A Different Type of Tchotchke

In the CNN interview I just wrote about, I'm speaking about weblogging to one distinct audience. When I do an interview, I have to take in account the audience and how much or how little they have been exposed to different types of weblogs. Most of the time, I make the assumption that -- for the most part -- exposure has been limited to political weblogs or weblogs of those who are trying to reach larger audiences. I also assume that the average Joe or Jane is going to read the article and will want to understand how weblogging can be incorporated into their own lives.

Sometimes, however, I am given the chance to talk about what we're doing with a different type of audience. Take, for example, the Wall Street Journal's D: All Things Digital conference that I was lucky enough to speak at a couple months back.

Not only was I given a chance to speak in front of some of the most influential technologists and journalists around (no, I didn't Photoshop the picture to the right, I met Gates while at D and shamelessly took this photo with my camera phone), but Six Apart had an opportunity to put something in the giveaway bag that represented the company.

Because Six Apart is still a small company with a limited budget, we certainly can't go crazy with the type of swag we can give away. As far as tchotchkes go, we can't compete with Yahoo, who put Ambient Orbs in the gift bag.

Instead, we tried to think about the audience and how much exposure to weblogs they may have had. I made the assumption that many of these attendees would have pre-conceived notions about bloggers being self-important and figured that it was better to call it out in a humorous way. The last thing that people would expect from a weblogging company is a giveaway poking fun at an over-exaggerated aspect of blogging.

So we built out a ViewMaster with the concept of "If Bloggers Had Been Around Throughout History." Basically, what would bloggers have to say about historic events throughout time?

Building this out was one of those times that I was grateful to have minored in art history.