand my world, where I could learn many more things and meet many more people. It was a wonderful surprise, and I remain awed at the power of this medium.

Eventually, I needed to go beyond a relationship on a printed blog page. I am by nature a very social person – I like the connection one makes with a real handshake or a hug. It’s a very “human” thing to want to make personal connections.

I wanted to meet some of these bloggers – I had to, to really take what I was doing up a few notches. First, I met Phil Gerbyshak in Milwaukee– believe me folks, what you see on his blog page and in his books is great, but experiencing the “fullness of Phil” firsthand is truly inspiriing – this man’s energy will blow you away.

Next, I visited Des Moines and spent a day with many of the ever-growing family of bloggers that are building a unique and supportive community in Iowa – Tom, Mike S, Drew, Tim, Mike W, Sandy, Doug, Mitch and Brooke.

Here is what I said when I posted about that day: [Read more…]

We are working very hard to make SOBCon ’07 and “attendee centric” event. Our attitude is that everyone who attends brings value to the table. This conference is about helping you take your blog to the next level.

So it is in that spirit of adding value to our attendees that we are pleased to announce what event sponsor Evoca has agreed to do for all of you.

Evoca is offering all attendees to SOBCon ’07 a one year complimentary Professional Account with their service.

That, my friends is a $60 value.

And it’s your’s just for attending SOBCon ’07!

With that account you get 200 minutes of recording time. And you can record to that account either using Evoca’s browser mic, your telephone, or even record straight from Skype!

Here’s what their web site describes their service and how it works: [Read more…]

SOBCon ’07 will be a different kind of conference. We’re all about community and building relationships with other bloggers.

We spend so much time writing to each other (and sometimes about each other) that it is sometimes easy to forget that there is an actual person who is doing that writing on the other end.

I thought it would be a good idea to give you a little voice message and share why this conference experience will be different from other conferences you may have attended.

I used the Evoca browser mic to record this message and their player to bring it to you here.

Evoca is one of our event sponsors and they are offering conference attendees something special. (But I think I’ll make you wait until tomorrow to find out what it is. )

Take a listen.

Do you want to leave a voice comment in response to this message? Here is the link.

Do you want to keep track of all the recordings that are made about SOBCon? We’ve got an SOBCon Evoca Group so you can do just that. And it even has it’s own RSS feed! Check it out.

Did you see that we’re kicking off SOBCon ’07 with a concert by our very own blogging friend Christine Kane?

Oh, man! You are going to want to be there because this is a treat you won’t want to miss. She already has 5 CD’s published. And check out what she has to say about the conference.

It’s your chance to meet other bloggers, build important relationships, learn how to make your web guy obsolete (just kidding Brent), and take your blogging life to the next level. (Or, if you’re like me, to the next point on the long upward sloping continuum.)

Anyway, here’s where it gets fun for me…

I’ll be the person who opens the whole conference on Friday night with a live performance. (Oddly enough, they’ve invited me to perform, as opposed to giving a lecture on, say, “Surefire Ways to Optimize your Blog for Viral Marketing and Other Business-y Sounding Things.”)

I’m sure Christine has great ideas on blog marketing, but take a listen to this audio sample (RealPlayer version) of the title track from her latest album, Right Outta Nowhere and you’ll see why we asked her to perform instead. Very good stuff!

We’ll see you there!