Comments on: BlogHer 09: Commercialized Chaos

By: Tricia Mumby

Tricia Mumby — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:28:31 +0000

are you kidding me??? Those fortune cookies were AWESOME! I’m surprised a PR professional would have an interaction like that with you. Ah well.. live & learn! I’m sure she regrets it already!

Great to meet you!

By: Candace Reid

Candace Reid — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:31:03 +0000

I want to thank you for being completely honest and not sugar coating anything! I wanted to go next year but being new-ish and having low funds I need sponsors and my numbers aren’t up there enough for people to care just yet.

But in reading your take on the conference, I have cemented my thoughts not to go there and instead his the Mom 2.0 summit if I can get sponsored in Feb.

I can’t believe a grown ass woman would streak through a swanky hotel!!

By: NIcole

NIcole — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:28:35 +0000

Great post Trisha! Eloquently said! Can’t wait to hear about your plans for your own meetup!

By: ClassyMommy

ClassyMommy — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:13:04 +0000

I’ve never been to a BlogHer before. I’ll probably go next year as it is in NYC and I’m only at train ride away living outside Philly – however, I agree with you in that the smaller conferences and events are really the way to connect with the other bloggers. The entire experience was really overwhelming for me and I found it impossible to truly converse and meet new friends amidst the chaos, let alone even connect and catch up with the blogging friends I’ve already had the pleasure to meet in real life. I did attend Blissdom this past winter and felt like I connected with so many women and made a ton of new friends. I enjoyed my Blogher experience, but the “connecting with new blogging friends” element was not there with so many distractions, crowds, events, and personally I had 2 sick kids at home so was worried the entire time.

By: Cecelia

Cecelia — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:35:33 +0000

A good wrap up Trisha. The private party issue is what bothered me most. I got value from the conference also by meeting terrific ladies and sharing ideas. Great wrap up post.

By: Kristi

Kristi — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 07:39:14 +0000

Of all the things to comment on I have to comment on the Nikon party. I am SHOCKED they didn’t put cameras in their bag. Even cheap ones! It IS their brand. What to limos and hair etc have to do with Nikon? I really expected that they would.

I completely agree with you that it would have been a better use of funds to represent their Co. with cameras especially for bloggers (DUH!). Certainly better use than for hair styling and massages.

TOTALLY LAME! I’m glad you told her LOL

By: Night Owl Mama

Night Owl Mama — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 04:12:54 +0000

Interesting reading your post Trisha. I like that you mentioned that there was Special invite and not a circle of friends to come in. That sound scary I like ur way of invite better. Nikon party sounds like they could of used a better Coordinator instead of the way the spent their budget. They could of got out a lot cheaper cause no one will remember that menu or ride their but everyone would brag 4 months if not yrs on the product they r using to take their Pictures…missed the boat on that 1 I guess. Hey NIKON pic me to coordinate ur next party

Although I’m fairly new (7months now to blogging) I think swag doesn’t really bring immediate attention til 1 can take it home and look over what they got. Interesting to see if any of that will go up 4 a giveaway on a blog.

I’m still interested in next yr if only to get out and meet the friends I’ve made in the blogisphere. (will need Sponsorship since TRAVEL will be a HUGE one for me)
Thanks for the recap I was hoping someone would tell me what I missed LOL.

By: Trisha-admin

Trisha-admin — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 02:51:29 +0000

@ mamabearmills:
i think you took it out of context. I said everyone knows me because i have been in the mainstream media for about 8 days flat….all negative media if your wondering. Have you missed it all? It was a joke. I suppose if you missed all the press, you wouldn’t get the joke. I am assuming most of my regular readers got a chuckle from the thought.

And I didn’t point out just the negatives, i made it pretty clear i had a good time, but that is my take on it. It wasn’t that great. I think that this take was a pretty common feeling from what I am understanding. I thought my post was pretty fair and i laid out why it wasn’t that great in my opinion but also encouraged people to go to conferences and find out on their own. I cannot change how I feel to make a more positive post when that is not how I feel on it. If its a downer, I apologize, then the conference was a downer for me. I am not speaking for anyone else.

I do think that nikon missed its opps on making the brand work for the bloggers. No, women throwing themselves on top of backpacks is not something that I think anyone would approve of and that part was wierd. The Nikon party had nothing to do with that.

I personally do not NEED a camera, I own quite a few. But it made more sense, for the brand and the bloggers, to work with them on making posts the rest of the weekend out of BlogHer with the brand of nikon, rather than spending money on limos.

I can see the value in Nikon working with bloggers since we blog, we share pictures, wordless wednesday…it just fits. I dont believe they took advantage of the partnership well.

And since the Nikon party had nothing to do w/ meeting the reps or conversation (was simply a bash w/ wall to wall bloggers) it would have been a great way to incorporate back into the system in a real authentic way.

Its simply my opinion.

By: mamabearmills

mamabearmills — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:44:37 +0000

It sounds like you found all the negative in it. I know I know…you did point out a few positives. Why did it bother you that Nikon didn’t hand out cameras? I thought the women throwing themselves at free products bothered you…You go on to mention that everyone KNOWS you and how you didn’t have to pass out cards. Is that to make others feel less important. I enjoy reading your posts, but this one was a total negative dragger.

By: nicole h

nicole h — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:26:52 +0000

thanks for the comments- i am up for a trip to NY, but based on what you have said, I dont know if the conference itself would be worthwhile to me as a new blogger…..

i will have to weigh it more when the time comes next year….