Not even a nibble for a blogger willing to take the Bestofme Symphony out on tour? Very well then, I'll resort to bribery. The first person to volunteer to host the Symphony will get 5 points. That's enough to put you smack dab in the middle of the Leader Board. Or for somebody already on the board to surge to the top. Point reward will decrease by one for each host after that until it gets to one point, where it will stay. Yes, that's right - you heard correctly. Every Symphony host will get at least one point. Hot damn!

There are other benefits to conducting the Symphony, though. First, the schedule of Symphonies will be in my sidebar with a link to the appropriate blogs. Second, when you actually host the Symphony you'll get massive amounts of traffic and probably pick up some new regular readers. Third, I'll name my next child after you.

Okay, so we're not having any more kids, but if we were I'd do that!

Conducting the Symphony is as painless as possible. The only requirements are:

• No censorship - If you have a problem with a post, posts, abuse of the Symphony, etc, just pass it to me for resolution.


• Post it on the scheduled Monday.


• Email me when you post it.

Pretty easy, eh? Some suggestions that have worked for me:

• For the honor spot (first link in the Symphony), find a post from a blog on your own blogroll. This is sweet for two reasons. First, it gets you looking back into the archives of blogs you already like - something that might not happen otherwise. Second, it gets great exposure for a blog that you like.


• For the closing entry (last link in the Symphony), find a post from your own blog's archives.


• Consider emailing the people who submitted entries when you've got the link for the newly posted Symphony. It helps get the word out that the Symphony is up and it gets links to the Symphony.


• Keep it simple. Yes, big is beautiful but simple is readable. You don't have to be as spartan as I am but I definitely recommend keeping it relatively clean and neat as opposed to colorful and complicated.

I'm planning on putting the Symphony on the road starting with the January 13 edition as I'll be hosting the Carnival of the Vanities that week and the two together might be a bit overwhelming. So who's up to the job? Just email me or post in the comments here if you are interested.

UPDATE: Bribery works! We've got 2 and a half volunteer conductors already. Sidebar schedule to come out some time today.

UPDATE 2: Sidebar schedule added and Leader Board updated. Who else wants some?