“We saved 8 slots. Make one yours.” So reads the “Make The Stage” submission page for Internet Week NY, the annual “festival celebrating NYC’s thriving Internet industry & community.” In addition to content programmed by IWNY, the festival also includes eight panels created by the community, or so the page suggests.

We submitted three panels. None of them were accepted. As much as we think our own content kicks ass, we’re OK with rejection. But the process through which we were rejected was far more painful than the rejection itself.

Here are some tips to the folks behind “Make the Stage,” based on the month of suspense and confusion that we’ve just been through:

1. Accept panels for each category. Eight winners, eight categories. So why no winner for “Fashion & The Arts?” We know of at least one panel submission that would have been a great choice!
2. Accept the number of panels you clearly say you are going to accept on your site.
    
3.  Announce the winners on time.  As Tom Petty says, “The way-yay-ting is the hardest part.” We were told we’d find out the winners by April 18, but only found out yesterday, less than two weeks before festival.  Not a lot of time for moderators to prepare and finalize panel questions.
4. Let us know that we weren’t  picked — and why. We had to find out we weren’t picked by looking at the list of panels that were picked. A definite “no” would keep us from showing up on your doorstep with a boutonniere in hand. And let us know what we can do to be picked next year. We can change!
5. Issue a mea culpa for the whole process. It’s easier to apologize than to ask for permission. We’re the forgiving type. Look how wide open our arms are.

Photo by flickr user drbeachvacation.

Internet Week New York is just over a month away and we’ve submitted three panels that feature a healthy mix of bloggers, designers, social entrepreneurs and Blogads own innovators.

Anyone with an email address can vote for the IWNY panels they’d like to see at next month’s event, and there are only two days left to do so. Whether or not you plan on attending the festival, we would love to get your vote on the following panels:

DIY Bride: Can anyone be a wedding planner?
So you’re not J.Lo, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t be a wedding planner! Some brides are riding out the recession to wait for their big day, but others are turning to thrifty tactics so they can still have their wedding cake and eat it, too. With the overwhelming array of internet tools at their fingertips, ranging from inspiration on Pinterest, to discounted dresses from Recycledbride.com, to craft tips from Etsy, they’re turning to blogger-mavens like Style Me Pretty and OnceWed to curate the chaos. Together these blogger-mavens and ambitious DIY brides are revolutionizing the $86 billion wedding industry. Join Blogads and friends as they discuss the implications these new tools have on this rapidly changing industry.

#MillionHoodies: From Tweets to the Streets
Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are quickly changing the face of activism. Outraged by the murder of 17 year-old Trayvon Martin, these platforms helped spark the MillionHoodies movement– resulting in over 300K pictures posted, protests around the country, numerous celebrity advocates and a petition with over 2 million supporters. We’ll examine the tools, techniques and philosophies used to take rage and pixels and convert them into lasting action with Daniel Maree, creator of a Million Hoodies for Trayvon Martin.

Democratization Of Design: Are Consumers Haute Or Not?
With the rise of sharing platforms like Pinterest and Polyvore, consumers are no longer just following trends, they’re influencing them. Not only has the internet provided people with the power to create and share inspiration boards, but platforms like Kickstarter and Etsy have empowered them to drum up support to actually make their design ambitions a reality. Design and craft bloggers are imperative to curate the chaos caused by this industry revolution and new source of information overload, and they dictate the design trends of tomorrow. As bloggers expose consumers to the best new design tools, tips, and available funding sources, they empower consumers to create their own goods, while simultaneously helping those consumers rise to fame by promoting the next big (consumer created!) thing. Join Blogads and friends as they discuss the future by exploring how these influentials are able to find what’s cool in this explosion of consumer generated content.

Thanks for your support, and we’ll see you in New York!

bride photo via flickr user madprime

Last weekend, Minneapolis hosted dueling conferences for online political activists. Netroots Nation, the progressive conference, was held at the Minneapolis Convention Center, while RightOnline, its conservative counterpart was just a couple blocks away at the Hilton. While the short distance was enough to keep the orange lanyards separated from the green, a quick twitter search of the conferences’ hashtags (#nn11 & #ro11) shows that some partygoers were as interested in each other’s conference as their own.

Unfortunately, much of the Tweetage is negative – from both sides. There are tweets about crashing and disrupting each other’s conferences, about whose speakers were better, who had smarter attendees, which conference was better attended….

But if you sift through the combative and the contentious, you’ll find some peacemakers in the stream, tweeting across the aisles, seeking common ground in Minneapolis, including one from an unlikely source.

