Arrived at Westin St. Francis in San Fransisco

Just got settled in at the Westin St. Francis in San Fransisco for the 2008 Blogher conference.  So what is Thor Schrock doing at a women’s blogging conference?

My wife loves to write on her blog when she manages to find the time.  Some of the stuff she writes is fricking hilarious (even though she would never take credit or accept the praise).  Over the past year my wife has sacrificed so I could travel all over the place so it was time for me to return the favor.

Even though it is a conference for women bloggers, I will be helping out by recording some podcasts for their website.  I always try to find opportunity in everything, so I am hopeful I will learn a thing or two about blogging from a perspective I may not have considered before.

I’d have to say the only session I am nervous about attending is the Progressives session – primarily because I am one of the rare conservatives on the web that is willing to endure a pounding to stand up for what he believes in.

This is the session description from the BlogHer Schedule:

Progressives: Engaging Those Outside the Political Blogosphere in Political Discourse…and Action
Is 2008 the year when every blogger is a proof point for the old battle cry that “the personal
is political”? We are seeing a tremendous amount of interest and action around political issues
and causes from bloggers who usually steer clear. They are galvanizing their readers to be more
engaged and get more involved in a variety of ways. We’ll talk about some of those ways with
Twitter rabble-rouser Erin Kotecki-Vest, Momocrat Joanne Bamberger and a woman who
exhorts us all to exercise the Power of our Purse, Diane MacEachern.

All three women on the panel hold some pretty liberal views that I would generally disagree with.  That said, from their writings online they seem to be reasonable, rational people.  All things equal, I will do my best not to embarrass my wife by opening my pro-drilling, anti-Obama pie-hole.

One of the best lessons you can learn in life is that you can learn a lot about people by listening what they have to say and how they justify their arguements.  That doesn’t mean that they are right or wrong, but the first step in persuasion is listening.