BlogHer Conference: Not Just for Mommy Bloggers

I am a participant in the Amazon Affiliate program and other affiliate programs. This post may contain affiliate links which earn me a few dollars to help maintain the cost of running this blog. See my disclosure page for more info. 

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email

I recently discovered that BlogHer in the media is labeled as the biggest mom-blogger conference in the country.

This is news to me. As a second-year attendee, with no children to speak of, it really bothers me.

BlogHer is an all-encompassing conference for people who blog. Men. Women. Parents. Writers. Humorists. Storytellers. Young. Old. Gay. Straight. We are unified by our desire to write and to share our stories.

Sure the HER part of BlogHer makes it a conference comprised of mostly women, but men are welcome and WELCOMED.

So here’s my wrap-up. The good, the bad and the ugly. But I gained so much more immediately following this conference than what I thought I got out of BlogHer13.

I didn’t go for the speakers or the sessions…though Jenny Lawson was fabulous, some of the things Kerry Washington  had to say resonated with me, and I learned some valuable information about publication.

I didn’t go for the swag…though I was happy to add to my board game collection thanks to Chuck E Cheese, Skype blew it out of the park with branded stuff my co-workers may be a bit jealous of, and I’m pretty excited (Read: OMG had a freakout in the hallway with another ginger blogger) about trying out the new Keurig when it comes out.

I went for the people.

The writers, the women, the friends that I’ve made in the blogosphere and the people I met on our Californiadventure. I was lucky to have met a fantastic group of women from around the world before I even made it to BlogHer, so I went into the conference with a beautiful group of new friends. I got to hang out with Joules again and Jenny (my bestie’s adorable and wonderful SIL) and so many others that I met last year (I loved that so many of us kept bumping into each other)!

I met the AMAZING Lillian Connelly finally. She was my first fan that wasn’t obligated by friendship or blood to like me. And she was my first blog friend to really welcome me into this digital community. I also met a large group of women that I spend a lot time reading and interacting with on the Book of Face. We had dinner/snacks/drinks before the closing party and they were all ABSOLUTELY wonderful. And hysterical.

Selfie with Lily
Selfie with Lily

The brands, connections and companies that help me keep this blog running. Networking with businesses that fit with my brand of crazy and meeting writers and social media mavens who offer advice, experience and contacts was an unexpected highlight of my first conference and definitely something I found yet again. You never know who you’re going to sit next to at breakfast or run into at a party.

It was awesome to hang out with my hosting company, DreamHost. Because they. Are. Awesome.
It was awesome to hang out with my hosting company, DreamHost. Because they. Are. Awesome. (Shameless plug: if you use my affiliate code, QuirkyHost, you can save $10 on a one- or two-year contract.)

On tribes, cliques and cool kids

I am lucky enough to have several groups of blog friends. I am a part of groups and tribes. But I don’t think that any one group was the be all end all of this conference. I think they were all unbelievable and better in real life than ever I imagined. I bounced around as I tend to do, flitting from event to group hangout to solo time to a little one-on-one with my honey. And still I missed whole groups of people that I wanted to spend time with.

The best part, though, is that every group I sat down in, every person I talked to, every cool kid table I moseyed my way into was cool. I learned from veterans and educated newbies. Some saw me as a relative newbie while others looked to me for advice and acceptance. But as Aussa Lorens mentioned, there’s always that .8% of people who aren’t quite as awesome. My .8% happened to be a single person who reminded me of my grandmother-though not in a bad way at all-(her personality, the way she spoke, her love of sparkly things), assumed I was a plus-size fashion blogger before even making eye-contact with me or shaking my hand, and didn’t want to exchange business cards with anyone who wasn’t a fashion blogger. But she may have been nervous. Or annoyed at the session we were in. Or having a bad day. So I don’t fault her.

Every group seemed like the “cool kids”  and almost every time they welcomed me with open arms. It was lovely.

On the expo hall, sessions, food, and parties

While the expo hall was smaller this year than last, I felt as though I didn’t have enough time to navigate to all the places I wanted to. Sure, there wasn’t as much swag free-flowing, but I feel like I made better connections with brands that I really want to work with.

The sessions were MUCH longer than last year, and thus less to my liking. I would rather have more options, and less lengthy panels with a lot of information that isn’t relevant to me. The publishing session offered a lot of information, but I think it could have been broken down into separate sessions about the different ways to publish. I made it to the style session, but it didn’t really seem to be what I thought it was, so I bounced.

The conference food was okay. I didn’t starve this time. I’m REALLY glad I’m not gluten-free this year (though I have found I feel a little better when I avoid bread and potatoes) because everything was all the bread.

Yoga and wine. At the same time.
Yoga and wine. At the same time.

The parties that I did attend were great. Eppa and One2One threw a killer yoga and sangria party. Keurig fed me the most delicious breakfast complete with Kcup coffee from the new Keurig 2.0. I also attended a beautiful and powerful panel discussing late-stage breast cancer. I tried to get into the suite parties, but they were SO crowded that I just. couldn’t. do it. Plus Brian was with me (and actually up for partying) so I couldn’t not find a less-crowded spot to hang. We met up with the lovely Joules from Pocketful of Joules and a few other ladies for karaoke and Twisted Shotz. All. The. Shotz.

