BLOGHER? I hardly know HER!

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. Ecco qui:

Things That Exceeded My Expectations
– My Attitude. 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.
– Persone. 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.” COSÌ CARINO!
– 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. conosci questo?
– 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 thiLa canotta è materiale a maglietta, quindi se volevo che sembrasse strato, avevo quella scelta. (Se sei incuriosito, permettimi di condividere un codice di sconto.)

Cose che mi hanno deluso
– Il consiglio di Tim Gunn. Ho avuto la possibilità di incontrare Tim Gunn, cosa che apprezzo molto. Era dolce, proprio come appare in TV. Quando gli ho chiesto un’idea per il mio blog sulla moda per le mamme, in particolare “Cosa deve far parte dell’uniforme di ogni mamma?”, Ha riconosciuto che le mamme hanno bisogno di conforto e la capacità di essere agili. “Ok, lo capisce”, ho pensato, sperando che lo trasformi in una visione della moda, come i leggings sotto una tunica o un vestito o un’alternativa al sudore che non metterà in imbarazzo nessuno. “Lavabile”, ha detto. “Tutto deve essere lavabile.” Um, francamente? Questo è poco interessante. Indovina chi ha sponsorizzato il suo aspetto? Resto solo con la sua lista dei primi dieci come punto di riferimento.
– Lo swag. L’ossessione per lo swag era un po ‘troppo. Alla fine del giorno 2, sono stato fatto con la notizia. Mi sono fermato in ascensore con un gruppo di giovani blogger, armi piene di swag, che parlavano di Swag. Mentre ascoltavo la loro conversazione, desideravo che si fermasse. C’era una famiglia vacante nell’ascensore con noi. Ero imbarazzato dalla conversazione legata allo swag che si svolgeva di fronte a questa affascinante famiglia. Ho chiesto alla madre se pensava che sua figlia, circa cinque anni, vorrebbe il boa rosa che indossavo al collo. Mi ha detto che sua figlia lo avrebbe adorato. Ho regalato il BOA e sono uscito dall’ascensore, cercando di rimuovere quella sensazione sporca e colpevole dal mio corpo e allontanarmi dall’evento.
-La mia capacità di dormire. Anche se la differenza di due ore e la mancanza di compiti di assistenza all’infanzia devono avermi incoraggiato a dormire fino alle 10 del mattino, ero sveglio alle 6 del mattino su tre su tre e sulle 7.30 un giorno. Fai la matematica e chiediti perché non sono stato in grado di dormire oltre le 5.30 sul cronometro del mio corpo. Non lo so, ma chiaramente questa è stata un’occasione persa per dormire un po ‘che non è possibile a casa mia.
-Pranzo sponsorizzato dal ragù. Cosa posso dire? Sono sia uno snob alimentare che uno snob di marca di bene confezionati e Ragu non è in linea con nessuno di questi pregiudizi ingiusti. Possano i cuori e le pance di quei blogaster con molti più palati democratici sono stati conquistati dalle porzioni extra grandi del parmigiano di pollo preparate con il ragu. L’anno prossimo, lascia che sia di Newman, per favore.

Fair o ingiusto, questa è la mia recensione di BlogHer 09. E ora per le immagini>