Despite being almost three days later I’m still really struggling to process all my thoughts and feelings about BlogHer. I had a good time, but if I’m honest I was both underwhelmed and overwhelmed by the conference and I don’t feel like I’ve come away necessarily any clearer or incredibly wiser than I was before.
In an attempt to break it down lets try this…
THE GOOD:
The Women:
I don’t think that as an adult I have ever been in a room with so many kind, helpful, funny, charming, beautiful (seriously – bloggers are P-R-E-T-T-Y as hell!) and clever women at one time. I’ve read in other recaps that some people were snubbed but that never happened to me and I never saw it happen. I’m not saying it didn’t, I’m just saying that wasn’t everyone’s experience. I met some of the so-called “A-List” and they were all friendly and charming and even better in real life (even the ones I had know idea were “kinda-a-big-deal”). I mean seriously can you tell we just met 48 hours ago:
The fabulous Brit invasion of @cosmicgirlie & @mummytips
The Community:
I definitely felt like I was a part of an incredible community which is being seen more and more clearly by the world. Hearing how blogging is breaking down barriers and taboos as well as empowering women around the world made me so proud to be a humble blogger. My main takeaway on community is that we need to work as a collective group to ensure we’re not being taken advantage of or duped by people who want to use our voices for their profit. We all need to understand and own the power of our voice – and then we need to make sure its used for good (not eeeevil mwhahahahahahah).
The Photo:
About two weeks before BlogHer I saw a tweet referring to a “Faces of Post Partum Depression” photo to be taken at the event. I immediately email (the incredible) Katherine Stone and she was happy to include me. I can’t tell you the effect seeing these other beautiful women has had on me. I was fighting back the tears (and I’m crying as I type this) the entire time we were together for the photo. This was actually one of the highlights of the conference for me. I’m nowhere near over my PPD (in fact I’ve had a couple of setback which I’ll save for another post) but seeing these beautiful, strong, intelligent women who have made it through to the other side has given me so much hope that I won’t feel the darkness forever. The photo’s below and there is a video for any of you who need a bit more inspiration getting through PPD!
Tara:
Tara and I had never met despite being friends for over a year; we’ve blogged, commented, emailed and skyped but never met in person, until now. She is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful (inside and out) and classy women I know. She had unending patience with Little Miss (and me) and our Saturday night was hilarious (see below), insightful and just plain fun. She has an incredible mind and I’m honoured to be her friend.
Tutus For Tanner:
I have to say that getting up at 5:30 in the morning to go and run 5k may not sound like a fun and hilarious thing to do but I can assure you that it is. I had a BLAST at the run and Little Miss was a hit in her little tutu. Here’s Tara, Little Miss & I getting our tutu on:
I ended up running in a group that included Tara, Kristin, The New Girl & Laura which was AWESOME. I didn’t recognize The New Girl when we were all getting ready to head out but she chatted to me about Little Miss and when she introduced herself I had one of those patented BlogHer SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! moments. I’ve read her blog since the first day I started reading blogs and I really wanted to meet her in that friendly blog stalker way, so for it to happen so naturally was awesome. (And she was even cooler and funnier than she is on her blog and such a sweetie!)
Somehow, along the way, we ended up getting lost (in Central park – go figure) and ended up running (ahem, walking) 5 MILES instead of 5km – ooops! Here’s a pic we had taken when we finally got back to the hotel:
So those are the bestest parts for me and I’ll be along shortly with part 2! What about you? What were your best bits of BlogHer?
xoxo
Twitter: baybesbreath
I didn’t get to go to BlogHer but I LOVED seeing these pictures! Thanks for posting them. Can’t wait to read part 2!
brown-eyed-girl´s last [type] ..Car Seats!
My goodness – in that tutu picture Little Miss is your CLONE!!!
Love the tutus! You and Little Miss are looking adorable
Without even reading your Part 2, I’m guessing you had the same kind of experience I had at BlogHer last year. Meeting the women behind the blogs was the best part, and I enjoyed the overall messages from some of the keynote speakers. But on a smaller level, the individual sessions did nothing for me. They either were too basic or too far away from my reasons for blogging to speak to me. And as much as I enjoyed receiving the swag, I hated myself for taking it later.
Anyway, that said, I’m glad you did get to enjoy the people!
The Modern Gal´s last [type] ..I wish I could bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles
Twitter: The_EmilyB
Sounds like exactly the same experience – although I said no to a lot of swag so I’m happy with the few pieces I took away (ummmm who could say not to Mr Potato Head?)
While I was there I heard that the conference only has a 40% rate of returning bloggers which I think is really telling!
Twitter: heirtoblair
I had such a wonderful time meeting you!!
Blair@HeirtoBlair´s last [type] ..What we do matters
Twitter: Hip2housewife
There is no way we were at the same event! You were inspired and encouraged…and I was just exhausted. Well, i was very inspired by those international bloggers, but otherwise – I felt like I was at a swag fest. Next time, I’m hanging with you!
I think the conference is almost too big to REALLY connect with a lot of folks. I missed a pile of people that I had wanted to see just because there was no way we were going to run into each other. Look how hard it was for us to meet. There was no bumping into each other in the lobby.
The sessions were ok – but really they were much the same as the sessions at Northern Voice which is a lot less expensive.
I enjoyed meeting the few bloggers that I really wanted to meet. I loved meeting the MamaPop writers and Sparklecorn was a blast. Although it wasn’t the best time of my life, I’ll still go back next year…although I admit to wondering if I should just pay for a party pass…:)
Marilyn (A Lot of Loves)´s last [type] ..Wherein I Admit I Have a Problem