Eat, Tweet, Vote: Twitter, Blogworld and SXSW

Can twitter actually land you a major speaking gig?

So, I’ve talked about twitter as a virtual water cooler and a tool for business and access, but now we can add virtual speakers agent to the mix.

Earlier this week, I was considering going to the Blogworld conference out in Vegas, September 20-21st. But, I didn’t know who else was going. So, I jumped on twitter and asked who was heading out to the City of Sin in a few weeks. A handful of people replied, moving me closer to going.

Then, minutes later, I got a private tweet from a friend who was organizing a Blogworld panel.

Turns out, a spot on one of Liz Strauss‘ panels had just opened up after another speaker had to bow out only hours before she saw my tweet. She needed someone to speak about the process of landing a book deal and, go figure, I’ve navigated those waters myself and happen to love sharing what I’ve learned.

So, she asked if I could jump onto the panel.

Five minutes later we were on the phone finalizing the details, and now you can come hang with me in Vegas and check out the Sunday 12:15pm Blogworld panel, where I’ll be speaking on the process of landing a book deal with a major publisher.

Then I thought, why stop at Blogworld?

How about the South By Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival in Austin?

This amazing gathering in Austin, Texas every March is wall to wall information, great conversations with great people and just plain fun. And, I had an idea for a panel for the 2009 event. Now, here’s the really cool thing…

SXSW lets YOU be the judge of who gets to speak there!

They have an online panel picker website, where they list all the proposals for panels, then let the public (hey, that’s us) vote on what to include.

So, I submitted my idea and it’s posted for voting right now.

And, here’s where I need your help.

The panel I proposed is about how to leverage your blogging platform to generate income away from your blog. It’ll have some fabulous, super-fun people on it who’ve really figured this out, including:

• Brian Clark (Copyblogger)
  
• Naomi Dunford (IttyBiz)
• Pam Slim (EscapeFromCubicleNation)
• Tamar Weinberg (Techipedia, Lifehacker & Mashable)

The panel is posted for voting right now.

I’d be so appreciative if you help us land a spot on the SXSW schedule. All you need to do is:

• Click here and rate it 5 stars on the top left (Mouse over the stars until they all turn gold, then click on the right-most one. You may need to grab a user ID, too, don’t worry, there’s no commitment, everyone can vote)
• And, hey, feel free to leave a comment there, too

Oh, and there’s one more thing…

Come play with me (us) in Vegas and Austin. C’mon, the City of Sin and the City of Music.

It’ll be a blast!