I have to admit I was leery about going to BlogHer. Why? I heard rumors about accusations, squeeing, drama about getting STUFF, wild parties - was there any learning going on? and perceived snubs that went on at past BlogHers. (This one wasn’t any different.)
Oh and because I’m not a mommy blogger. Even though I’m The World’s Most Fabulous Aunt (I’m thinking about trademarking this) since I don’t have Mommy or anything related to children in my blog title, people don’t know what to do with me. I heard of bloggers who don’t blog about their families or children (even if they are moms) being snubbed because this or that event or sponsor is “only for mommy bloggers.” Fortunately this never, ever, ever happened to me.
The same goes for the enviros. Since I don’t have green, crunchy, eco or such in the title of my blog the cool kids don’t find me or read me. Or maybe they do find me and don’t like me because while I give green living, and money saving and DIY tips I also blog about the audacity of garden yetis. Not because they are big hunks of plastic resin that have a negative impact on the environment but because it’s a 2 foot tall Sasquatch as décor in your freaking garden. It must be mocked. I’m just the gal to do it.
So since I put these marketing obstacles in place I felt that I should go to BlogHer and learn how to promote Condo Blues in a world where if you don’t have the right keywords in your blog title you are largely ignored. I also considered test marketing a rebranded blog title Condo Blues Mommy Green Metatag Metatag but after giving out so many Condo Blues business cards I decided against it. Until I get home from Chicago and Husband casually suggests the new blog title Condo Blues and Greens. Great name! What do you think?
OK, moving on to the touchy feely. This is why I really went to BlogHer
I helped make BlogHer less wasteful by being on the BlogHer Green Team. We offered suggestions about reducing waste, for doling out useful/more eco swag (it did happen. It wasn’t all about the drama), and even participated in a conference call with Pepsi one of the major sponsors about what they planned to do at the conference. I’ll blog more on that later.
One of the greatest things I took back from me is what Elisa from BlogHer said to me in the lobby right before I went home. She thanked me for being on the Green Team. I tried to apologize for some of the team's rather, ahem, intense discussions regarding a few things that transpired right before the conference. She wouldn’t let me. She told me that I did my job. The team challenged and pushed BlogHer and the sponsors to be more environmentally friendly. She said magic words, “You made a difference.”
Me?
I made a difference? Big corporations listened to me? As an expert? In a nonprofessional setting?
I have a voice.
I made a difference.
Wow.
You don’t get that feeling of pride and empowerment from a free camera people.
And this:
Top Row, LtoR - Lynn of Organic Mania; Micaela of Mindful Momma. Bottom Row, L to R: Maryanne of Not Quite Crunchy Parent; Me! Lisa of Condo Blues; Beth of Fake Plastic Fish and Diane of Big Green Purse. Missing: Sommer of Green and Clean Mom and Jennifer of The Smart Mama.
I met some of my fellow bloggers of the Green Moms Carnival up close and in person. We became fast real life friends when I saw them in the lobby Thursday evening. There were hugs and squeeing (in my head) when I saw them.
This too.
I was so surprised to see that she was the live blogger and I was the mic handler for the Blogging Identities and YOU session. It was a great session. It was fun working together.
So yeah, those sponsorships are nice to have as in I am very, very grateful for the opportunity. I don’t think sponsorships are an entitlement because I’m an optionated dork with a high speed internet connection (most people call them bloggers.) I tried to do right by Chevrolet since they gave me that opportunity out of the goodness of their own heart. Which means I didn’t crash the car they let us drive.
Volunteering as a mic handler meant that BlogHer paid my conference fee. I did not get any extra anything for volunteering to serve on the BlogHer Green Team but I’d do it again in a heart beat because I made a difference.
BlogHer selected me to fill one of the few volunteer spots out of the 150 people who applied. I wanted to do good by them too. I literally ran around meeting rooms making sure that participants could be heard and recorded while not interrupting the flow of the discussion in my assigned sessions because I wanted to be deserving of the conference fee scholarship BlogHer awarded me. Thank you BlogHer for the opportunity to go to some great sessions I may not have otherwise, those were my favorites.
