Did you know that alien abduction is not your biggest worry in Roswell, New Mexico? It’s actually having a surprise thunderstorm blow your tent into Bottomless Lake. I discovered that fact on a cross-country road trip from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina to Portland, Oregon this past summer. Did I happen to mention that the tent contained my best friend’s wallet and cell phone? I was lucky enough to be able to chronicle the adventures of our two week journey across 22 states in a personal blog.
Believe it or not, most of us are bloggers and don’t even realize it. Merriam-Webster defines a blog as “a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.” Every time you post on Facebook, Tweet, update your profile on LinkedIn or upload a picture to Instagram, you are, in essence, blogging.
Blogging can be an amazing tool. It can improve your writing skills, it can expand your awareness, it can teach you, it can motivate you and it can humble you. Those are all great reasons to blog, but do you know my favorite part about blogging? The people. You can connect with family, old friends, new acquaintances, romantic prospects, and potential business contacts. I loved reading the comments that people posted to my personal blog this summer. It made it feel like they were traveling alongside me. I felt a responsibility to keep my posts current. My readers were going to click on that link to my blog and they would be expecting to find about what happened to us yesterday.
The people are also what I am most looking forward to this week. This will be my first HFTP Annual Convention and I am eager to see just what it is all about. Just like blogging, the convention can help you connect with people who share similar interests, backgrounds, senses of humor, dreams and goals.
We will follow in the shoes of the guest bloggers at HITEC, which took place earlier this year in Baltimore. They brought us breaking news: “The organizers did a good job…well…organizing. I didn’t see any bottlenecks, except at the pathetically understaffed Starbuck’s by registration.” (Sorry, Brad! Just teasing! I loved reading your blog this summer.)
I hope we can bring you riveting updates from Orlando this week. We’ll let you know how long that line at the Starbucks is during the 3:00 p.m. break. We’ll let you know about the temperature at pool at the resort. More importantly, we’ll let you know about the people. If you’re reading from your desk, I hope you’ll keep reading. If you’re on your way to the convention, please stop me or one of my fellow guest bloggers and say “Hi!” Who knows? Maybe you’ll end up in one of our posts.
Look out Huffington Post, TMZ and Mashable! John, Joe, Sharon, Jane and I are descending on Rosen Shingle Creek Resort this very minute…
Joe Young is the staff accountant at the Wexford Plantation Homeowners Association in Hilton Head, S.C. Follow him on Twitter @joejoeyoung
The content published in this section was provided by HITEC Guest Bloggers. The information is the view/opinions of the Guest Bloggers and not of HFTP, nor of any person or organization affiliated or doing business with HFTP.
I can’t wait to hear about the AC from your perspective, welcome newbie!
Thanks! Origami in the dark, the EC wearing the most insane golf pants I have ever seen – I can’t wait to see what tomorrow holds!