'The Blogging Enterprise' to Examine How Blog Technology is Transforming Communications & Marketing; Top Blogger Steve Rubel Will Keynote November 2 Event.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Blogs and their underlying technology are changing the way major companies and small businesses alike communicate with customers, employees and other key constituencies -- with companies like Google, Microsoft, IBM and Sun leading the way.

The Blogging Enterprise (www.thebloggingenterprise.com), the first major conference to focus on the transformation of communications and marketing, will take place in Austin, Texas, Wednesday, November 2, at The University of Texas. SXSW Interactive is a sponsor of the conference.

The organizers today announced that Steve Rubel, a top-ranked blogger whose daily blog, Micro Persuasion, explores how new technologies are transforming marketing, media and PR, will keynote the conference. Rubel, VP of client services at CooperKatz in New York, is frequently quoted in the media and was recently named to Media Magazine's 2005 Media 100 list of "people you need to know in the media" and the AlwaysOn/Technorati Open Media 100.

He will be joined on the podium by Shel Israel, co-author, with Microsoft's Robert Scoble, of the soon-to-be-released book "Naked Conversations," which will examine how blogs are changing the way businesses talk with customers and other top-rated bloggers, as well as blogging executives and managers from organizations like IBM, GSD&M, The University of Texas at Austin and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

"The conference program will enable attendees -- VPs and directors of marketing, communications, PR and related disciplines -- to thoroughly evaluate the blogging phenomenon and how it will impact their marketing and communications activities," said Steve Farrer, executive director of The Blogging Enterprise. "We are delighted to have an all-star cast of speakers from the East and West Coasts and Texas join us in Austin to debate the good, bad and ugly of blogging."

The conference agenda includes sessions on blogs and market intelligence, thought leadership, citizen journalism, crisis management, best (and worst) practices, legal issues and the future of the technology.

Advance registration for The Blogging Enterprise is $170 and includes a copy of "Naked Conversations," a new book on blogs and corporate communications by Shel Israel and Robert Scoble, two well-known bloggers who are advisers to the conference. People interested in learning more about The Blogging Enterprise or registering to attend can visit the conference blog at www.thebloggingenterprise.com or call Steve Farrer at 512-415-8300.