Also thanks to my BlogHerShip, I didn’t have to get up early to run the BlogHer 5K and I still got my cardio workout in!
However this drama, I could do without
There’s a lot I could say and will say about SwagGate. Most of it comes down to parties allowing more RSVPs than they had room or gifty things for the attendees. Once word got out quickly via Twitter, a few feral attendees felt the need to get there super early, swoop in grab THE STUFF and leave. The majority of us were there for fun, networking, and some wacky behavior.
My next post about BlogHer I will tell you about the fun stuff. Like how I partied with Mrs. Potato Head (she’s a wild woman!) and had an in depth discussion about the comedic potential of the word “Hobo” with none other than The Bloggess.
Forming relationships, making a difference, and partying with a giant potato. That’s why I went to BlogHer ’09.
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17 comments:
I agree. It was what you made out of it. Awesome meeting you.
I do like the Condo Blues and Green thing!!!
Great recap of the conference. I was following a lot of the tweets during the event, it seemed like an interesting place to be. Thanks!
oh yeah, I also like the Condo Blues and Green idea!
Looks like you had a good time... that's what is important. I needd to go to blogher one of these years... Even though I am a bloghim, My friend BusyDad goes and has a great time. I think it would be fun to meet all my blogger friends.
PS as far as the condo blues and green- great, but I think it should be Blitzkreig's Blog
It was nice meeting you. I just added the people I met at BlogHer into my Twitter stream...and here I am.
My biz card's in the middle-ish.
Angry Julie Monday - it was great meeting you too!
wind2power - thanks!
Robj98168 - you should go next year! I met a lot of BlogHims I'm going to add to my feed reader. I thought about changing the name of the blog to Blitzkrieg's blog. I almost made a tshirt to wear at the conference with his picture on it saying "Blitzkrieg's Mom" so people would recognize me. I kept saying over and over at the conference "my dog is more popular on my blog than I am!"
I honestly want to know more about the green initiatives you pushed at Blogher. I just wrote about this on my own blog last night.
I realize there must have been some initiatives in place, but because I'm me, I of course wanted even MORE. Again, that's because I'm me.
Still, I really and truly would loev to chat with you about what exactly was done or at least attempted and perhaps what kinds of initiatives might be planned for BLOGHER10?
I'm all for helping if I can because I'm nothing if not an activist for the planet. And I'm also one of those Blogher attendees that is not a mommy blogger, but who is very passionate about blogging.
I'm sorry I didn't meet you while I was there. Perhaps at Blogher10?
Thanks for this post.
1) Please shoot me if I ever squee.
2) I have the same Google issue with my blog name. Fake Plastic Fish doesn't sound very eco. So I changed the title in my HTML header to Fake Plastic Fish: Living Life with Less Plastic. And I added a crapload of keywords in my header too. I think it's helping. But I wish I'd known about Google and SEO stuff when I first created my blog.
3) I hate you for trying to appologize to Elisa.
4) I love you for being you and wanting to make nice with everyone.
5) To nakedjen -- holu moly, this conference was different from what the Green Team envisioned but inroads were made. For example, last year we had boxed lunches. Think of all the waste from those containers. This year, the lunches were on durable plates with reusable utensils, glasses, napkins, etc. Last year, there was bottled water distributed. This year, we convinced the major sponsor, Pepsi, to leave the bottled water. We didn't realize the water stations would have plastic cups. We also created a list of eco swag suggestions. Unfortunately, I don't think the many unofficial sponsors (and some of the official ones) looked at it. Don't know.
What I do know is that we did have an effect; we did make a difference; and next year we'll try to make it even better. But that will mean working to change the corporate culture of the conference, and I don't know how successful we will be.
You should volunteer for the Green Team for 2010!
