Anatomy of a Blog Conference

Hello, dear friends.  Last Thursday I flew to Salt Lake City to attend a blog conference.  

Salt Lake is not easy to get to from Boston.  I flew to Denver, had a layover for a couple of hours, and was told that the flight may be cancelled due to strong winds.  YIKES!

I promptly found Cru, ordered a glass of Chardonnay and tuna tartare to settle my nerves.  You have got to understand I am a white-knuckled flyer under the best of circumstances. 

After chugging sipping my wine and inhaling nibbling on my appetizer, I went off to check the status of my worst nightmare flight.  I was informed that the flight would leave on time.  Really?  What ever happened to the old adage better safe than sorry?  I looked around the gate and saw only about ten people.  How big is this plane, anyway?

I didn't take a pic because my hands were shaking too much.  It was about the size of this little gem.  I climbed into the death trap, called the family and told them I love them, and also instructed the girls to be kind to each other especially when it came to splitting my jewelry between them.

To call the flight bumpy is an understatement.  People were laughing and hooting like it was a joy ride.  Not me.  I sat there with sweaty palms, rapid heartbeat, and murmuring Hail Mary's as quickly as I could say them.

 I was lucky enough to be sitting with a kid that shared his music with me.  His earphones volume was up so high, I could hear every word of Kanye's music.  I was tempted to warn him that he would be deaf by age 30, but I didn't because I'm sure his bloodshot peepers would have given me a dramatic eye roll.

After praising the Lord for a safe landing, I hopped a cab and arrived at Little America Hotel.  I can't say enough wonderful things about this place.  Great service, spotlessly clean, good food, and lovely rooms.  As a note... if you're going to stay there, make sure to reserve a room in the towers.  We found out later that we lucked out because the towers went through a recent renovation.

The name of the conference was Build Your Blog Conference run by The Blogger Network, a group stationed in SLC. 

These lovely innocent-looking ladies were my partners in crime.  Kelly is at the helm of the fabulous blog Just Typikel and hails from Vancouver.  I had only known Kelly "virtually" and finally met this little dynamo in person.  The lady in the middle is Mo from the illustrious Mocadeax.  Although Mo lives outside of Chicago, we get to see each other fairly frequently because her family lives in Boston.  We also raised hell attended a blog conference in Virginia last summer. 

I don't think I ever laughed so hard in my whole life thanks to this crazy twosome.

We invited these darling blond California sistas from Chicacircle  to join our crazy train. 

We escaped ventured out to dinner on two of the nights to enjoy a glass or five of wine and some delicious Salt Lake food. 

They don't look like too much trouble, do they?

I sent this pic to my #1 to show her that Kelly was supporting my girl's company.

I cannot say enough wonderful things about the keynote speaker on the first day.  His name is Guy Kawasaki, and he heads a company called Canva, an online graphic design tool.  His background includes Apple and Mercedes Benz.   Guy offered valuable advice on everything from creating the right business card to savvy social media tips.  The crowd adored Guy and it was an energetic kick-off to the conference.

Unfortunately, we were not as fortunate with the keynote speaker on the second day.  Her name is Bonnie Andrews, and anyone in the audience can tell you every gory detail of her life.  Her presentation should have been called The Bonnie Show.  We were privileged enough to hear about her physical and mental abuse, her bout with anorexia, suicide attempts, broken marriage and depression.  She ended her shtick with a dramatic presentation of donning boxer gloves and punching her coach.  My buddy Mo whispered to me that she thought we were being "punked."  We are still trying to figure out what this dissertation had to do with blogging.

Each day, after the keynote speeches, we would choose what seminars we wanted to attend.  Some of the topics included:  increasing pageviews, building a Facebook community, the secret of going viral, and branding your blog.  Most of them were taught by fellow bloggers. 

  One of my favorite seminars was run by Ashlee Marie, who spoke about making youtube videos.  She was a dynamic speaker and her presentation was entertaining as well as informative.  I don't think I will ever do a video in place of writing a post, but it was very interesting to hear all of her tips.

If you are a blogger and have given thought to attending a blogging conference, I highly recommend it.  The important thing, though, is to find a good one.  There are a lot of them out there.  BYBC was well done for the most part and they hold a conference in Salt Lake every year.

The best thing about the blog conferences is renewing old friendships and making new ones.   

When I arrived home, these were waiting for me.  Guess somebody missed his supermodel, trophy wife.


Have you ever attended a blog conference?


Until next time...

Plum Hill Forest Grove