From airport on way home, very much enjoying reading #NN11 and #RO11 threads. Meanwhile watching POTUS & Boehner golf together on TV.

June 18, 2011 Jun 18, 11 | 11:47 am via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@sallykohn

Sally Kohn

Anyone else concerned the lame "glitter toss" at Bachmann at #ro11 will ignite revenge at #nn11? Lets keep things professional ppl #nn11lgbt

June 18, 2011 Jun 18, 11 | 2:39 pm via EchofonReplyRetweetFavorite

@szumwalt

Scott Zumwalt

Seems there's more bipartisanship at #MSP than in DC or St. Paul. Maybe pols could learn from new media peeps. #RO11 #nn11 #tcot

June 19, 2011 Jun 19, 11 | 11:21 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@BridgetSutton

Bridget Sutton

New post: #NN11LGBT: Violent, confrontational 'glitter' protests should be re-thought http://bit.ly/l0LsLu #lgbt #nn11 #ro11

June 20, 2011 Jun 20, 11 | 10:26 am via InterstateQ.comReplyRetweetFavorite

@interstateq

Matt Comer

#MPLS folks who attended both #nn11 & #ro11: let's meet up to find common values & dismantle harmful misconceptions. Who's in?

June 20, 2011 Jun 20, 11 | 10:48 pm via Twitter for AndroidReplyRetweetFavorite

@AprilStreich

April Lukes-Streich

Had a perfectly pleasant interaction with a #ro11 attendee today about the futility of Lions football, growing up in Detroit, etc. #nn11

June 17, 2011 Jun 17, 11 | 10:16 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@DMillerDC

David Miller

@Pam_Spaulding - Great to meet you last night! There are so many issues we can agree on when we take out the two parties. #ro11 #nn11

June 19, 2011 Jun 19, 11 | 11:14 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@matthewhurtt

Matthew Hurtt

@matthewhurtt and yes, the parties inevitably blind many to the fact that we can often agree. :) #nn11 #ro11

June 19, 2011 Jun 19, 11 | 1:53 pm via Twitter for AndroidReplyRetweetFavorite

@Pam_Spaulding

Pam Spaulding

There's a lot more anger than I'd like to see from both sides here in Minneapolis. Political diffs don't need to cause that. #ro11 #nn11

June 17, 2011 Jun 17, 11 | 5:28 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@gregpalmer

Greg Palmer

Picked up a lot of great new Twitter friends from #RO11 and, gasp, even some from #nn11. #harmony

June 19, 2011 Jun 19, 11 | 10:15 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@TeriChristoph

Teri Christoph

Any #ro11 conservatives willing to help organize a friendly #NN12 vs #RO12 CARE pkg competition next year? #NN11 #NFTT

June 20, 2011 Jun 20, 11 | 5:21 pm via EchofonReplyRetweetFavorite

@Eclectablog

Eclectablog

Back in WI from Minneapolis. #ro11 was an awesome time. #nn11 can keep it classy!!

June 19, 2011 Jun 19, 11 | 11:51 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@miketatewatch

Mike Tate Watch

Split a cab here w a guy from the other conference. #BigTentSteve #ro11 #nn11

June 19, 2011 Jun 19, 11 | 11:24 am via Plume  ReplyRetweetFavorite

@stephenkruiser

stephenkruiser

Had a great time tonight. Really great to see #nn11 and #ro11 folks having fun together. #GOProud

June 18, 2011 Jun 18, 11 | 10:10 pm via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@JimmyLaSalvia

JimmyLaSalvia

Heading home early from #ro11 for my son's 7th birthday. Nice meeting so many enthusiastic troublemakers & even some nice #nn11 types!

June 18, 2011 Jun 18, 11 | 12:21 pm via Mobile WebReplyRetweetFavorite

@AndrewBreitbart

AndrewBreitbart

Have you seen any other bi-partisan tweets from the weekend? Let us know and we’ll ad them to the post.

Coal River Mountain Watch
CRMW is a grassroots organization based in southern West Virginia as an opponent to mountaintop removal. The Welch family, kids pictured here, talk about the cause with passion and eloquence, and have plenty of visual aids to support their organization, including coal-shaped soap. Tomorrow, the film “The Last Mountain,” which examines the battle over Coal River Mountain, will be screened at NN.

Yards to Gardens
Founded in Minneapolis, Yards to Gardens connects gardeners looking for space with people with extra gardening room in their yards. As you can see in their Google map overlay, the program has really taken off in Minneapolis, and is now spreading to San Francisco and New York. At the booth, the greenest in the whole hall, you can make your own seed bombs, pictured above.