Once again it's on! Blogging While Brown got rolling last night with a welcome reception where AT&T gave away a new iPhone. I had the opportunity to welcome our participants this morning and kick off the first session (5 minutes late, my bad) lead by Milt Hayes of Blacks Gone Geek. Milt is pictured with the image on this post. You can follow us on twitter at #bwb. We'd like to thank our sponsors, AT&T, BlogHer, Next Gen Web, Daily Kos, FreePress.net, & BlackPR.com

Continuing my series about people I follow. This time on Twitter.  I limited my entries to 140 characters, the maximum length of a tweet. waynesutton wayne is a social media guru, mastering every form. 25K followers but he's following 26. Tweets social media tips and advice thru the day necolebitchie "gossip blogger" who gets the scoop, but also transparent about her own life. her testimony is awesome. holding it down for the ATL ATLien - speaking of ATL, another entertainment type that i met at BWB last year. got me moving on twittter as we tweeted thruout conference. PiKaHsSo Formerly of PPT, currently of AwkQuarius, Pik is a creative brother 2 say the least. 2 c how his mind works, check whackpiktures on YouTube baratunde can speak on any subject relating to current events and politics, and funny to boot (he's a comedian). always puts n a good word for dsouth darthvader of course im a huge star wars fan, but this dude takes it to new level. tweets 1st person as if dv was living now traveling the galaxy funny pamperry PR Coach and internet marketer that's always pointing out good articles on branding and promotion. ...

The 2nd Blogging While Brown Conference gets underway on Friday at Chicago's University Center with a Beginning Bloggers Boot Camp. Conference organizer Gina McCauley afforded me the opportunity to serve as programming chair for the conference, and I'm excited about the group of panelists and presenters that we were able to pull together. Here' the schedule: June 20, 2009 - Blogging While Brown Conference 8:00AM. - 8:30AM Registration 8:30AM Introductory remarks 8:35AM Workshop: “The Competent Blogger” This workshop will cover tapping into talent communities using web 2.0 tools and techniques to find lucrative and rewarding career opportunities. This is a must attend workshop for anyone interested in building an online presence or pursuing a long-term career in IT. This presentation will address all aspects of careers In IT and the core competencies necessary to build and sustain a vibrant, fulfilling and prosperous career powered by the web 2.0 social networking phenomenon. The workshop includes , research results from the 2009 IT Job Outlook Readers Poll, skill sets that are hot in the current job market, and how to use social networking to “get discovered” for the hot job opportunities How to build a successful online business in the IT Industry Presenter: Milt Hayes ...

This is the second installment in a series I'm doing titled "People I'm Following." Tomorrow's topic is "People I Follow on Twitter.  As for today, it's People I Follow on the Internet. L.N.Rock African-American Political Pundit I've been following Rock for a long time. He holds nothing back and can speak on any and every political topic. As publisher of the blog African American Political Pundit, Rock was a fellow DNC Blogger in Denver last summer . He has also championed the cause for appropriate use of tasers/stun guns. And on top of all that, he hosts an entertaining show on Blog Talk Radio, AA Politcal Slugfest. Carmen D. - All About Race Carmen and I hit it off as soon as we met at Blogging While Brown last year. She brings a wealth of traditional media experience to the new media space through her blog All About Race. Carmen takes a sensible and straight foward approach to discussions on her blog revolving around the sensitive topics. And I like the fact that you can never assume which position Carmen will take on a given issue. Pam Pohly - Everyday Citizen I met Pam at the Democratic National Convention, and there couldn't be ...

Talking about the impending hurricane season and the nation's preparedness on CNN's bloggers bunch. Embedded video from <a href="http://www.cnn.com/video" mce_href="http://www.cnn.com/video">CNN Video</a>

Tavis Smiley doesn't know it, but he's been a mentor to me since I read his book Doing What's Right back in 2000. Much of what I do today is based on seeds that were planted in his book who's subtitle is "How to fight for what you believe-and make a difference. " I called my cable company threatening to leave when BET and Bob Johnson relieved Tavis of his duties. And I followed him to NPR and listened to his commentary on the Tom Joyner Morning Show. Unbeknownst to Tavis (how could he know since he doesn't know he's my mentor), we've gotten crossways over the last couple years. I probably couldn't put my finger on exactly why for the most part, but I just haven't been able to latch on to his message like I used to. Still, I always try to make it out to see Mr. Smiley when he's in town and I always try to pick up his latest book. When he started (what I feel like was) questioning the legitimacy of Barack Obama's candidacy, I wondered if Tavis had lost the pulse of Black Americans that he had been so ...

Shutting Down Fort Worth School System: Right Decision By Eddie G. Griffin, Child’s Rights Advocate When we received word that Dr. Melody Johnson was shutting down the entire Fort Worth Independent School District because of the international Swine Flu pandemic alarm, I was amazed. It was a bold and decisive act, the true mark of a leader. ABC Evening News Charlie Gipson asked if the superintendent had “overreacted”. The medical reporter believed she did, but what other choices did she have? My colleague Shawn Williams of Dallas South Blog asked the same question. Dallas reported only one confirmed case of swine flu. Therefore, it closed only one school. Was Fort Worth overreacting? When the news broke back to local WFAA 8, interviews with Fort Worth residents wholeheartedly supported Superintendent Johnson and her decision to close all the schools. What wrong with them people over in Fort Worth? Have they gone hysterical? There is a general consensus among us that it is better to err on the side of caution, to err on the side of our children’s safety. In fact, the City of Fort Worth has taken measures like Mexico City, canceling its annual Mayfest Downtown Celebration, and all other outside communicable activity. Is it ...

The Bloggers Roundup segment has been wildly popular, and more people are listening to the Shawn P. Williams Show than ever before. Kristin and I couldn't be more thrilled about the guests that we've had, including our two heavy hitters joining us this week. Click here to listen to an archive of last week's show. Thursday April 30th - Bloggers Roundup Guests:  Wayne Hicks, Electronic Village & Vanessa Byers Vanessa: Unplugged! , on the black hand side and others. Topics:  H1N1 Virus (swine flu), Obama's 1st 100 Days Time:  9PM Central and 10 PM Eastern Call in # - (347) 215-9337 Join in online and stop by the chat room which has been really jumping.

I'm still not sure if this actually aired on T.V., but here's the video from my CNN "Bloggers Bunch" appearance. Many thanks to Mike Orren and Pegasus News for allowing me to use their facilities. I was having technical issues at Williams Manor. It was a lively discussion and a comfortable format, similar to what we did at "News and Notes." I'll have to find out more about the blogger from Huff Po. Let me know what you think. Embedded video from CNN Video Looks like a round table brining together bloggers via Skype. Above is the segment Baratunde Thurston was on Monday where they discussed torture. Kind of looks like the Brady Bunch (get it?) . Should be fun.

On Friday, members of the AfroSpear will participate in "Day of Blogging for Justice: Standing Up Against the Police Pre-Trial Electrocution." This effort is open to all bloggers who would like to see law enforcement recognize the deadly nature of this weapon and use it properly. This is in response to the taser death of Michael Jacobs, Jr. in front of his Ft. Worth home last Saturday. Ft. Worth police chief Police Chief Jeff Halstead promised a thorough investigation of the incident. The rules of Blogging for Justice are simple: Share a post on your blog focused on your concerns about the tasering of Blacks folks. Send an email to AfricanAmericanPoliticalPundit@gmail.com so that we may document everyone's participation. This is not the first time we have tried to highlight the lethal nature of Tasers, and it probably won't be the last. But hopefully each time more people will become aware of the misuse of tasers across the country.