Easton Ellsworth has poured himself some java, powered up his MacBook and popped on his headset in preparation for what promises to be a history-making podcast.
Less than one hour from now – at 12 p.m. ET – the U.S. director for Blog Action Day 2008 will kick off the Talkathon for Poverty Relief, BlogTalkRadio’s 12-hour special to help take BlogActionDay.org’s poverty-relief conversation to all four corners of the earth.
Easton: WorldWideWebcast pioneer.
Anchoring live from Denver, Colorado, for the full 12 hours, Easton will be joined by BlogTalkRadio co-hosts throughout the day – and from throughout America – including Tom D’Antoni and Art Levine of D’Antoni and Levine, Reuben Torres of Let’s Get Real, Charles Mattocks of The Poor Chef, Dawn Olsen of Glosslip Radio, Eric Olsen and Shaun Daily of BTR Today, Barbara Howard of The Recipe Box, Gregory Turner and Brian Henderson of ASE Motivation, Nikki Starr of Nikki Rocks the Politics! and Dr. Mo of The Danger Zone Show.
Leading bloggers around the world – including Paul Chaney, president of the International Blogger and New Media Association, Liz Strauss, founder of SOBCon (Biz School for Blogging), Chris Garrett, co-author of ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income, and social-media guru Beth Kanter – are scheduled to appear as guests on the United Nations Millennium Campaign-supported program, along with other notables.
At press time, more than 11,000 bloggers were signed up to participate in Blog Action Day.
“I’m thrilled that so many bloggers are combining forces to make this an impactful event,” says Easton. “And thanks to BlogTalkRadio, even more participants will be able to act locally, speak globally and change the conversation about poverty relief.”
(Don’t mention it, Mr. Director.)
Blog Action Day was launched last year when two bloggers – Collis Ta’eed of Sydney, Australia, and Leo Babauta of Guam – asked, “What would happen if all the bloggers of the world united for a single cause?”
What did happen during the U.N.-backed “Blog Action Day 2007: The Environment” was more than 20,000 bloggers offering ways to solve hundreds of environmental crises.
BlogActionDay.org estimates that some 12 million people worldwide will read about the event on October 15 – many of whom are also expected to tune into and/or call into the talkathon.
During the talkathon, the Blog Action Day editorial team will select the best participating blogs from around the globe to be cited live on-air. Those bloggers whose work is read will have one hour to call into the talkathon to claim prizes donated by event sponsors.
Bloggers who wish to participate in Blog Action Day 2008 can register for free at blogactionday.org.
In the meantime, let’s show Eastson some of that famous BlogTalkRadio love by posting comments below in support of his Herculean effort!
Better yet, the tenth person to post a comment here gets a prize from one of our Blog Action Day sponsers. (You can post as many comments as you like, by the way, but you’ll still only be counted as one person. To claim your prize, email our community manager, Deborah Ng at deborahng@blogtalkradio.com after posting.)
This is a wonderful way for all of us to come together to raise awareness to beat poverty. Thank you for this.
Doing a great job BAD guys 🙂 Come and get your blog translated into 35 languages at http://mloovi.com …
Great to see the BTR guys on board, though I never doubted that you wouldn’t be. A great cause near and dear to my heart.
You all are the best! I know you’re going on zero sleep and mega caffeine, but it’s all going to be worth it. Looking forward to talking with you at 1:30 pm ET! (Even tho I don’t have cool headphones like Easton 🙁 )
We launched our new website today. Check out the video that opens it: http://www.born2fly.org
Diana Scimone
President
Born to Fly International
http://www.dianascimone.com
http://www.born2fly.org
Twitter: @BornToFly
Fabulous idea…looks like Blog Action Day is getting a lot of “ink” and air time! WOOHOO!
Having some sound issues with my desktop at the moment but am looking forward to tuning in once I get them resolved!
Keep up the good work! Blog Action Day is on the move. Amazing all the posts I am seeing.
What a great idea! I’ll be listening intermittently through the day and tonight. Good luck!
Keep up the great work and have fun! Exciting day!
This BAD thing is so Good… too bad my blogs are not established enough to really participate.
Great job everyone!
Lucinda: You are the 10th poster to this blog — which means you win a prize.
To claim your prize, email our community manager, Deborah Ng, at:
deborahng@gmail.com
Congratulations!
Congratulations, Lucinda!
I have been homeless myself a couple times and I know firsthand the fear and hopelessness of this terrible situation. The reality of poverty is something that effects us all and with our current economy suffering from a mounting recession and our own government sending billions of dollars overseas instead of using that money to help people in their own backyard today it is more vital then ever that everyone do their part to help.
Hopefully, this day will inspire you to seek out ways you can help – in your own neighborhoods, food shelters, food banks, churches, and community centers – because fighting the war against poverty is not in Iraq or Africa or Afghanistan but everywhere.