The first annual Blogtoberfest is coming to San Marcos, Texas. When? You guessed it…in October. How could we resist? October 5th, to be exact.

The Texas Hill Country has long been famous for its natural beauty and as a gathering place for friendly folks. With a large number of citizens with German ancestry, the area hosts a number of Oktoberfest events, including Wurstfest in New Braunfels. A group of us social media types thought it was time to tie in the tradition of the old with the advent of the new, and so the idea of Blogtoberfest was born. The actual name is Connie Reece’s creation, but the idea of having fun in San Marcos is nothing new.

The City of San Marcos, located almost an equal distance from Austin and San Antonio, is positioning itself as the “hub” of the creative corridor in Central Texas. It hosts a major, research University - Texas State - and is ideal for attracting clean and new technology-based companies and jobs. It is also a natural destination for the creative and technically savvy professionals who make up the new creative class.

So on Friday night, October 5th, from 6 pm until we’re done, there will be presentations by notable bloggers on what is new, what works, and what is fun in the blogosphere. This first will be done in conjunction with the first Barcamp San Marcos, to be held the following day. This will be a great chance to get to know San Marcos and to kick what will surely be a new Central Texas tradition.

Gordo’s on the Square is hosting Blogtoberfest. CenturyTel is already sponsoring and speakers will be announced soon. So please link to the Blogtoberfest website to register.

A year ago, one of the first people to comment on one of my blogs was Josh Hallet. In a few weeks I’ll finally get to meet Josh at the outstanding unconference he produces.

I’ll be facilitating a session on Friday afternoon, September 28 –

Building Connections and Networking Online

Leader - Connie Reece, Austin, TX

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn…..and all these other online tools allow you to build relationships for work and play, but when does information overload set in? Connie Reece will talk about how to effectively manage it all.

Here’s a detailed schedule for BlogOrlando and a description of all the sessions.

Shel Israel, who writes the Global Neighbourhoods blog and co-authored Naked Conversations, will present the opening keynote; and Chris Heuer, founder of Social Media Club will wrap up the day–two more social media heroes I’ve had a chance to work with but have never met. It’s going to be fun having some face-to-face time with them.

If you’re in Florida–or if you’re able to get there–consider registering for BlogOrlando. It’s FREE! That’s right. The conference itself costs you nothing, but the information you’ll learn–and the contacts you’ll make–could prove invaluable.

I hope to see you there.