BlogHer Con 07 – Sessions and Speakers

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.