Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Live blogging!

Empower Lewiston hosted its first annual blog-a-thon (or, blog-o-thon), at B-Street Community Center. A small but dynamic group of residents, Empower Lewiston board members, community leaders, and bloggers assembled to talk about the what blogging is, and why it's important.



[B-Street Community Center, a downtown hub]

Hillary Verrill, Empower Lewiston's program coordinator did a great job organizing the event, and taking care of the logistics that always go into an event like this.



[Hillary busy at work, taking care of last minute details]

Hillary put together the agenda, sent invitations, and secured the Mayor to welcome the community to the event. Mayor Gilbert, a blogger in his own right, spoke about the importance of keeping communications open in the community, blogging's role in that, as well as tieing it to the city's past, when residents would voice their concerns about the narrowness of Main Street, to the city's first Mayor.

[Mayor Gilbert welcomes the public]

Blogger Jim Baumer (EL board member, and with the Local Workforce Investment Board) introduced blogging; what it is and why it matters. Mark LaFlamme (blogger extraordinaire, and local crime beat report for the SJ) spoke about his blog, and why he values the medium.

[(L-R) Jim Baumer, Ward 5 Councilor, Tina Bailey, and Mark LaFlamme]

[LaFlamme regales the crowd]

LaFlamme has been an important media voice in the downtown, particularly in his role as a local journalist, covering the downtown beat. Now, blogging gives him another orientation for getting his ideas out to a diverse audience, particularly one that may no longer read the daily newspaper. He spoke about his own experiences blogging (at 3 am), and why he invests the time posting his thoughts, ideas, and random musings.

[This post was a collaborative effort, carried out by board members Baumer, Tina Hutchinson, and downtown resident, Barbara Rankins.]

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you everyone! Everyone who helped me organize and everyone who attended! What a great event... stay tuned for the announcement of the winner of the computer!

bizdirector said...

Great effort, Hillary, in pulling all these details together.

I echo your thanks to the attendees, as well as the Mayor, and Mark LaFlamme for participating.

Encouraging other voices is always a good thing, in my book.