Photo credit: Dan Lilly on Flickr

A few months ago I started a campaign on DreamBank to help get me to Blog World Expo. It’s the world’s largest blogging conference and will be happening in as Vegas at the end of September. The response was overwhelming and I was able to reach my goal days before its expiration.

Last night Raul scoured Twitter to find out who else was going and came up with Arieanna, Glenda, Colleen, Gus, Tris, and John Chow (who will be on several panels). I know that the Tagga and/or Invoke folks were thinking of going as well and Jason of Elastic Path will also be on a panel.

Since my dream came true I’m hoping to also bring John down with me as it will be his 30th birthday a few days later. In the spirit of South by Northwest I think a similar meetup may be in the works for Vancouverites that will be heading down to the expo in Vegas. Whether we can plan something ahead of time, use Twitter, or even find a sponsor, this would be pretty cool to arrange.

Some of points of interest at Blog World Expo 2008 include: Keynote: With Chris Alden, Anil Dash (who I met at Northern Voice 2007), and Richard Jalichandra the President and CEO of Technorati.

The State of Citizen Journalism: A panel with Michael Tippett of Vancouver’s NowPublic

Twitter: Building Connections that Drive Traffic A panel with @GeekMommy, @zappos, @Pistachio, @queenofspain

Bloggers and PR: A panel with Chris Brogan, Brian Solis, Jason Falls and Michael Clark

How to be More than a Blog: New Media Integration: A panel with our (now) local Tris Hussey, Deborah Ng, and David Peralty

Opening Night Party: Featuring me and a beer.

Day two will feature Political Blogging, My Blog is a Business?, How to Deal with Trolls, Spammers & Sock Puppets, The Stats of High Performance Content & Marketing - with Lorelle of WordPress fame, and Sports Blogging along with hundreds more in over 15 different tracks. The conference also includes GodBlogCon, Citizen Journalism, and exhibits.

Once again a big thanks to DreamBank and all those who contributed - you’re all the reason I’m heading down there this month - and the reason the Union Gospel Mission of Greater Vancouver received almost $10,000 worth of support… I’m still floored by all of your generosity through blogging, thank you.