Average Jane

Average Jane Loves BlogHer

By now I've had more than a week to read post-BlogHer commentary, but it's not going to make any difference in the kind of post I'd intended to write to sum up my fifth BlogHer Conference experience.

Over the years, my reasons for going to BlogHer have shifted slightly. At first, I was just intrigued by the idea of a women's blogging conference. These days I go primarily to see the other attendees: people I "know" but haven't met yet, people with whom I've been hanging out at BlogHer for years, and as many new people as I can possibly find the time to meet.

For the past two years, part of my job has been blogger relations and I actively work with bloggers every day. However, that hasn't changed the way I interact with people. Fundamentally, it's still a blogger-to-blogger interaction. The potential to work with someone in the future is merely a bonus for both of us.

Here's a fact about BlogHer that sometimes gets lost amongst other drama: it's fun! You might think I'm talking about the parties, but really the whole conference is fun. If you pick your sessions correctly, you can spend the whole day laughing. (Well, except for the Community Keynote. It'll make you cry...and laugh, too.) The opportunities to socialize start with breakfast, pick up at lunch, start up again at the cocktail party, and continue into the rest of the evening social scene.

Here are some of the people I got to spend time with at BlogHer this year:

 

Liz, Karl and Haley.

 

Eden and Grace. (I have so many photos of Grace, it looks like I was stalking her.)

Palinode and Schmutzie

 

Siel and Zandria

The always-fabulous Michelle

Neil and Laurie (that's right, it's Mr. Scrubby's mom!). It took me three days to track Laurie down, and once the CheeseburgHer party broke up, we had time to go to the lobby to chat for a while.

Suebob! She was heading to Midway airport on Sunday afternoon at the same time Rita and I were, so we all shared a cab.

  

My new St. Louis blogger buddies Kelly and Kelli (I also ran into St. Louisian Jaelithe often, but didn't manage to photograph her).

 

Georgia (and Karl again - I hung out with Karl quite a bit).

 

Jane

Tracey, Catherine and that's Elisa Camahort on the right.

I finally got to meet Tom and Laura, both of whose blogs I've read for many years. I was also delighted to have a chance to talk to Laurie and Yvonne again, and I ran into Susan several times.

I also ran into or met or chatted with or had a meal with (in no particular order) Gwen, Tara, Kelly, Danielle, Jenny, Amy, Cindy, Sandy, Janelle, Matthew, Nicole, Alana, Julia, Claire, Angela, Joseph and his sister Rebecca, Shannan, Fresh Widow, Megan, Kimberly, Kim, Lisa, Renee, Amanda, Tanya, Linda, Jodi, Connie, Heather, Mishelle, Kate, Jennifer, Beth, Tanya, Megan, Jennifer, Shellie, Samantha, Karen, Cindy, Grace, Amber, Victoria, Cecelia, Fiona, Karianna, Jennifer, Tara, Marianne, Lisa, Trisha, Kristine, Esther, Jeremy, Deb, Jacqueline, Poppy, Tina, Sandie, Leslie, Kelley, Beverly, Rini, Suzanne, Heather, Victoria, Sean, Susan, Theron, Melanie, Adam, Barb, Toni-Lynn, Joy and Sabrina.

The sad thing is I've almost certainly left out a bunch of people. If we met at BlogHer and I didn't list you somewhere (including the previous post), let me know in the comments!

Shameful admission: Some of the business cards I received went through the wash in the pocket of my jeans.

So that's what BlogHer was all about for me. Yes, it was wonderful to bring home bunches of toys for my nephew, as well as cleaning supplies and toiletries for myself. (That Dove deodorant from the MamaPop party is awesome! I'm definitely switching.) Also, a big thanks to Hanes, who drew my business card and awarded me a Flip video camera. The socks I got from them came in handy, too.

Of course, an extra big thank you to Nintendo. Liz Rizzo invited me to their ambassadors' party as her guest for the second year in a row. Last year we took a lovely dinner cruise on San Francisco Bay. This year we were picked up at the hotel and taken via horse-drawn carriage to the John Hancock Building, where we had dinner on the 95th floor, surrounded by a scenic view of Chicago at night. After dinner, they generously gave each attendee a Nintendo DSi. Needless to say, my niece really thinks I'm a rock star now that we can play DS games together.

I'm already registered for 2010 in New York. Hope to see you then!

Average Jane Goes to Chicago

Man, I'm having fun already! I flew into town on Wednesday with Rita Arens and we took the train from the airport downtown. After a quick stop for lunch at Potbelly, we cabbed it to the hotel and checked in.

