NEW DATE CONFIRMED

Written by Hannah on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

Everybody’s favourite online publishers meet up The Sway is now officially booked in for July 21.

If you’ve already RSVPd for the event and the 21st still works for you, then don’t worry, you’re still on the list.

If you can’t make the new date – you can change your RSVP to No at www.meetup.com/thesway so others can take your place.

We’re almost fully booked for the event, so if you still haven’t RSVPd, make sure you get on to it so you don’t miss out!

We also have a sponsor on board, which we’ll announce shortly.

The Sway in May is over!

Written by Hannah on Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

Keep an eye out for updates on the next event!

Slides and recordings of the talks will also be up soon.

Fourteen days to go!

Written by Hannah on Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

Since we first put word out about The Sway, we have had an amazing response from people right across the online spectrum.

Numbers are quickly growing, and the guest list includes some very interesting, impressive people. The Sway is definitely something you don’t want to miss!

If you want to be a part of The Sway, network with likeminded people, learn, be inspired and enjoy yourself with free drinks (thanks to host Skimlinks), click on the sign-up tab and join our Meet Up group.

If you’ve already received an invitation, don’t forget to RSVP on Meet Up!

What’s so special about The Sway?

Written by Katie on Thursday, May 7th, 2009

If you’ve ever attended a panel discussion, you’ll know that they can bit hit and miss. Often you learn some very interesting things during the early stages of the discussion, but events can drag on, and leave you feeling that you’d quite like to jump on the panel yourself and have your say.

Which is why we decided to make The Sway a bit different.

The evening will kick off with three short, 10 minute presentations, and then we’ll move to a panel discussion. But it’ll be a panel discussion designed to prevent panellists from waffling on for too long. They’ll be given just 2 minutes to put forward a point, and then it’s open to the floor. Up to 3 people in the audience can add their opinion and bring their own experiences and expertise to the night. Again, to keep things short and useful, opinions can’t take up more than a minute each.

This means that all the talks and the panel discussion should be over in an hour. You’ll have had a good introduction to the people who have something useful to say, and then it’s time to make a beeline for the editors, writers and publishers you’ve been dying to meet.

And, if you’re really keen, you can sign up to speak at the next Sway event…

Can I make money from blogging and online publishing?

Written by Katie on Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

One of the big topics up for debate at The Sway will be just how bloggers, publishers and web editors can make money from all that new media content we’re creating. If you’re a smaller, independent website, selling brand advertising onto your site can be almost impossible – especially if you’re hoping to make higher CPMs than Adsense can provide.

Getting noticed by ad agencies who are busy trying to get good CPMs for their clients isn’t easy, and simply making enough noise to get onto their plans can be tricky – especially if you’re offering something that’s a little more “niche”.

So what’s the answer? Well, at The Sway, we’ll be discussing some of the alternatives to brand advertising that can be very effective for new media blogs and websites. So if you’re interested in meeting some fellow new media types, and you want to look at some other ways to make money out of your website, come along to The Sway and get involved in the debate.