BlogHer ’09 Recap & My Thoughts On The PR Blackout

I’ve been mulling over how to write these posts for days. Instead, I’ve opted to write them into one big, long post, because they truly intertwine with one another. Let’s start off by saying that this was my first BlogHer.  Yes, I was a BlogHer virgin.  Okay, enough with the snickering.  To be honest, I had no idea what to expect at all.  When my cab didn’t show up to get me (another post will be written about this!), I thought that was the beginning of the end for this trip.  However, I learned more than I thought and made some great connections.

Also, I do need to say, my blog is my business.  As you all know, I make money from my blogs.  I get products to review for my blogs.  And last I checked, that does not make me a sellout.  The fact that there was a fight in the sponsored vs unsponsored session about this makes me sad.  There are no rules to blogging, and I don’t get why people have to impose their blogging edicts on me.  Seriously.

That all being said, since my blogs are my business, I try and act appropriately.  I would never elbow a baby in the head to get free stuff or try and blackmail a company’s spokesman.  That is just, well, bad.  The part that scares me is that this kind of behavior scares companies away from us.  It does.  You want advertisers to send us products, quit acting like the children we left at home.  Seriously.

I know you are all cringing, but yes that behavior did happen. However, the flip side of this is that there were awesome, caring people there too.  When a couple of my friends saw that I didn’t have any swag on Thursday night, they gave me one of their bags from the 704 party and one from the People’s Party.  Seriously.  Now, how is that for the people who think swag should be done away with?  For as much bad behavior there was, the good always shined through.  It really did. (I’ll admit it — I am swag whore but my roommate and I shared and traded lots of our swag).

I read some posts stating that they didn’t get anything out of this conference.  I say to those people, did you go into this with a goal or purpose?  If you didn’t, you just wasted your time.  Personally, my goal was to meet bloggers and PR people I hadn’t met before.  You can’t go to a conference without a plan.  (Again, this falls into the business end of things).  Maybe since I have been to several conferences, I know this, and others still need to learn it.  Ticking off PR people by holding them hostage doesn’t help either (the crocs incident).  I tried to be friendly and cordial (since I need these contacts) is always a must.  Also, my drinking was kept to a minimum.  You never know who is watching or who might post a really bad picture of you.

With all that said, people talked a lot about the PR blackout. I personally think it’s foolish – plain and simple. Since my blogs are my business, I take responsibility for managing them, and that means knowing when to say “no.” I don’t need another blogger’s permission to make that decision.

If you check Lisa Reviews, where I post all my reviews, you’ll see that I haven’t posted in a week because I chose to take a break. When I start to feel burned out, I do exactly that—I step away and take the time I need. I don’t understand why other bloggers can’t do the same. Then again, I treat my blogs like a business.

If you worked in an office, would you and your coworkers decide to boycott the office for a week just because you felt burned out? That’s how this situation feels to me. (Feel free to disagree.)

Back to BlogHer. I missed the keynotes, so I can’t comment on those. I did attend quite a few sessions, though, and I have mixed feelings about them. My biggest issue is sitting in a session where I know as much as—or more than—the speakers. In one session, I spoke up when the panel gave bad advice, but they shut me down, so I kept quiet after that.

I had to laugh the next day when I attended a session led by a true expert, Vanessa Fox, who basically said exactly what I had said earlier. Whatever. I would much rather see real experts on panels instead of fellow bloggers. I heard several people say the same thing, especially after sessions contradicted each other. The excuse I heard was that they couldn’t afford real experts. If that’s the case, they shouldn’t hold the sessions at all, because some of the information being shared was just wrong. Then again, this seems to happen at every conference I’ve attended, so even experts don’t know everything either.

I personally loved the Expo Hall. I loved the swag.  I loved talking the PR people (shout out to the Tide booth since I talked to them for like an hour).

The food could use some improvement. Because I am lactose intolerant, I had very few breakfast options and ended up eating only fruit, which wasn’t very filling. On both mornings, I couldn’t find a plain bagel or anything else that wouldn’t make me sick. I would gladly pay extra if they offered a dinner option as well. The best dinner I had, aside from the Team Mom dinner I attended on Thursday night, was the Cheeseburger Party, which included a cheeseburger and a small order of fries. I heard this year’s food was better than last year’s, so I hope they continue to improve in this area. I also couldn’t find a plain, basic bottle of water.

The parties need to follow their own rules if they have them, and if they publish a list, they should stick to it. When organizers tell people on the RSVP that swag will be provided, they shouldn’t be surprised when attendees get upset if it doesn’t happen, especially when some people walk away with more than one bag while others are told they’re out, yet “special” guests still receive them. Personally, I didn’t expect anything, so it didn’t bother me much.

If you host an event at this conference, you should expect moms to bring their babies (I think everyone heard about that snafu). To be honest, the 704 party free-for-all was awful. We were packed and pushed around like a concert crowd. To be fair, I don’t think they had any idea how chaotic it was going to be.

Wow.  This post actually turned into a book.  What can I say?  Would I do Blogher ’10?  If I can find a sponsor, heck yeah!  There is no way I could afford this without that, but if I line one up, I am so there next year.  For all the bad things, there were 10 times as many good things.  There were so many bloggers that I wanted to meet and didn’t.  There were bloggers I was too afraid to approach, and now I read their posts and wish I did.  Was it worth it all?  In one word, Yes!  (Pictures will be forthcoming as soon as I find the cord that gets the pictures off my camera.  It’s here somewhere.  I think.)