Rita went off to chat with Lisa Stone and I walked down the street until I found a place to get a pedicure (and, I eventually decided, a manicure). Rita and I decided to stroll down to the Navy Pier after I caught up with them again. Once dinnertime rolled around, we gathered a bunch of dinner companions and had Mexican food and delicious margaritas at Adobo Grill.

On Thursday morning, I looked around for breakfast companions and eventually ended up attaching myself to a random group going to West Egg Cafe. I'd already had a protein bar by then, so I just had coffee.

BlogHer Business was next on my agenda. I took notes and got some value from it, but there just wasn't enough time to discuss any of the case studies in depth.

Last night, the parties started. I never made it over to the SocialLuxe Lounge at the Hyatt because it was raining when BlogHer Business let out. However, I did go to the BlogHer Business reception, the People's Party and the Room 704 party. Somehow in that span I also managed to grab a quiet dinner on the waterfront with Liz Rizzo and Gena Haskett.

Our additional two roommates, Kelli and Blondie also caught up with us yesterday evening. We all made it back to the room around midnight, but there was a certain amount of giggling and goofiness that ensued before everyone turned in. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep long before the lights went out.

I woke up today at 6:35 a.m. the way I always do. I still have some time to kill before the conference kicks off, but I'm going to use part of it taking the immense swag bag back to the room and dropping off my laptop. I also still need to track down Blaugra, Tom Guariello and Laurie Ruettimann. I know they're here somewhere.

More stories and pictures to follow. If you're at BlogHer and you're looking for me, I'm wearing my Average Jane t-shirt today, as well as my scrolling LED name badge, which I understand is very attention-getting. Come up and say "hi"!

Average Jane's BlogHer Countdown

I made it through a day of work yesterday and managed to entertain in the evening, so it's clear that I'm on the road to recovery from whatever illness it was that ruined my entire weekend.

Tomorrow I leave for Chicago, so today is my last day to try to prepare for the BlogHer Conference in any meaningful way.

Here's what I've accomplished so far:

• Made blog business cards
• Got my bangs trimmed (don't look too hard at my roots)
• Bought some travel-sized toiletries
• RSVPed to way more parties than I will ever be able to attend
• Ordered a cool t-shirt that probably won't arrive on time
• Printed out the conference program

Here's my to-do list:

• Borrow a laptop backpack from my company's IT department
• Grab a handful of my work business cards
• Finish all the laundry
• Charge my LED name badge (once I find it)
• Get a pedicure
• Pack my suitcase
• Put new batteries in my camera
• Clean out my purse

I should have no problem handling all of that tonight while I'm making dinner and tidying up the house.

On Thursday I'm attending BlogHer Business for the first time, which sounds really interesting and useful. After that, the main conference activities begin and I predict a whirlwind from there on out.

I can't promise much blogging before I get back, but you never know.

Average Jane Goes to St. Louis

Last Saturday morning, I picked up Bea at 10:00 a.m. and we let my GPS, Inga, guide us to the open highway toward St. Louis, Missouri.

After a lunch stop in Columbia, Missouri at Shakespeare's Pizza, which was just as delicious as everyone who recommended it had promised, we made it to our destination in St. Louis right at 3:00 p.m.

We were there for a pre-Blogher meetup at Soulard Coffee Garden, a charming restaurant and coffee shop. We made our way to their back patio, sat at the biggest table they had, and met up with Kelly from Mocha Momma, Kara from Star Monkeybrass, Jaelithe of The State of Discontent, Kelli from South City Confidential, Angela from Fluid Pudding, Kelly from Sounding My Barbaric Gulp!, Ada of Shouldn't Life Be More Than This?, Melody from Girls Guide to the Galaxy, Mindy of Crafty and Crap and Stephanie of Iron Stef.

In contrast to the librarian-heavy Kansas City social media scene, this particular St. Louis group included a surprising number of teachers.

It turned out that Soulard Coffee Garden closed at 4:00 p.m., a fact not revealed by their website, which is a blog that hasn't been updated since 2006. Thus, we were turned out after I'd had my one iced raspberry mocha. We went to a bar called Molly's a block up the street and settled into a gazebo on their giant patio for drinks and further conversation.

 

Sorry I caught so many people with their eyes closed. That's the risk with candid shots. You can see more photos here.

