The act of blogging is so solitary. As I type these words, for instance, I’m in a San Diego hotel room wearing head full of unflattering grandma curlers and have but a mute water bottle for company.
So you’d think, perhaps, a conference populated by 3, 600 female bloggers might be a bit overwhelming and/or intimidating. But au contraire, my friends. I’m finding the annual BlogHer conference to be a hotbed of inspiration. It’s so refreshing to meet creative women who have taken that online leap to express themselves.
Unlike your average corporate conference, babies are welcome at BlogHer. I’ve seen tons of mini humans – some outside the womb, others on the brink of making their debut. There’s a dedicated lactation lounge on site. Given the number of heavily pregnant women, perhaps next year they ought to consider an additional room? I can see it now: Birthing Centre, Sponsored by Heinz.
I’ve attended sessions on wellness for bloggers, peer networking, great blog design and pitching a book based on your blog. I’ll be distilling a few tips I learned in those sessions on this blog within the next few days, in case you’re interested.
To help us meet like-minded bloggers at lunch, they had categorized sign up sheets. Looking at these sheets, you really got a feel for how many different types of bloggers are out there: military bloggers, adoption bloggers, healthy bloggers, fashion bloggers, pet bloggers, craft bloggers, blog bloggers, etc. The most popular genre by far was motherhood blogging. I almost considered putting a photo of an iStock baby in my wallet, just so I’d fit in…
One thing I’m finding kind of amusing is how, even in the blogging world, there are celebrities. It really is human nature to deify others. Here I am with the I Can Has Cheezburger crew, which Billy and I referenced in one of our Ed and Jenny animated videos:
Blogging has gained a lot more credibility in the last few years, and according to one of the speakers at BlogHer, 80% of our cumulative readership has made a purchase based on a recommendation from a blog (have you?). Hence, companies are courting bloggers like crazy. It’s great to see independent websites being taken seriously!
On the flip side of the coin, bloggers are doing their best to market themselves to the max: Annie and Amber here aren’t being vague about their websites.
Because the in-conference shots are a beyond bland, I’m just showing you the sexiest stuff.
And I do mean sexy.
Tomorrow: I profile a few awesome bloggers I met in San Diego!
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m only sorry I missed the curlers.
It was great meeting you!
I have yet to muster the confidence to step out in public in curlers. But it will come…
Great meeting you, too, Kristin! Bookmarked your blog.