Don’t worry. I’ll share the karaoke video at some point.

I was a little disappointed in the lack of a swag drop/exchange on Saturday night/Sunday when I was packing up my swag and found a few items that weren’t super relevant to me. I had no place to drop them off to be donated or snagged by someone who WOULD use them. Bummer.

On candy in a pill bottle

One of the brands at BlogHer was giving out swag with Red Hots inside of a prescription bottle with a label designed to make adults laugh. I was unlucky enough to miss this before they shut down the “drug ring.” Because this brand was a company that produces baby products, the media blew up with the mom-blogger conference sponsor that did a bad thing.

While I don’t have children (thus likely discounting my opinion, apparently), I don’t think the company made a huge mistake. First, no one complained last year when a pharmacy gave out all the drugs. Actual drugs. Because those were for grown ups. I’m pretty sure the Red Hots were for grown ups too. The swag here isn’t all for toddlers to play with.

Second, when I was about 8 or 9, I used to play with candies (usually Pez) as “pills” in used prescription bottles, while smoking my gum and powdered sugar cigarettes and swiping Mom’s expired credit cards to purchase used lotto tickets while playing bartender. Granted, I was old enough to know the difference between play and real. Maybe you think poorly of me. Or my parents. But I turned out to be a successful, smart, independent woman who never ODed on pills, picked up a smoking habit or gambled my way into Gamblers’ Anonymous.

In the same token, I don’t think poorly of the parents who disliked the swag. That’s their prerogative.

But in the end, I was a little sad I didn’t get a bottle of laughter medicine.

Thankfully, I surrounded myself with BlogHers who made me laugh.

Did you go to BlogHer? Have you been to BlogHer? Would you go to BlogHer next year? Have you been to a conference similar to this? What experiences did/would you hope to have at a conference of this magnitude?

Follow Me and You'll See...

23 Responses

    1. It was a pretty great time to be among bloggers. You should go next year, my friend. Guy bloggers are welcome! (Heck, guys are welcome. Brian was brought into the groups easily.)

  1. Pondering a conference next summer, but wanting to find one that doesn’t make my male co-blogger feel like a complete anomaly. How many men are there really at BlogHer? One in 100? One in 1,000? Just how rare is that Y chromosome? And are there any blogging conferences where the men are not as rare as unicorns?

    1. So, there were not a ton of male bloggers there, but I guess you have to think about the number of male bloggers to the number of female bloggers out there. The men weren’t unicorns, but they were more likely to be found in the expo hall, at parties and in meals than in a lot of the sessions (from what I saw).

  2. That is interesting about the conference being labeled a mommy blogger conference. I don’t even know if I actually met a mommy blogger. Nobody talked about their kids. I think for a lot of moms it was a chance to just be people and not have to be moms. I wonder if that is true about the conference or just the way the media portrays it. Sometimes I think they say “mommy blogger” to kind of minimize it, but who knows. It does seem unfair since there are all kinds of blogs represented…I met two people who exclusively blog about women’s gynecological health. What are the chances of that happening? Looking through the business cards I have I encountered mostly foodie bloggers. I guess that’s because I like to eat and people who cook are super nice. Somehow, I don’t think the mommy blogger label fits BlogHer well at all.

    I am sad I didn’t get any redhots because I love them.

    P.S. I am so glad I got to meet you.

    1. “I guess that’s because I like to eat and people who cook are super nice.”

      Hahaha! Yes! That.

      Yeah, I thought it was bizarre too. If I met “mom bloggers” it also didn’t show. They were just women who wanted to chat and make new connections and friends. And eat food.

      And drink wine.

  3. Ugh, I’m so OVER the mommy blogger label. I’m a mom. I’m a blogger. I don’t blog about baby shit… so I don’t consider myself a mommy blogger.

    It was so great hanging out with you again and Brian is a total sweetheart. Tell him sorry if he felt over-hugged by me!

    xoxo, Joules

  4. I loved this review of Blogeher Chrissy! I think your perspective is so refreshing in that you don’t judge anyone for their offenses… something very rare these days!

    Thanks for your recap- as I soooo wish I could have made it! I’m so glad you had such a tremendous time!! It sounds amazing…

    And I too, don’t consider myself a mommy blogger. I actually dislike that name very much. BUT- I know and appreciate those that do like it. 🙂

    1. Thank you! I think it’s important to show perspective without being judgey!

      I think we should all just consider ourselves to be what we think we are and not let the media or anyone else put us into little boxes. Unless we want them!

  5. I have read so many awesome stories about the BlogHer conference. I haven’t been but I am definitely putting it on my list of “to-do’s!” I’m so happy you had a great time and got to meet so many other amazing bloggers just like yourself. Yay you Chrissy!

    1. Thanks! People were giving me side glances as I did it, because I wasn’t as bendy as the people in Eppa-logo’d yoga gear who were paid to be there, but it was fun!

  6. Well, as you know, I did go and will definitely go again. When it comes to the swag I didn’t want, I actually left mine in the hotel room, hoping that the people who clean the rooms would want it, or that somebody who works at the hotel would. I also may have been tipsy while packing. So glad I got to meet you and the publishing session was my favorite too.

Leave a Reply to The Regular Guy NYC Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *