Many2Many points us to BlogOn 2004, to be held at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business on July 23, 2004. BlogOn describes itself thusly:
BlogOn is the first conference to examine in-depth the business of social media. It is not just for the professional blogger, but for forward-thinking investors, smart marketing executives and media company professionals who understand it is time to understand and harness this gathering disruptive phenomenon. BlogOn is for executives who want to see a sharper Big Picture for social media and to identify their options and opportunities.
As noted here recently, mainstream media has seemed to annoint blogging as the Next Big Thing, so it's no surprise that there are now investors trying to figure out ways to create value-add marketing environments (ahem) with the subject. It may not be the next dot-com tulip frenzy, but you may want to swing by the conference to see if anyone is handing out money.