Peter Panepento, writer/facilitator of the popular blog “Outside Erie” and former Erie Times-News reporter, will lead a lunchtime presentation, “Blogging: Successful Guerrilla Marketing,” on Thursday, Feb. 18, from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., at the Bayfront Convention Center, 1 Sassafras Pier, Erie. Hosted by the Advertising Federation of Northwest Pennsylvania, Panepento’s presentation will cover the power and force behind blogging and its importance in any company or organization’s marketing and communications efforts. Using examples of successful blogs, Panepento will explain how to create blogs that keep people coming back, and also how to use other blogs to your benefit.

Panepento’s “Outside Erie” blog provides a forum for people from inside and outside the Erie region to discuss the community’s future. Panepento covered business, the economy, and local news for the Erie Times-News from 2000 to 2006. Today, in addition to writing “Outside Erie,” he is the web editor for the Chronicle of Philanthropy in Washington, D.C., and a freelance writer with credits in magazines as diverse as Reader’s Digest, Men’s Health, and Computerworld.

The session will begin with lunch at 11:30 a.m., followed by the presentation from 12-1 p.m. and a question and answer period from 1-1:30 p.m. Cost for the presentation, which includes lunch, is $30 for Ad Fed of NWPA members, $40 for non-members. Register online at www.afnwpa.org. Pre-registration is required by Tuesday, Feb. 16.