First Annual Aviation Blogger Summit

I’ve just returned from the first international aviation blogger conference held in a luxurious downtown Chicago hotel overlooking Lake Michigan, not far from where Mayor Daley destroyed Meigs Field (CGX) just a few years ago.

Conference attendance was light – there were only two official bloggers and two completely attentive audience members. One left before the end to catch an early flight back to the U.K. too. The numbers were small because the other blogger and I just cooked up the whole idea a few days ago.

The U.S. aviation blogging world was represented by me from Jetwhine, while the entire European theatre blogging perspective about flying was held together by Norman Rhodes a Triple 7 captain for a major airline and the man in charge of The Digital Aviator. 

I must confess, I’d still like to steal that URL for myself, but I doubt Norman is going to part with it. I’m also envious of the photography this man uses. If you haven’t been to the Digital Aviator yet, stop now and click here … then come back of course. 

The issues discussed in Chicago were blogging and aviation … can one successfully support the other and if so, how. Also, what is the future of blogging and what makes a good blog interesting and another, well, boring. And where do the regulatory agencies like FAA, CAA and EASA fit into all of this among other things.

But the focus was on the mechanics of successful aviation blogging and how to define it. We both agreed that a good blog – from any industry – requires one common ingredient … passion. Without it, there is little chance people will yawn past the first paragraph. In blogging, repeat business is important.

By the end of the conference – Norman paid the bill by the way – we also decided that there were a number of common issues that we could both work on together from either side of the Atlantic to leave the industry just a bit better than we found it, “Batting that ball across the Atlantic,” Norman called it. More on that later.

Will we hold another conference next year? I’d say so. Our breakfast this morning seriously made me realize that we all have much to gain by talking with each other face to face every so often. Here in the states, we’d call someone else picking up the check as value-added.

Next year’s event is sure to draw another massive crowd somewhere in the U.S. or Europe unless we can convince some company to sponsor us at some other exotic location.

Let us know if you want in.

Technorati tags: blogging, jetwhine, aviation communications, aviation, pilots, The Digital Aviator, aviation blogging summit