Before she left for Chicago, Danyelle, the founder of Make Blog Not War, wrote:

Blogging While Brown will hopefully give me the opportunity to meet like-minded individuals who are hustling just like I am. The networking opportunities as well as the guest speakers and knowledge being given is well worth the fee that was charged.

Writing midway through the conference, Marty of MartyBLOGS said:

I’ll say it again, the energy was fantastic. We ate, talked together and got to know one another. We even had a spades tournament tonight. All the important relationship building necessary for a great meetup over the next day and the follow through after this weekend began in earnest this great evening.

Before the conference officially began on Friday, the bloggers of Michelle Obama Watch and What About Our Daughters taught a "Pre-Conference Blogging Bootcamp" (BBB).

The BBB was designed for brown bloggers who desired tutorials on such things as posting text, links, images, audio, and video, and using widgets, gadgets, search engine optimization, microblogging, podcasting and social networking. In addition to the technology behind blogging, the BBB attendees learned about the art of blogging - the behind the scenes techniques that drive traffic and create a loyal and growing online community.

What did BBB organizer, What About Our Daughters, have to say about the BBB?

This year we expanded our conference to include the first ever beginner blogger bootcamp. Did I mention that They. Wore. Me. Out!!! But in a good way.

Blacks Gone Geeks explained one of the conference offerings,

The purpose of the Blogging While Brown Conference is to give Bloggers of Color an opportunity to meet each other for the first time, discuss current issues affecting Bloggers of Color, and learn about the latest technology that will assist them with publishing their work.

Milt Haynes, Founder of Blacks Gone Geek presented a session on the social media marketing tools and techniques covered in the Online Community Start-up Guide.

This workshop addressed the key skills that are needed and how to obtain them. This seminar also showed how to tap into talent communities using web 2.0 tools and techniques to find lucrative and rewarding career opportunities.

Here is the link for the material presented by Milt followed by pictures and links to several of the bloggers represented at the workshop.

Global Wire wrote...

In what was possibly the largest gathering of African American bloggers and web content users since the election of the "Internet President" Barack Obama, there is a call from many in the black community to use Web 2.0 to actively campaign more on behalf of issues of most concern...

Some conference attendees wondered if the civil rights movement of the 1960s, the Rwandan Genocide and the start of violence in Darfur could have had different outcomes if today's communications tools were around at the time of these events....

There was also discussion about how the black blogosphere will hold the first African American commander-in-chief and other politicians accountable on various domestic and international issues, such as health care, education, the war on terror, environmental justice, drug and criminal reform, unemployment and AFRICOM...

However, many agreed that possibly the next digital battle should be to make sure that the Internet is accessible to all. According to Megan Tady of the media reform group, Free Press, only 40 percent of Americans have access to broadband. When that number is broken down by ethnicity, Emarketer statistics show that African Americans make up 13.4 percent of the U.S. population, but only 55 percent are online...

I'm sure we'll be hearing more from the invigorated Brown Bloggers in the coming weeks. Once again, I offer this list of the conference participants so you can check in with them yourselves:

5 and a Possible, A Buzz in Your Ear, Acts of Faith in Love and Life, Afrobella, All About Race, Around Harlem, Around NYC, Awesomely Luvvie, Beckie Has a Blog, Beyond-isms, Black Gyrl Cancer Slayer, Black PR, Blacks Gone Geek, Blank Bare Clean, Blog Not War, blogHer, Bronzeville Change, Brother Bartell, Brown and Bridal, But You Are A Girl, Carlos in DC, Change You Can See, Chartreuse, Color of Change, Concrete Loop, Consumer Blast, Cyber PR Urban, D Jones Productions, Dallas South Blog (go Dallas South!), Dante Lee, Dragon Fly, Ebony Jet, Flack Me, Fresh Manna of the Day, Global Wire, Global Wire, Goddess Intellect, Hajj Flemings, Harmonic Leadership, Haute Muslim, Have a Wonderful, I Hate My Developer, IT Empowers U, Jack and Jill Politics, Jamal Street Journal, Kiamsha.com:That Which Awakens Me, Listen to Leon, Live Life Posh, Locs and Dreams, Love a Black Woman, Marty Blogs, Megans Minute, Michelle Obama Watch, Miss Theda, Mocha Mom 365, Monroe Anderson, Naomi Christine, Pams House Blend, Peruanista, Philena, Photo Solitude, Pocket Book Protest, Project New Era, Queen Tahj, Save the Internet, See Your Worth, Small World View, Social Media Socialite, South Shore Chamber, TATV, The Joba Group, The Smak, The SuperSpade, Theo Talks, Urban Beauty, Urban Science, UWISHUNU, We Are Black Women, What About Our Daughters, Woman Body and Soul, YBP Guide.