Philadelphia and the Countryside - Press Room

Nearly 250 professional and amateur social media enthusiasts from the Greater Philadelphia area and around the nation came together in Center City from July 12-13 for the inaugural BlogPhiladelphia conference. The free event, which took place at the Radisson Plaza-Warwick Hotel Philadelphia, generated rounds of discussion and fostered creative content contributions among Philadelphia’s social media innovators and educated beginners. Additionally, BlogPhiladelphia celebrated two “firsts”: It was the first “zero-waste” event of its kind, and it was the first social media “unconference” in the U.S. hosted by a tourism organization—the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation and insider Philly blog uwishunu.com.
 

BlogPhiladelphia went “green” to be a zero-waste event by:

• Collecting food waste to compost at the White Dog Café in West Philadelphia
• Providing four recycling bins around the main ballroom in the hotel
• Offering participants tap water and glasses instead of bottled water
• Using re-usable china and cloth napkins (with limited paper napkins)
• Eliminating all other food waste packaging—no stirrers, straws or Styrofoam
• Using materials left-over from other events for giveaway bags made of recycled paper
• Distributing press materials on reusable USB jump drives instead of paper press kits

BlogPhiladelphia followed the “unconference” format established in other social media conferences, such as BlogOrlando and BarCamp, with break-out sessions covering specific social media interests or challenges with an open grid on the schedule where attendees choose the sessions they either want to present at or attend.

“Unconference” Stats:

• More than 200 professional and amateur bloggers, vloggers, podcasters and vodcasters attended.
• Live blogging during the event and post-conference coverage has already yielded more than 80 blog/podcast/vlog placements.
• Participants uploaded more than 1,500 photos to two BlogPhiladelphia flickr groups.

What Are The Bloggers Saying?:

• “The amount of information exchange, engaging conversation, and all around fun that was had in the last 3 days was incredible. BlogPhiladelphia has met and exceeded my expectations and I hope everyone had as much fun as I did. Muchos thankos to Annie and the whole crew @ GPTMC for their support, and showing the world, and reminding Philadelphians, what it’s really about.” – Alex Hillman, blogger and founder, IndependentsHall.org
• “It was such a big event and the community was so strong that I am currently now investigating ways to move to Philadelphia” – Rob Sandie, blogger/vlogger at www.RobertSandie.com and co-founder of viddler.com

Keeping The Momentum Going:
In an effort to strengthen new relationships and keep the momentum going, BlogPhiladelphia participants have created:

• A wiki for people to share notes at blogphiladelphia.wikispace.com
• A community blog set up by attendees at phillygeeks.net
• A forum for participants to keep their exchange of information active at phillyforward.com

BlogPhiladelphia thanks partners Ziddio.com, Philly.com, Flying Dog Brewery, Earthlink and Triumph Brewing Company.

uwishunu™, created by the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) and funded by the City of Philadelphia, reveals the unconventional side of Philadelphia by providing an insider’s look at the city’s dining, drinking, nightlife, active pursuits and culture as shared by Philly-wise locals. For cool things to do in Philly from the people who really live there, visit uwishunu.com.

The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) builds the region’s economy and image through destination marketing to increase the number of visitors, the number of nights they stay and the number of things they do in the five-county region. For more information about travel to Philadelphia, visit www.gophila.com or call the Independence Visitor Center, located in Independence National Historical Park, at (800) 537-7676.

Contact(s):

• Caroline Bean, (215) 599-7433