WordCamp Whistler is just around the corner and we need your help to make it the best event this winter. First of all, go sign up if you haven’t done that yet. Or, even better, submit a speaking proposal.

We are also looking for sponsors to help us cover the conference expenses. There are multiple levels of sponsorship packages that you can choose from and they all give you some kind of exposure to all the attendees. If your company is interested in sponsoring this event, or if you know someone who may be interested please visit the sponsorship page for more information.

You can also help us promote WordCamp Whistler by displaying one of our banners on your website.

This site is your official source for WCWhistler information. Check out the speaker page, add your own submission to become a speaker, find out more about sponsorship, and check back for blog updates. You can also follow the action with the RSS feed or by adding @WCWhistler on Twitter.

So go buy your ticket before they sell out. It’s going to be an awesome time.

Bizzia is an online resource into the business blogs at b5 – it features the best of the content the writers are producing, as well as videos and more. In similar manner, Starked was launched in Las Vegas last month to support our entertainment news.

Starked highlights the top Entertainment news in celebrity, tv, movies & music. I’ve been managing that portal since soon after it launched (my new job title is Online Producer, Starked). w00t! It’s the second iteration of the portal concept, after the earlier try I blogged about here. This new portal way outstrips the old one!

Since Starked is near and dear to me, I’m going to talk about it a bit more. As a portal, it offers insight into two “channels” or “verticals” at b5 – the Entertainment Channel (which I manage) and the Music Channel (managed by Jeanne Dupuis). Together, that’s more than 70 blogs and 30 writers producing upwards of 4,000 posts per month.

Nobody can blame you if you don’t want to read 4,000 posts a month, so Starked is the window into the newest and most sought after news. Each day we feature 40+ new stories on the front page and on the subpages (for tv, celebrities, music so far). I’ve been working on rotating the “image-based” posts a few times a day, depending on how much “free” time I have. It’s been great fun, but has kept me super busy.

If you are into Entertainment, tune in to Starked each day, or grab the RSS feed for the featured posts.

I used these slides as my speaking points during the talk, although covered a lot more ground that was here. Raul, a great support during the day, also live blogged the session! You can read that here.

You can also download the presentation as PDF here.

The MostPublic Index identifies the Web’s 20 most visible individuals, those who are engaged in the world around them;

“This is the first attempt to take a group of people and say, ‘Let’s crunch the data and see when somebody says something, how many people do they reach with that message.’ “I think the list will surprise some people,” – Leonard Brody, CEO of NowPublic

Although I do “keep my head down” in many ways, I’m nothing if not prolific on the web. It’s a great honor to be a part of this list.

The Top 10 from the Vancouver MostPublic Index are:

1. Darren Barefoot         http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/
2. Tim Bray        http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/
3. Boris Mann        http://blog.bootuplabs.com/
4. Kris Krüg       http://kriskrug.com/
5. Roland Tanglao  http://rolandtanglao.com/
6. Tom Williams    http://www.givemeaning.com/blog/index.html
7. Megan Cole      http://www.megancole.org/
8. Rebecca Bollwitt         http://www.miss604.com/
9. Arieanna Schweber       http://www.blogaholics.ca/
10. Tod Maffin      http://todmaffin.com/

Check out the full Top 20 here. And have a look around the NowPublic site – if you haven’t seen it since the re-design, it’s well worth some of your time. The header is constantly changing too, which is great fun.

And yes, I’m aware the Vancouver Sun mis-spelled my name :(

b5 Blogger Summit at Blog World Expo in Las Vegas
Topic: SEO and Advertisers (speaking with Gabrielle Green)

Date: Friday, September 19, 2008
Time: 9:30 AM to 10:15 AM
Location: Las Vegas Convention center
Cost: Free! (Mostly for b5ers, but everyone is welcome)

RSVP to ed@b5media.com

b5media has a lot of fun stuff going on for Blog World Expo. If you’re going, you can also sign up for a blogger meet-up on the 19th and come by our booth to play poker & win prizes! Info here.

Go Global Week at UBC
Topic: Travel Blogging

The session will talk about travel blogging, how to get started, and tips on things like adding photos to your blog.

Date: Thursday, October 02, 2008
Time: 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Location: Chemistry Room 300, UBC
Cost: Free!

Register Here – you need to be a UBC student.

In just a few minutes you can customize your own little manga. The settings are easy to use and the results quite unique. The assortment of options is "enough" while not perfect. In the end, you pay a small price to download your personal manga. Totally fine by me, it was a fun few minutes of my day! Here, see the manga I was making for Ianiv:

And this is the Arieanna manga:

What does your manga look like?

Tags: manga, face your manga, faceyourmanga, meme, twitter, cartoon, avatar

Update: the photo upload didn’t work…

Update 2: the uploads did work, but it looks like the app assumes a specific upload directory is being used. A symlink fixed that.

The Great b5media Blog Off will begin on June 20th at 12:01am (in each writer’s respective time zone), to celebrate the summer solstice, which hasn’t occurred on any date other than June 21st since 1975 – this year it lands on June 20th. Writers for many of our sites (including me!) will be posting fresh news at least once per hour for a full 24 hours.

We are looking for guest posts on the 23 participating Entertainment sites, and also for charity donations to The Actors Fund. You can learn more here and here.

The Business channel at b5 is also participating in the Blog Off to support Accion International. You can read more here.

Tags: blog off, blogging marathon, b5media, charity, blogging drive

The b5media Entertainment Channel, where I’m Editor, is alive with contests! Check out some of these great opportunities to win everything from DVDs to Books to Purses!

• Comedy Centric – Like Larry? Blue Collar Comedy Up for Grabs
• Disney Society – Win a High School Musical 1 and 2 DVD at Disney Society
• Film Gecko – DVD Giveaway: Sweeney Todd
• Film Gecko – DVD Giveaway: "Alien Nation: Ultimate Movie Collection"
• Film Gecko – DVD Giveaway: "Gumby: The Movie"
• Film Gecko – DVD Giveaway: Cloverfield
• Gilmore Girls News – Gilmore Girls Glam: Win a Butler Bag, Sleepover Gear or Couture!
• Medium Dreams – Are You a Closet TV Producer? Win a Subscription to The Nerve
• MTV Reality World – Win “A Shot at Love” Season 1 On DVD
• Prison Break Buff – Win an Autographed Copy of “Slip and Fall”
• Showtime Fan – Showtimefan contest: Win Season 1 of Tracey Ullman’s State of the Union on DVD
• Superhero Profiles – "Smallville 6: The Official Companion" book giveaway

I also have four other contests running on my other b5media sites I wanted to share:

• Lohan Groupie – Win Diamonds, Couture or a DVD
• Cooking Gadgets – Win Yum Yum Dishes
• Mischa News – Win Couture, Learn to Dance or DVD
• Hilary News – Win Couture, a Purse or Sleepover Gear

Tags: contest, contests, entertainment, win, giveaway, giveaways, sweepstakes, b5media