BlogHer’s 8th Annual Conference is headed back to New York City this week, from Thursday, August 2nd – Saturday, August 4th. I am so bummed I will not be there, especially because I always want to have a reason to visit NYC, but also, I can’t say enough of my positive experience at last year’s conference in San Diego. But, alas, my sis is visiting me this same weekend (yay!) and of course, family comes first!
Since I never wrote a full post about my BlogHer experience last year, I’ll give you a little teaser, especially for any bloggers reading this post who may be attending the conference for the very first time. First, be prepared to be overwhelmed! It was incredible and inspirational to be surrounded by thousands of bloggers –and the ones I met were so bright, creative, and downright on top of their game. I still keep in touch with many of them, and of course, I am true fans of their blogs.
Second, prepare to learn. The sessions are very informative, and you will seriously leave with tidbits of knowledge to make your blog and your writing even that much better.
Finally, the marketplace is RIDICULOUS – brands truly know the power of bloggers. (They’re smart!) Get ready to leave with bags of goodies that you can try, taste, giveaway, and let your readers know about.
By the way, here is the post I wrote last year about hanging out at the Philosophy skincare booth with Reem Abbas, one of the four BlogHer International Activist Scholarship Winners. Reem is seriously an amazing woman to write about social problems, refugees, conflict and culture in Sudan from a gender-sensitive perspective. What a conscientious lady, and how wonderful that BlogHer can bring this woman from Sudan (who I would probably not likely meet otherwise) into my life.
Anyway, don’t be sad if you can’t attend this year’s conference. You can be like me… and participate in BlogHer at Home! This is my way to attempt to still be part of the conference, and hopefully score a swag bag like the many I got last year! (DISCLOSURE: I received a sweepstakes entry in exchange for this blog post.)
I know it won’t be quite like being there in person, but it’s a wonderful option.
Awww… so wistful… obviously this was at last year’s BlogHer!
The cute girls at the TempurPedic booth! They had great swag – they gave me the comfiest night eyemask ever!
Here’s Reem and me at the Philosophy booth. True friends do bring out the best in each other!
Haha! Here we are at the Dove Bar booth! That Dove Bar looks so delicious (unfortunately, this is one of the things I will definitely miss out on by not being on site at BlogHer!)
No Ugly Duckling 