Woah mamas! What a rush the last four days have been! I’m on a plane now and on my way home from my first BlogHer. Many more detailed BlogHer posts to come but for now I thought I’d do a quick re-cap on my newbie BlogHer observations.
- Prepare to be exhausted! I had no idea…
- When you see people suggest you wear comfortable shoes, they aren’t kidding. (I have the blisters to prove it)
- It’s really not that fancy. I stressed to no end over what I would wear and was pleasantly surprised to find most of the women were dressed really casual, even at the parties. Jeans and a comfy shirt, flats or flip flops and you’re good to go. Just be yourself!
- Socializing is hard work! For someone who is social day in and day out online, there’s absolutely no comparison to socializing in real life, face-to-face. It was hard, not everyone is cut out for that aspect of the trip.
- Swag! Yes, there was free stuff. I have a whole suitcase full and that was with very minimal effort and no special swag parties. I can not imagine the amount that some must have had to take home and the cost to ship it.
- Get to know your audience and fans BEFORE you go! I felt bad that I wasn’t able to recognize so many people and associate their names with their faces or their blogs with their twitter handles. I wish I’d done my homework a little more so that I wouldn’t have felt like such a dweeb when it came to meeting people and realizing that I had absolutely no clue who anyone was…
- Food! Although the cost of the trip can be overwhelming, the free food; breakfast, lunch dinner, snacks, beverages and alcohol was free! That really does save you a ton when it comes to budgeting for your trip.
- Roommates! One is good, you’ll have a buddy. More than that and I think you’d be sorry. Because the trip is so exhausting it is nice to have a quiet room to go back to and unwind, the more roommates you have the less time you’ll have for sleeping and R & R.
- Private Parties? I found out when I was there that the private parties were set up in advance and invites/rsvp’s were obtained prior to the event. Look for tweets about various private events if you’re interested and then email people for details. Looked to me like there would be a lot of work involved in scoping them all out. May not be worth it to everyone. I don’t feel like I missed anything important by not attending any.
- Have fun and don’t be afraid to go it alone! The women attending BlogHer are super friendly and there are a ton of people to talk to and a lot of people who are also going solo. You won’t have a problem walking up and making conversation and if you don’t someone is sure to approach you.
Well that’s my quick take on suggestions for newbies based upon what I just experienced. BlogHer’12 will be in New York City next year so start planning now if this is something you think you’d like to attend. Make it happen just like I did!
Julie
Sounds like you had fun!
I can sooo sympathize with the blisters after a conference…