We hung out there for a couple of hours drinking sangria and other assorted beverages. At one point a youngish guy came over and immediately got on my bad side by putting his hand on my back (no touching!) before asking how we were doing. At first I thought perhaps he was a waiter who had just started his shift, but he was just an annoying dude trying to find out if a huge table of women increased his odds of...something. We eventually ignored him until he went away.

After I'd had a couple of sangrias, the remnants of the group moved on to The Stable in the Benton Park area. I settled onto the leather sofa with my drink choice of the evening, Kasteel Rouge, which had been recommended to me by @TaraCuda a couple of weeks earlier. Yum.

We had more great conversation and some much-needed dinner. Bea and I stayed until about 10:00 p.m., at which point I figured we should head back west on I-70 a bit and find a motel before it got too late.

After a good night's sleep, we found the nearest Cracker Barrel for breakfast (because I can't resist them) and made it back to Kansas City in record time.

It was great meeting so many great St. Louis area folks. I'm looking forward to seeing you again in Chicago next month!

BlogHer for Beginners by Average Jane

Every year I see several pre-BlogHer Conference posts with helpful tips for first-timers. It occurred to me that I may have something to offer along those lines, seeing as I've been going to BlogHer ever since it began. Thus, here's my take on the subject, in no particular order:

• Just say "hi." If I have a cardinal rule for BlogHer Conference interactions, this would be it. You're going to see people you recognize from your blog reading and Twitter icons. Do not EVER think to yourself that so-and-so is "too famous" to want to talk to you. Just go up, introduce yourself, gush a bit if you can't help yourself, and say hello. What have you got to lose? This doesn't just apply to people you recognize. Say "hi" to anyone you run into. The very first person I met at the first BlogHer Conference in 2005 was Liz Rizzo, and we've been buds ever since.
• Bring business cards. Trust me, you will kick yourself if you don't have cards to trade. I can tell you that from experience because I forgot mine one year. Some people will have elaborate cards or other logo-branded giveaway items, but don't feel pressured to go crazy with yours. I use the Avery laser printable cards and they're perfectly fine. If you order soon, you can get something fancier from Moo, Vista Print (warning: Vista Print has no boundaries when it comes to marketing to you after you've ordered!) or another online custom print shop.
• Wear whatever you want. There is absolutely no such thing as a BlogHer dress code. I always dress for comfort. Other people dress up a little bit or a lot. If you're like me and don't post your photo on your blog or Twitter profile, you may want to consider getting a t-shirt with your blog logo or graphics on it to help people recognize you. I generally wear my Average Jane t-shirt on the first day of the conference and switch to something else after that.
• You're not obligated to spend all day in sessions. Feel worn out or overwhelmed? Go back to your room and take a nap. Just not into any of the sessions coming up next? Go sit in the lobby and chat with other conference-goers until the next session starts. I've done both of those things at various times during BlogHer. The last time it was in Chicago, I walked down Navy Pier and rode the Ferris Wheel after lunch. Individualize your conference experience in whatever way works best for you.
• Consider leaving your laptop at home, or at least in your room. Sacrilege, I know! But...how are you going to interact with your fellow BlogHers if you're hiding behind a laptop the whole time? Unless you've been appointed to liveblog, try to spend as much time in face-to-face interaction as you can. That's why you're there, right?
• Don't feel bad about missing things. You can't go to every session on every track. You're going to hear about parties that you didn't know about/weren't invited to/can't find. You'll see some people with awesome swag from mystery sources. There's a LOT going on at the BlogHer Conference itself and there's a whole 'nother level of unofficial parties, swag suites and attendee-organized events beyond anything you could anticipate. If you ask around a bit, sometimes you can get enough information to be able to crash. If not, don't worry - you'll find something else fun to do.
• Pack light. You are going to end up with so much free merchandise and literature, it'll make your head spin. Even if you drop off the stuff you don't want in the recycle room, you'll still be flirting with the airlines' luggage weight limits. Coordinate with your roomie(s) re: hair care appliances, etc. and resist the urge to pack quite so many extra clothes and shoes.
• Relax. Yes, a gathering of 1,200+ bloggers is rather overwhelming. With that many people in one place, believe me, nobody is looking at you, judging you, thinking about how your hair looks, trying to gauge your Technorati rankings, etc. We're all there to learn things, meet people and have fun. You're going to love it!

Note: Yes, I attended the pre-BlogHer Meetup in St. Louis this weekend and had a great time. I fully intend to do a post on it, but I spent most of the afternoon napping on Sunday and haven't even downloaded my photos yet. Plus, Angela was the only person who made a list of everyone who was there, so I'm kind of waiting to steal it from her, assuming she posts it!

