I can't believe it's been five years. Five BlogHer conventions means I've been blogging for over five years. I think I should stop counting. No one counts how many years they've been breathing.
Oh, wait. We do.
I was talking to a friend who really worked the conference this year. By that I mean, she met a lot of people, she gave out a lot of cards and such. I was proud of her. For years I went to BlogHer and met tons and tons of people. The first year, I didn't know anyone. Every year after, I knew more and more. It's superfun to meet new people, and it's how I have so many awesome blog friends now.
But it can be really intense, and I wanted to have a slightly more personal experience this year, at least in that way. Last year I tried skipping one session block, but that wasn't quite the right solution for me. I really like the sessions, so this year I went back to not skipping, and tried to primarily focus on sessions I felt would have the most take-away for me.
I went to (note: geek labs were shorter, two per time block):
Friday
- Business of You: Bloggers are Pioneers in a Post-"Employee" World
- Business of You: Brands and Bloggers
- Leadership: What is "Pro-Woman" in a Post-Palin World?
- The [Kick-Ass] Community Keynote
Saturday
- Keynote: Traditional Media Chops meet a New Media Calling
- Geek Lab: Stats for Words Nerds
- Geek Lab: Twitter Basics, How and Why?
- Geek Lab: Managing Your Twitterverse: The Latest, Hottest, Bestest Tools
- Geek Lab: Beginning SEO
- Room of Your Own: Blogging as Storytelling
- Keynote: Who We Will Become
It was that rare conference experience where everything I went to was really, really good. The keynotes blew me away, as usual. And I had a great mix of business, theory, and tech, with a dash of writing. It rocked.
Party-wise, I was determined not to over-do it this year. (So you could say I switched to skipping parties, and *that* was the solution!) Thursday night, I went to a Contributing Editor/Speaker/BlogHer Business reception, and then I popped into The People's Party late after dinner with a couple friends, just to try to try to run into some other friends and people I wanted to meet in person. Then I headed to the Room 704 Party early. It was crazy loud, so I tore outta there as soon as the raffle was over.
Friday, I spent about an hour at the official cocktail party before heading to a Nintendo Party I was invited to by Brand About Town. We took a horse-drawn carriage ride to dinner at the top of the Hancock Building. It was divine.
Saturday, I did something previously unheard of for me. I skipped the official closing party and went to dinner with some friends. Then after dinner I hit the BowlHer Party. This plan backfired a little bit because when I got to BowlHer, many of my party-hopper friends had left, but I was glad to find some friends still there to hang with and bowl with for a while.
Sunday morning, I was thrilled to find the Starbucks breakfast and get a chance to say goodbye to lots of my friends. Seriously, best morning after BlogHer EVER, and then I had lunch with wonderful peeps and went on a pilgrimage to the Threadless Store.
I went to exactly one suite, once: the Brand About Town Suite. I knew about a couple more, but limited that in an attempt to not be running around like a crazy person. Likewise, I made a couple sweeps of the (totally awesome) Exhibit Hall and found the swap meet on Sunday, but didn't stress out about seeing EVERYTHING and EVERYONE. Seriously, that's the secret. If you miss it or blow it, let it go. I totally blew the Birds of Feather lunches, and I felt bad, but I let it go. It's a conference; it's the name of the game.
I don't think it's really possible to go to a large conference and not feel like you're missing something. Choosing what sessions to go to is already really difficult. There's people I didn't see and some I wish I'd had more time to really talk to.
Back to the meeting new people thing, I did lunch with all new peeps both days, including the BlogHer International Activist Scholarship winners on Saturday (and didn't get a pic, sigh, letting it go), and that turned out to be a great time to mingle, as was breakfast and right before the evening keynotes both days. And of course, you meet the people sitting around you at sessions. I can't wait to go through all the cards I got!
And I got a lot of practical take-away this year that I'm really looking forward to implementing, I saw and hung out with a lot of friends, and I didn't feel completely burned out at the end of it. I ate real food, I didn't drink *too* much, and I got a fair amount of sleep on those fabulous Sheraton beds. So all in all, BlogHer 2009 was a smashing success for me. Someone asked me if it was the best one yet for me, and all things considered, I would have to say, yes.
Best. BlogHer. Ever.
My BlogHer 2009 pics are up on Flickr, and there's a great set of pics from the Nintendo Dinner, too.
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