Britt Bravo is on a much-deserved vacation, so I'm stepping in for her to keep news and information about the social change web coming your way!

July 18 - 20th saw the convergence of many thousands of women (and men) in San Francisco for the annual BlogHer conference. BlogHer, as you probably know, provides "opportunities for women who blog to pursue exposure, education, community and economic empowerment."

The annual conference is the largest for bloggers in the world (regardless of gender) and provides an excellent opportunity for the ever-growing network to meet, share, learn and collaborate in person. This year, they took it a step further, and enabled people who couldn't make it to San Francisco to still have an in-person experience via Second Life, the 3-D virtual world created by the users.

I couldn't make it to the conference but was able to tune in, thanks to Second Life, to the keynote speeches and to some of the panel sessions, exclusive to the Second Life audience. It was my first time attending a conference or event in Second Life and I really learned a lot!

What makes Second Life such a unique option for conference organizers is how much of the face-to-face nature of in-person conferences can be replicated. The biggest ones to me were:

• I can SEE you! Because people are able to create avatars and literally move around inside the world of Second Life, including to your various conference locations and elsewhere, when participants or speakers are interacting, they are actually able to see who else is in the room, on the panel, or sitting in the next seat. Being able to see people, even if they look a bit different than they would in reality, as well as hear them makes the experience much more personable.
• I can TALK to you! We have all experienced the moment in a conference when the presenter says something either really intriguing or really funny and we turn to our neighbor to talk about it. On a conference call, an audio feed, or a podcast archive of an event, that isn't really possible. But, while listening to presenters in Second Life, the other participants and myself were able to talk with each other publicly or privately and consequently with the presenters! I could see who was next to me, read their name badge, and say hello...even offer to connect (just like handing off a business card to stay in contact).
• I can FIND you! One of the best parts of conferences are the people you get to meet for the first time or catch up with again. With BlogHer in Second Life, I was able to connect to the conference ahead of time by registering, like usual, and see who else was planning to attend 'in-world.' Once I signed in and teleported my way to the BlogHer panel session area, I was able to talk to the group and look around at name badges to find specific people I wanted to meet. It was an interesting experience because often people feel that by tuning into something online, no one can see them or even know who they are but attending the conference in Second Life meant people could see me, knew who I was, and wanted to say hello!

Two of the panels I live blogged are Second Life as an Education/Training Tool and Using Second Life for Good. The second panel, Using Second Life for Good, had a tremendous amount of energy and interaction. It was led by Susan Tenby and featuring Connie Reece, Jennifer Cole and Aleja Ospina. Check out the archives of the live blogs to read the play-by-play of the sessions and contact those involved for more information. You can also see the transcript of Using SL for Good on the GimpGirl Community site.

Have you used Second Life to attend a conference or event? Have you participated in any of the free weekly meetings from the Nonprofit Commons? What advice do you have for organizations and individuals exploring this new tool?