Average Jane Plans for Her 5th BlogHer Conference

I know it's more than a month away, but I'm already getting excited about going to BlogHer again this year. If you read my blog directly (rather than via its RSS feed), I'm sure you already gathered that by the amount of BlogHer-related graphics in my right-hand sidebar.

As a little foretaste, I'm taking a road trip to St. Louis tomorrow with Betizuka for the closest pre-BlogHer meetup to me. I don't really know what to expect, but I always love hanging out with people who already understand what a blog is.

This year I'm going to both BlogHer Business and the BlogHer Conference. Because I do social media for a living, I think I'm going to get a lot of value from the Business conference. As for the regular conference - it's all about meeting people!

I'm sure it'll be the usual whirlwind of old and new friends, interesting discussions and ridiculous amounts of swag.

As someone who's been attending BlogHer since it began, I cannot overstate how impressed I am with the way it has grown. I want to be Lisa, Jori and Elisa when I grow up.

Are you going to BlogHer this year? If so, let me know so I can look for you. (Based on last year's experience, I already know that just because I'm looking for you doesn't mean I'll be able find you, but I'll do my best.)

Average Jane's BlogHer '08 Experience, Days 2 & 3

I officially waited too long to post this and it's starting to become a blur, so I'm combining the two days of the actual conference into one post.

I know I started Friday with a carb-tacular breakfast in the main ballroom with Cagey and her daughter Anjali. At some point, I went back to the room to get a Power Bar out of my suitcase so my blood sugar wouldn't plummet during the first sessions. For those working on next year's sponsorships, might I recommend finding a yogurt company? It's the official food of women, you know!

After the opening session, I continued my efforts to find some of the people I hadn't run across the night before. Liz Rizzo found me while I was being interviewed on video by CafePress about the t-shirt I had on. It took me a while, but I finally ran across Suebob, too.

I had lunch in the iRobot room and got Suzanne to sign a copy of Off the Beaten (Subway) Track: New York City's Best Unusual Attractions while I was there. Remember, you can win a copy (sorry, not autographed) of your own by commenting here.

After lunch, I attended the Midlife Bloggers and Sex & Relationships breakout sessions. After that, I attended the Community Keynote, which I cannot praise too highly. It seemed to me to be the essence of the BlogHer community distilled into twenty readings. I hope it continues each year, even though I know it must have taken a lot of effort to choose the presenters.

I had an event-filled evening beginning with the reception at Ruby Skye, where I had the chance to talk to lots of different people. Liz and I left a little after 8:00 p.m., met up with Zandria, and took a cable car to the marina for a dinner cruise sponsored by Nintendo. The night views of the city were beautiful and it was cool to cruise right by Alcatraz.

After being up late yet again, I actually managed to wake up kinda sorta on time for the 7:00 a.m. yoga class on Saturday. Which is to say that I woke up around 7:10 and decided to go anyway.

At breakfast, I ran into my colleague Jeff Risley, who was at the conference on behalf of the Family Violence Prevention Fund.

After the morning keynote, I attended the Women Without Children and the Blogosphere session. I thought the lunch break that followed was excruciatingly long - an hour and 45 minutes. Once it ended, Nancy and I went to Karl's BlogHims Birds of a Feather Meetup to see what motivated various men to attend the conference.

My last session was Blog to Book Redux, where I discovered that I may be the only blogger in the world who isn't trying to write and publish a book.

I watched most of the Closing Keynote with Heather Armstrong and Stephanie Klein, but ducked out toward the end to go to the lobby and meet Fog City Mommy.

The closing reception at Macy's was...interesting. I was starving when I got there, so I alternated between meeting people, taking photos and stuffing myself with whatever food I was offered. My equilibrium was off a bit all day, presumably from the previous evening's boat ride, so I forewent alcohol in favor of sparkling water.

Even though my own roommate was heading up the book signing, I managed to forget to bring my copy of "Sleep is for the Weak" to the reception. Duh. Thus, I got no autographs at all, but I did take quite a few photos.

I capped off the evening hanging out in Cagey and Monkey's room, eating Pakistani food and drinking a Kingfisher beer. It was a great chance to decompress from the chaos of the rest of the conference.

So that was my BlogHer '08. I gave away more than 130 business cards, met a different person for every one of them, and still managed to get into work on time Monday morning. Guess it's time to start planning for 2009.

