having just returned from a 4-day trip to Chicago where I attended the BlogHer ’09 conference, an annual coming-together of women who blog, I want to sort my experiences into three categories: things That Exceeded My Expectations, things That met my Expectations, and things That Underwhelmed Me. her går:
Things That Exceeded My Expectations
– Min holdning. I expected a lot more awkwardness from myself, and a lot more moments of self-doubt when I introduced myself to people. less ability to smile at strangers. Instead, I was friendly and generous with the hugs. Go me.
– Folket. I was a virgin to consummating online friendships and I made an effort to attach faces (and bodies) to some of the names I know from blogging and tweeting. I have known Alma and Lisa by means of email and blogs for three years; meeting them in person was my a lot of spectacular highlight. I am still smiling when I think about the time spent with each of them. And, I loved connecting with the chicks from Today’s Mama, Mayberry Mom, Amelia Sprout, BostonMamas’ Christine, Marie from Make and Takes, BabyCheapskate Angie, and mucho more. I certainly will gush a lot more about these if you ask me in person.
– awareness of our blog and book. I anticipated meeting fewer people who are familiar with Les Rookie Moms. Debbie from Mamanista was especially generous with sharing how our book inspired her, and Amy said that when people ask her “What do I DO on maternity leave?” she always says, “Read this book.” SÅ BRA!
– The method Party. I have been working part-time in the method office in San Francisco with their brand communication team. We thought of a small cocktail party at BlogHer that would allow some people against dirty to meet Rachel and Anna from method in a low-pressure drop-by suite setting. I was thrilled with the action and the party. bloggers heart method. Visste du dette?
– The Swag. There’s no question that seeding product with bloggers is likely to spread word of mouth for that product. We have big mouths and like to use them to influence others. The number of companies who jumped on the opportunity to get their products in our fast-typing little hands was astounding. And, specifically, the team behind the Social Luxe party set up a mind-blowing collection of goodies for us to take home. If you’re not jealous, you must be.
– The Sheraton. very fast elevators, very comfortable bed linens, and a very generous water flow in the shower.
– real conversations with real people. I tend to judge whether or not I can be pals with someone based on how much make-up and hair product they are wearing (Very little is the acceptable amount), so I was attracted to some amazing chicks from Portland, Gina and Katherine. Danielle was the cutest pregnant person serving cheeseburgers. Tracey Clarke is like an old BlogHer pal at this point. I hung with Mike, sharing water and not dancing together at a party. Wild times. Susan Wagner shared her current work/life situation with us at a cocktail party and then later, at the airport debriefed on the whole conference. An unexpected pleasure at 7.30 am on a Sunday morning.
Things That met My Expectations
– My packing job. I had enough clothes, shoes, and accessories to wear each day, and not too lots of that I felt silly for over packing. I will award myself a travel merit badge because I haven’t accomplished this delicate balance too lots of times.
– The conference keynotes. terrific job with the jumbotrons, BlogHer, because we could really see the readers in the community keynote, which was a treat. The content was pretty good throughout. The community keynote featured inspiring writing, but frankly it went on too long. I think fifteen contributors would have been nice.
– a lot of of the panel sessions. I would like to see the bar raised higher for the both the panelists and moderators. several were not as prepared or professional as I expect them to be. I’ll echo Susan’s request that the moderator works harder to control the content and not let the talkative audience derail the subject at hand. I also want to voice Lynn’s idea that greater emphasis on writing would be a good direction for BlogHer. Ironic, isn’t it, that there is a session on search Engine Optimization, but not on What Makes a good blog Post? There is a session on brands and Bloggers, but not on good blogger Etiquette: Appreciating Your Readers.
– The shapewear. I wore a Yummie Tummie tank top, as an experiment. It was given to me by the creative girls collective in buy to allow me to be a brand ambassador for Yummie Tummie. (See, aren’t they clever?) This non-binding undergarment gave me a gentle squeeze around my torso that would have made my profile appear a tad slimmer than it really is had I been wearing a a lot more fitted top. The great thing is that the squeezy part goes down pretty low, holding in the loose skin my 82 weeks of (total) pregnancy has gifted me, and the very bottom of thiS tank top er t-skjorte materiale, så hvis jeg ville at den skulle se lag-y, hadde jeg det valget. (Hvis du er fascinert, la meg dele en rabattkode.)
Ting som overveldet meg
– Tim Gunns råd. Jeg hadde sjansen til å møte Tim Gunn, som jeg setter veldig pris på. Han var søt, akkurat som han dukker opp på TV. Da jeg ba ham om en idé til bloggen min om mote for mødre, spesifikt, “Hva må være en del av hver mors uniform?”, Erkjente han at mammaer trenger trøst og evnen til å være smidig. “OK, han får det til,” tenkte jeg, i håp om at han ville vende dette til en mote fremover innsikt, som leggings under en tunika eller kjole eller et svetteedraktalternativ som ikke vil mumle noen. “Vaskerbar,” sa han. “Alt må være vaskbart.” Um, ærlig talt? Det er uinspirerende. Gjett hvem som sponset utseendet hans? Jeg vil bare holde meg til topp ti -listen som referansepunktet mitt.
– Swag. Besettelsen av swag var litt for mye. På slutten av dag 2 ble jeg laget med å høre om det. Jeg sto i heisen med en gruppe unge bloggere, armer fulle av swag, og snakket om swag. Da jeg hørte på samtalen deres, ønsket jeg at den skulle stoppe. Det var en feriefamilie i heisen med oss. Jeg ble flau over den swagrelaterte samtalen som fant sted foran denne sjarmerende familien. Jeg spurte moren om hun trodde datteren hennes, omtrent fem år gammel, ville ha den rosa boaen jeg hadde på meg rundt nakken. Hun fortalte meg at datteren ville elske det. Jeg ga bort Boa og forlot heisen og prøvde å fjerne den skitne, skyldige følelsen fra kroppen min og distansere meg fra arrangementet.
-Min evne til å sove i. Selv om den to timers tidsforskjellen og mangelen på barneomsorgsoppgaver må ha oppmuntret meg til å sove til kl. Gjør regnestykket og spør deg selv hvorfor jeg ikke kunne sove forbi 05.30 på kroppens klokke. Jeg vet ikke, men dette var helt klart en savnet mulighet til å få litt søvn som ikke er mulig i huset mitt.
-Ragu-sponset lunsj. Hva kan jeg si? Jeg er både en matsnobb og en pakket merkevare-snobb, og Ragu er ikke i tråd med noen av disse urettferdige skjevhetene. Måtte hjertene og magen til de bloghers med mye mer demokratiske ganer blitt vunnet av de ekstra store porsjonene kyllingparmesan tilberedt med Ragu. Neste år, la det være Newmans egen, vær så snill.
Rettferdig eller urettferdig, dette er min anmeldelse av Blogher 09. Og nå for bildene>