August 2007

Remember when I said I didn’t really attend many sessions while at BlogHer Con 07? You’re probably wondering what I did instead. I didn’t sightsee and I didn’t go back to the hotel for a nap. I also didn’t skip out and shop or bar hop. I talked and talked and talked to all sorts of people, and that was cool.

In no particular order…

I had a great chat with Virginia about how we got to where we are not. I loved her story, it was a lot more interesting than mine. Heh.

Pam Sellers of CNN was fabulous to meet in person and talk to about CNN and blogging and community and life in general.

The Yahoo sponsored Cafe lured me in, as you might expect, and I found myself sitting there with Michelle. She struggled with a new blog template that wouldn’t behave, I worked on a spam issue at BlogHer and chatted with anyone who happened to wander in. It was a really fantastic space to just sit in a relatively quiet room and work or talk or just relax together. (And I did buy two books and have them signed – one for The Heir to the Throne, y’all know I love Woolgathering! and I hope Riley will love her children’s book, Think Cool Thoughts as much as I do. One for Michelle, Wreck this Journal and I’d have bought a second one for RJ but she sold out, which is fabulous.)

I talked to one of my co-editors in crime err health, Catherine Morgan, for quite a long while leading up to a chat with Gloria Pan and Kim Gandy (President of NOW) and the always fabulous Liza Sabater (at Culture Kitchen) joined us mid-way through our chat. We probably could have sat there for hours on end, talking about women and feminism and online community and NOW. Brilliant women, each and every one of them. (And my mother was pretty impressed that I got to hang out with Kim Gandy – she was also annoyed that I didn’t get her autograph. Heh.)

I found myself standing in the hallway, out on the roof, or in the beer garden chatting with whoever happened to be wandering by. I didn’t attend as many sessions as I would have liked but I gained a lot from those conversations and there were dozens upon dozens more that I would like to have had. Next year!

During the conference, people would come up to me and ask if I was enjoying myself. I also got email and instant messages and message board posts asking me how the conference was going. Post-conference people asked those same questions. I’ve had a hard time answering and I wasn’t sure why.

I thought it was working the BOF registration table that threw me off. I really enjoyed working the table and saying hello to everyone coming in and playing with all of the different “niche” group lists and Susan and Elana are fabulous to hang around with but… I missed the opening keynote. I was constantly moving and working and didn’t get a break until I’m not even sure when… I had a hard time getting settled into things. But now, as I sit down to write my recap of sessions and speakers, I realize what the problem really was.

I didn’t actually attend BlogHer Con. Over the course of two days, I only attended four panels. I live blogged two of them, which means I participated differently than if I had not been live blogging. I sat in on another panel that I really wouldn’t have sat in on just because I wanted to give morale support to Michelle who really did want to attend. And the fourth I sat in on because it was the least crowded room on the third floor and I was exhausted.

There you have it. This is why I’ve struggled with how to respond.

I enjoyed every single session I attended. Of the four, there wasn’t a bad speaker or a boring session in the bunch.

• Life Stages of Online Communities was really interesting. Listening to women in various stages of online community talk about how they got to where they are, why they made decisions they made and what they’ve learned in the process was excellent.
• Technical Tools to Build Traffic was all you’d expect with Elise and Vanessa leading the way. (This is the one I sat in on for Michelle. I sat in on Elise’s panel last year, have her posts bookmarked and refer them to people almost everyday.)
• Blogging is More Than Words is the panel is slipped into because it wasn’t crowded and it was close by. This isn’t a panel I’d have chosen normally because while the subject is interesting and the panelists all fabulous artists, this just isn’t the direction I’m heading in on my personal blogs. I did however have a lightbulb moment or two when listening to Tracy talk about “Shutter Sisters” and Shuna talk about “class”. This just goes to show you that even if you slip into a session at BlogHer that you wouldn’t normally have thought about attending, you’re still going to walk away with something you can use.
• On day two, I live blogged Women Across the World and walked out of there with a ton of women power energy. The panelists, every single one of them, were smart and inspiring. They were interesting and left us all with a lot to think about.

And that was that.

OK there was the BOF lunch which was amusing and fun once I found the table full of lesbians (and a poly or two). Last year I looked high and low for Nina Smith and never found here. This year I chatted quite a bit with her about the kids and their financial strategies, such that they are. We talked about where Queercents is going next, which was really interesting.

The Google breakfast was really the only disappointing moment of the conference for me (and for TW and Prince J). The Google folks just sat at their table, they didn’t talk – they didn’t encourage people to come and talk to them. They looked bored. Or maybe they were tired and hungover. Whatever, it was disappointing.

The artificial intelligence keynote was interesting. Esther Dyson is awesome.

And of course the closing with Elizabeth Edwards was interesting. Nothing surprising or unusual, just Edwards doing what she does very well.

So what did I do all day if I wasn’t attending sessions? I’ll tell you in the next post. Because I was doing some really cool stuff.

Yes I’m doing the easy BlogHer Con 07 posts first. I’m happy to report that so far I’ve seen very few anti-swag posts. No heternormative swag gripes. No negative body image swag gripes, though Anne Marie did blog a bit of anti-Curves ranting which is to be expected. (I have a love/hate relationship with Curves, myself.) She also mentions the Butterball potholders were ugly and I just have to say I don’t really care, I always need potholders so I was glad to have four more to toss into the drawer. I suppose I prefer Anne-Marie’s gripe over A Mommy Story’s complaint – I think that’s pushing it just a bit further than even the queer griping last year.

The flash drives from AOL were the favorites here, as expected. The zillion t-shirts were also popular particularly because we pack light and were not expecting two extra days of travel time. Having those extra t-shirts was a real boost to our spirits on Monday morning. I just wish we’d tucked a few into our carry on bags for the second unexpected delay that left us wearing “tired” clothing on Tuesday morning.

That laptop bag from AOL- awesome. I cannot tell you how many times we said “wow this bag makes it easy to get your laptop out and put it back in while going through airport security!” Really awesome, AOL – thank you. (Ummm I don’t think I’ve ever publicly or privately thanked AOL for anything. This is a real first for me.)

It was interesting to see Prince J’s enthusiasm over all of the freebies, not just the bag full of swag that was presented to everyone walking through the door but the fun stuff at the exhibitor tables and the even more fun stuff handed out randomly by bloggers. Who knew the boy would be interested in a tiny make-up bag? (He liked the pattern of the fabric, I don’t think he’s interested in actually carrying the bag around with him.)

I have to mention the Zappos dude. He wasn’t “officially” there but on Sunday during the un-conference he wandered in with a huge box of Zappos duffles. Again, this was a life saver. Even though we knew to pack light and bring suitcases larger than we needed so we could pack up the swag, we didn’t expect THAT much swag – Prince J actually attending the conference put us way over the top. Being able to toss a ton of stuff into that bag on Sunday was just awesome. Dude, I’m totally ordering some shoes from y’all this month so tell your boss that your visit paid off, ok?

OK fine, I’ll link to a post about the too much swag problem. Though I agree, we’re too wrapped up in “stuff” I think it’s probably pretty easy to donate your unwanted items to one charity or another. And I can probably link you to a few Second Life attendees who would be thrilled to receive your swag in the mail if you are so inclined. Stuff isn’t always bad, it’s what YOU choose to do with the stuff that counts. The folks who tossed their stuff in the trash – what exactly were you thinking? If you leave it loose, some homeless person or tourist wandering around the Navy Pier will pick it up. Really, they will. But yea, a place to specifically put swag so folks don’t actually have to think about what they’re doing would be good, I guess.