So, less than two weeks left until this year’s CNBloggerCon kicks off. Hopefully by now you’ve registered and booked your tickets. Nights here in Harbin are already as cold as -15℃, so you’re going to want to remember to pack a parka or two.

In case any of you mavericks were wondering, unfortunately, yeah, that was a joke. Projected temperatures for Guangzhou this week range from lows of 16 to highs of 28 with scattered showers expected toward the end of the week. Really.

Just a quick note about some of the new features we’ll be unrolling this year at CNBloggerCon 4.0. We’re not gonna say that it’s getting too big, but there definitely have been murmurs of possibly even greater changes for next year.

We haven’t added an extra day just yet; this year we’ve instead decided to add more space. In addition to the main stage that we love to sit and look at, we’ve been able to include this year the option of a smaller side venue for more intimate round table discussion. Some of those are invitation-only, though, so make sure you check the itinerary beforehand, especially you feminists and tech fetishists out there.

Other new topics on the agenda this year include: how the earthquake was blogged, technical upgrades and other blog-geeky things, and even how to turn a profit off your blog.

We definitely got the picture last year that…hmm…the conference came off too heavy on sponsors and too short on good, reliable fun. So we couldn’t be happier this year to see that participants are taking it into their own hands not only to start planning ways to make CNBloggerCon just that much more personable and memorable, but what else there is to do and see and eat in Guangzhou.

But seriously, this is Guangzhou. If you don’t go back at least five pounds heavier than you got here, then you definitely did not get your money’s worth. Yes, the food in Guangzhou is just that good, and if you don’t know where to go to get it, please do ask any of the organizers!

Something else characterizing this year’s conference will be the guests who have traveled from afar. Not just more of a global perspective, but we’ve also got pretty big names here and there, Chinese, English, and somewhere in between. We’ll not spoil the surprise for you just in case you haven’t checked out the itinerary yet, but if you’re still undecided about whether to come or not, you probably should just give it a boo.

Both days of this conference will be given exclusive video coverage by one of China’s most prominent web portals. It’s not in the notes we’ve been given here, but we know which web portal it is, and it probably won’t take you more than one guess..

What will go down just like it has in years past is the foreign media coverage. Keep quick on your toes when you get here, and you might just get interviewed! If you see any of them spending too much time talking to Zuola, he’s given us permission to tell you that if that’s the case, feel free to go ahead and push him out of the way and try getting on camera yourself. No vanity kidnappings this year please, you attention-hounds!

Last but not least, there’s what we can only describe as a clash between art and blog. As in like, CLANG! BANG! BEEP! Expect that and more at the experimental electronic musical troupe performance and party that you’ll hearsee on opening night!

Hope to see you all soon! Please get in touch ASAP with any questions you might have.