I was recently blessed with the opportunity to serve as the assistant event coordinator for Blog Action Day 2008, which persuaded thousands of bloggers to address the subject of poverty on October 15.

That event changed me forever.

May we never forget that we are all beggars.

5 things I learned from my BAD ‘08 work:

1. Scalability is crucial to virality.

If you can’t scale, you can’t spread. Your idea may spread somewhat on its own. But if you can’t handle huge spikes of incoming information, you won’t be able to give your meme the constant attention it needs in order to achieve maximum reach and effect.

Blog Action Day 2008 was highly scalable in structure. The organizing team did a fantastic job preparing this event to spread virally. We had a solid strategy for contacting high-profile blogs and non-profit organizations. We had a website that made it easy and appealing to register for the event. We had a viral video.

But we all wished we had a few more members on our team. Especially when the big day came and I found myself hosting a live 12-hour-long radio show, manning the event Twitter and email and social media accounts, and fielding last-minute phone calls.

Have you ever wept because of the suffering of the poor people of this world?
Have you ever expressed thanks for having the material comforts that you enjoy?
Have you ever thought of yourself as a beggar?
We are all beggars.
We may live in large, air-conditioned homes with strong roofs and foundations.
We may possess many expensive things.
We may [...]

Dear reader,

At this very moment I am changing out of my civilian clothes into the Blog Action Day 2008 supersuit.

Super because of the responsibility it bestows – but certainly not because of its unworthy occupant.

This blog might remain quiet until Wednesday, October 15th – Blog Action Day.

On that day, I will not only join the world’s blogs in raising awareness about poverty, but I will help manage the whole event as its assistant event coordinator.

First, ya gotta watch this:

Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

Now then. Here’s what has kept me and the rest of the Blog Action Day 2008 team nearly sleepless over the past couple weeks: