If you’re curious to read posts from people who attended BlogHer 2009, like I was, go here and click thru a few links. Overall, most seemed to have a great time! But there were some negatives relating to greed over swag, irritation with the in-your-face marketing and sponsorships, and whether babies belong at the parties (or even the sessions.)
I was going to comment on some of the posts, and I suppose that’s the “right” way to do things, but hey, since when have I done things the “right” way?
So here are my very general responses:
Swag: I like swag, I’m not one of those people who turns up her nose at swag. Free stuff? Rocks! But- pushing, shoving, and anything outside of an orderly line, and I just don’t think free samples of Tide and a pair of Crocs are worth the insanity.
I kinda wonder what the swag situation will be like at Blog World Expo. I expect it will be closer to SXSW, which was practically swag free (clip-on Adobe sock thing? a camera bag too large for any of our tiny cameras? Some stickers?) I’m not complaining, I didn’t go for the free stuff, and I’m certainly not going to BWE for free stuff. Besides, geeks of the male variety, which will dominate BWE, aren’t the market for Tide. They have a rep for never doing laundry.
Sponsored bloggers: Again, I get it. I’d love to be sponsored for BWE (BIG HINT!) But not at the loss of my freedom to blog as I want. And not if I’m expected to start every conversation with “hey, have you heard about MY SPONSOR?” Ew.
I’ve done exactly one post about a product I was loaned for review. It was fun and I’d do it again, but this is my blog about my life. I was never interested in going down the review blog road, and have surely missed opportunities for loads of free crap. That’s me. If you love to review stuff you get free, awesome! But please tell us you got it free. Be transparent. Like the White House claims to be.
Babies: I was a stay at home mom for 18 years before I became a work at home mom. I’ve been through the child-centric years, when everything is about your kids. I nursed my kids in public places. And most relevant to this topic- I turned down lots of invitations and opportunities because the presence of my children was either inappropriate or too distracting. I never expected the world to accommodate me. I totally believe you can have it all- just not all at once! Let me make this clear tho- it appears that the VAST majority of women who brought their kids to BlogHer (which was explicitly child-welcoming) were not expecting to be able to bring their babies to all the parties, and were well aware of the limitations inherent with carting a child around (leaving a session to tend to crying child, missing meet ups due to an off-schedule nursing baby…) So I’m not ranting at these women at all- it’s just that I’ve witnessed enough mommy wars through my years of message boards and email lists to know opinions about mothering will never change, just the platform holding the soapboxes. So I don’t shut up about it anymore (I used to be a peace-maker type!)
One more thing- yes, the mommy-bloggers seem to have taken all the attention, and that’s probably because they’re well-organized, very vocal, and they’re who the marketers are looking for. But I’m sure at some point soon the conference will splinter in order to serve all. It will have to- imagine a BlogHim?
Reactions to reactions to BlogHer ’09 from one who wasn’t there
If you’re curious to read posts from people who attended BlogHer 2009, like I was, go here and click thru a few links. Overall, most seemed to have a great time! But there were some negatives relating to greed over swag, irritation with the in-your-face marketing and sponsorships, and whether babies belong at the parties (or even the sessions.)
I was going to comment on some of the posts, and I suppose that’s the “right” way to do things, but hey, since when have I done things the “right” way?
So here are my very general responses:
Swag: I like swag, I’m not one of those people who turns up her nose at swag. Free stuff? Rocks! But- pushing, shoving, and anything outside of an orderly line, and I just don’t think free samples of Tide and a pair of Crocs are worth the insanity.
I kinda wonder what the swag situation will be like at Blog World Expo. I expect it will be closer to SXSW, which was practically swag free (clip-on Adobe sock thing? a camera bag too large for any of our tiny cameras? Some stickers?) I’m not complaining, I didn’t go for the free stuff, and I’m certainly not going to BWE for free stuff. Besides, geeks of the male variety, which will dominate BWE, aren’t the market for Tide. They have a rep for never doing laundry.
Sponsored bloggers: Again, I get it. I’d love to be sponsored for BWE (BIG HINT!) But not at the loss of my freedom to blog as I want. And not if I’m expected to start every conversation with “hey, have you heard about MY SPONSOR?” Ew.
I’ve done exactly one post about a product I was loaned for review. It was fun and I’d do it again, but this is my blog about my life. I was never interested in going down the review blog road, and have surely missed opportunities for loads of free crap. That’s me. If you love to review stuff you get free, awesome! But please tell us you got it free. Be transparent. Like the White House claims to be.
Babies: I was a stay at home mom for 18 years before I became a work at home mom. I’ve been through the child-centric years, when everything is about your kids. I nursed my kids in public places. And most relevant to this topic- I turned down lots of invitations and opportunities because the presence of my children was either inappropriate or too distracting. I never expected the world to accommodate me. I totally believe you can have it all- just not all at once! Let me make this clear tho- it appears that the VAST majority of women who brought their kids to BlogHer (which was explicitly child-welcoming) were not expecting to be able to bring their babies to all the parties, and were well aware of the limitations inherent with carting a child around (leaving a session to tend to crying child, missing meet ups due to an off-schedule nursing baby…) So I’m not ranting at these women at all- it’s just that I’ve witnessed enough mommy wars through my years of message boards and email lists to know opinions about mothering will never change, just the platform holding the soapboxes. So I don’t shut up about it anymore (I used to be a peace-maker type!)
One more thing- yes, the mommy-bloggers seem to have taken all the attention, and that’s probably because they’re well-organized, very vocal, and they’re who the marketers are looking for. But I’m sure at some point soon the conference will splinter in order to serve all. It will have to- imagine a BlogHim?