november2011

34 SanDiegoMagazine.comNovember2011

BLOGWORLD is regarded as the biggest so-
cial media and blog conference in the coun-
try—attracting the top names and brands in
the social space. But a mere six years ago,
BlogWorld was just an idea tossed around
over paninis at an Escondido Panera Bread.
To hear how this transformation happened,
we sat down with Rick Calvert, co-founder of
the trade show and a lifetime San Diegan.

San Diego Magazine: How did you come up
with the idea for BlogWorld?
Rick Calvert: Back in 2005 I started a po-
litical blog called The Real Ugly American,
and it took off. Pretty quickly I attracted a

One Blogger's Lightbulb Moment

How San Diegan Rick Calvert co-founded the largest blog conference in the U.S.

said that they see how blogging is chang-

ing the future of publishing and that they

thought the two events belonged together.

SDM: So blogs are now as mainstream

as books?

RC: All trade shows are a refl ection of their

industry, so the fact that our show is growing

means that blogging and social media con-

tinues to grow. Companies are now creating

chief social media offi cers and looking for a

place to help educate these people. We are

seeing more and more podcasters and blog-

gers making a living creating content.

SDM: At what point did the blog concept

really explode?

RC: You know, the honest answer is, I still

don’t think we are there yet. For all the hype

that you hear about blogging and social me-

dia, most people still don’t understand what

it is and how it works.

SDM: This year the conference moved

from Vegas to New York and L.A. Why not

San Diego?

RC: I really wanted to move to San Diego

and we talked with the convention center, but

we couldn’t get the dates we needed. I am a

lifetime resident, though, so I would love for

BlogWorld to be in SD.

SDM: Speaking of San Diego, what do you

think of our local social media scene?

RC: I think we are both high tech and casual

and laid back: We are the high-tech city you

want to live in.

SDM: Which local companies have caught

your eye?

RC: The coolest start-up tech that I know

in San Diego right now is a company called

Tap Hunter that has an app to help you fi nd

which bars and restaurants have your favor-

ite beer on tap. // CALLAN GREENE

BlogWorld Los Angeles will take place Nov. 3-5.

good-sized audience and advertisers were ap-

proaching me, so I thought I’d go to a blog-

ging trade show to fi gure out if I could make

some real money from this hobby of mine.

And I found out there wasn’t one.

SDM: The conference is now 5 years old. How

have you seen it grow?

RC: Well, it has obviously grown in size (we

now have more than 4,000 people) but it has

also grown in mainstream acceptance. This

year was signifi cant because we were actual-

ly approached by BookExpo, a 20,000-person

trade show for the publishing industry, and

asked to co-locate our event with theirs. They

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