I haven’t done too much blogging in the past. On one occasion, I took the position of “tour blogger” when an orchestra I was in traveled to Argentina and Uruguay. Those blogs dealt mostly in a “today’s greatest hits” run-through of our itinerary for the parents back at home, with the occasional cultural comparison or musings on music at the end. But I’ve never gotten the chance to blog about events like those Rose Scholars get to go to. I’ve certainly never written a blog about a seminar about blogging. This is my first-ever meta-blog, and I’m thoroughly enjoying myself.

According to Zachary Grobe, the seminar leader for “How to Write a Blog Post,” the goal for this blog is to describe our experiences of events rather than just to summarize them. We’re meant to focus in on the aspects of the activities that interest us and expand on them.

In a lot of ways, Mr. Grobe’s presentation was a great example of that. Though he presented various small examples to help illustrate what made a good (or bad) blog post, his main focus was a subject that interests him quite a bit: film. As so many of the Rose events are movies, he gave us a short introduction to analyzing camera work, sound track, and spacing on screen. His passion for film was contagious, and now I can’t wait to watch a movie just so I can pay attention to cuts.

A seminar where a speaker gets up and presents a bullet-point list of the do’s and don’t’s of blogging can only be so interesting. But because Mr. Grobe introduced the concept of blogging through a lens of something he cares deeply about, the seminar was engaging.

We’ve all heard the phrase “do as I say, not as I do.” That was not the case for Mr. Grobe’s presentation. Everything he said about focusing on your interests and your takeaways was backed up by the way he presented his information. I tried to keep that in mind in the course of this meta-blog, and I intend to keep it in mind in future posts.