I will be attending the first International J-Blogger Convention in Israel

As the title states I will be attending the first international Jewish Blogger convention in Jerusalem on August 20th. In fact I just found out (by looking at the convention schedule) that I will be speaking or shall we say flailing my arms and talking wildly about my reunion with falafel and those flimsy cardboard yarmulkes at the kotel.

I haven’t been in Israel since 2003 so I am super pumped, but even more so I am pumped because this is my first big break as a blogger, a FREE trip to Israel- who can turn that down- and I didn’t have to do anything illegal to get it. In fact all I have to do is mention my sponsor- Nefesh Bnefesh and WebAds Israel a couple times and follow around a new oleh family and write about my experiences following them on their flight to Israel and watching their reactions when they just realized that they will never be able to shop at Wal Mart or drive a pickup truck again.

You may call it selling out- but no one is forcing you to read my 6 mandatory posts documenting what its like to make aliyah and my experiences at this Jewish Blogging Convention. No one is forcing you- though for you the audience- its definitely worth all of the new material in written and video form that I will be able to get upon spending a week in Israel and two days in Turkey. Or maybe its a Nefesh Bnefesh conspiracy to get all us American Bloggers to move to Israel because we will be so overwhelmed by the enthusiasm on board an Aliyah flight (I hear its way cool)

Now for the official flier:

Dear Bloggers,

I am thrilled to announce the First International Jewish Bloggers Convention – Hosted by Nefesh B’Nefesh, and Powered by WebAds.

The theme of the convention is “Taking JBlogging to the Next Level”.

This convention will be a great opportunity to meet other Jewish bloggers from all around the world, to network, to learn, and just have fun.

There will be panel discussions with leading Jewish bloggers from around the world on issues such as how to be a more influential blogger, how to increase your traffic, and blogging on issues related to Israel and Aliyah.

The keynote speaker will be Zavi Apfelbaum, Director – Brand Management Team, Foreign Ministry of the State of Israel.

Zavi is in charge of a new initiative by the Government of Israel, to promote pro-Israel branding and PR on the Internet, particularly in interactive forums such as blogs.

Among the bloggers on the various panels will be Treppenwitz, Jewlicious, Hirhurim, My Shrapnel, and others (see the website for all the name).

Also offering a special guest performance, direct from America, and right off the special Nefesh B’Nefesh Blogger flight, will be the comedy of FrumSatire. (I had no idea until about 10 minutes ago)

As it’s a convention (of Jews), there will also be great food. (Thank God because just the free flight wouldn’t cover it.)

The convention will be on Wednesday, August 20th from 5pm to 9pm (Israel time) in Jerusalem.

Space is limited and registration is required, you can register to attend in person, or watch it all by webcam and forum.

Registration is at the following URL: Register for the Jewish Bloggers Convention

Oh and on Sunday August 24th I will be doing my own Comedy show in Jerusalem Refer to last weeks post for details.