Lisa,
Thanks for doing such a great job wrangling the mic in the green leadership session. I agree with you that it was great to meet so many contacts, but honestly, I found the whole staging of the conference extremely depressing. Aren't we supposed to have an alternative (i.e., better) vision for the future? Why bother blogging if we don't? I sure didn't feel like we saw anything but "same old, same old" at BlogHer09... Served lunch instead of boxed lunch isn't what I call social change. Anyway, it was great to meet you and I already look forward to seeing you again next year.
nakedjen - Most of the things we suggested were to cut down on waste, electric/whiteboards for sinage, using real dinnerware for meals, we gave suggestions for greener or at least useful swag, which is hard to tell but they say official sponsors took our suggestions. I got a couple of brochures printed on paper inbedded w/ seeds but I think most of them tried to go the "useful" and won't be tossed route (flash drives & tote bags) but it's really hard to know what those chagnes were. Our major change was that the conference went with the water coolers in each meeting room and each attendee was given a reusable water bottle in their swag bag. The Green Team had a conference call with Pepsi and expressed our concerns about them bringing plain bottled water to Blogher since we had a more environmentally friendly option. Pepsi decided not to bring their bottle water to Blogher which is something given that Pepsi just redesigned the bottle to use didn't bring bottles of plain water to the conference after a conference call with Pepsi. Although with so much other trash from the snacks and papers and whatnot clearly work needs to be done in that area. Fortunately BlogHer recognizes this. You should volunteer for the Blogher green team!! I'm sorry I missed your escalator ride.
Beth -
1. I don't squee out loud. Just in my head. Along with all of the other random voices in there.
2. Nothing to say here other than it's #2.
3. I hate you for giving a migraine over water in plastic bottles and recognizing plastic everywhere I go - gahhh! :)
4. I love you for being real and goofy and smart. I really do wish we lived closer.
Diane - I wasn't at BogHer09 so I don't have anything to compare this year to, although my roommate is a BlogHer vetern and she was very upset about a lot that went on. Yes the problem about there being so much extra STUFF around the conference is depressing but a lot of the non enviros were not happy with this either and are calling for a change for BlogHer10. That's progress. Yes, I'm trying to put a positive spin on it but that's just so my head won't explode over it.
Listening to you on the green panel was inspiring.
It sounds like you certainly made a difference :) It's so cool that someone told you that, in person, face to face.
I don't fit into any category either - not a mom, not green, not a politico, decorator...hmmm, where do I fit in? I thought I was The World’s Most Fabulous Aunt, so we'll have to chat about that!
I'm going next year. There's no question in my mind. Maybe I'll have a niche by then...or maybe I'll just be me.
Kirby3131 - That's the beauty of the conference and something I wish more people would write about. It's nice to have a niche, but you don't really need one to go. In fact there was even a session about what to do to get your voice heard when your blog doesn't fit into a nice neat category. And most of the bloggers there just don't care if you fit into their niche and will talk to you and learn from you. For example, I stopped by the Lesbian and Queer table at one of the birds of a feather lunches to ask them if any of them listened to my friends GLBT podcast. They sadly said no and asked me to join them. I said that I didn't sign up for their table and oh, BTW, I'm straight so I don't think I'd have anything to bring to the table so to speak when it came to blogging in their niche. They looked at me like I was crazy (A LOT of people looked at me like I was crazy during the conference because I am) and said to join them anyway. No big whoopystinks.
I hope you go. BlogHer10 is going to be in New York City! I'm not sure if I'm going to not. I'm still processing everything that happened.
So delighted to tumble onto your blog. I too am a great aunt (make that, actually a "great aunt" as my nephew and his wife just had their first child). The photo of your condo looks just like the outside of our townhouse. I'm not as green as you, but I am jealous that you went to BlogHer. I tried to go but was too late to get in. I live near Chicago so I too wanted to network. Lucky you!
Snort. So you're saying that a blog named "Green Mommy" would hit all the right niches?
Nice.
I'm sorry I didn't get to meet you -- you sound like my kind of friend!
OK, first of all, you are the first person I've read that called it SwagGate - I love it!
Second of all, I think Condo Blues and Greens is a FAB-YOO-LUSS name - quick! Trademark that baby!
And Third, it was very nice meeting you and getting your very cool business card into my hot little hands so I could come here and tell you how nice it was to meet you and get your cool business card into my hot little hands.
- Margaret
We can see our card in there so we totally feel special. It was nice to meet you! We agree about the coolness of the Hope & Change session, and about the experience of people not knowing what to do with you if you're not a mommyblogger or in some other clear category.
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