Average Jane's BlogHer '08 Experience, Day 1

I thought I'd better start doing my BlogHer synopses now before I forget even more than I already have. My photo set on Flickr is here.

My husband drove me to the airport on Thursday, where I met up with my BlogHer roommate, Rita. I had my copy of "Sleep is for the Weak," which she hadn't even seen yet. Her 150 copies for the book signing had been delivered to the hotel.

We were on the same flight but not sitting together, so I read the entire book on the plane and loved it! I highly recommend it, especially for moms. In fact, I'll be giving a copy away here next week, so stay tuned.

Once we got to San Francisco, we checked into the hotel and explored the surrounding blocks a bit. Then Rita had to go to a meeting, so I met up with Suzanne and Alex for a trip to Cheesecake Factory.

When I got back to the hotel, I changed my clothes and got on a shuttle for the Alltop/Kirtsy party at Guy Kawasaki's house. I didn't see anyone I knew on the shuttle (although it turned out that Bossy was back there somewhere), so I sat in the front. It was a long bus ride, made longer by the fact that the driver got lost. The party was lovely, though, and I got to talk to a bunch of old and new friends, including White Trash Mom, who says she is going to start stalking me now.

After that, I made my way to the People's Party, which I found by getting on the elevator and following the sound. Seriously, it was the loudest party I've ever been to. I ran into Schmutzie, Jane, Mocha Momma and lots of other people. (I know I'm being horribly inconsistent when it comes to referring to people by their names vs. their blog names. Sorry.)

When I could no longer take the volume level of hundreds of female voices in a small room, Jane and I went to the lobby and split an order of Kobe beef sliders, which were quite tasty. I stayed up as late as I possibly could trying to get my internal clock shifted over to California time, then crashed around 1:00 a.m.

Tomorrow: The conference, another nice party, and a boat cruise on San Francisco Bay.

Average Jane Prepares for BlogHer

So who's going to the BlogHer Conference in San Francisco this year?

I went in 2005, 2006 and 2007, so you'd think I'd be all organized and ready to go already, even though the event is more than a week away. Ha!

The one thing I've done is purchased some jeans that actually fit. I thought it would be nice to be able to think about something other than my waistband while mingling with the 999 other attendees this year. I'm trying very hard not to think about what size those jeans were. The new exercise regimen begins when I get back from SF.

Next on my list is business cards. I made some rather cool ones last year, then turned around and changed my e-mail address almost immediately. Of course, this year I'll want to include my Twitter ID, so I would have had to update them anyway.

My idea is to make 3" x 5" cards featuring a variety of different recipes I've already published here. I'll set them up like a postcards with my blog and contact information on one side and a recipe on the other. It's going to be a challenge because I don't have much in the way of page layout software anymore.

The pre-conference guide has good packing ideas. I wouldn't have thought of bringing one of my reusable water bottles. On the other hand, there's that intimidating "prepare your personal pitch" thing. I've never been one for elevator speeches, but I'll do my best to think of something halfway decent before I meet anyone new.

I think I'm going sans laptop again this year. I hate carrying the thing around all day, and I think it's more important for me to meet and talk to people than to breathlessly update the world about what I'm doing each day. Besides, I'll have the BlackBerry and Twitter for that.

This year's conference is shaping up to be a really great one: parties, book signings, great sessions, and lots of opportunities to reconnect with all the people I've met at previous conferences. Nine days and counting down...

Average Jane's Letter To Her Body

Have you been following BlogHer's Letter To My Body initiative? I'm finding people's thoughts about body image fascinating. Here's my letter:

Dear Body,

We've had a good run so far, and although I haven't always treated you as well as I might have, I feel as though I'm starting to get a handle on how you work best.

I'm especially sorry about the whole caffeine thing - you tried to tell me to quit, but I ignored you until neither one of us could take the suffering anymore. At least I figured out how much you enjoy yogurt and fruit for breakfast. Do I get any points for that?

I've been trying to make a habit of other things you like: yoga, massages, chiropractor visits, and flat-soled shoes. I haven't made you wear pantyhose in a really long time. I know I wore high-heeled shoes twice last week, but I swear we'll take care of the aftermath in yoga class this week.

Don't take it personally when I'm a little dismayed at the measurement of my waist and thighs. I'm well aware that my DNA is responsible for that. I know my mother blamed hers on pregnancy, but as the child-free control group in my genetic line, I can disprove that theory once and for all.

I'm not even really worried how I look carrying these extra pounds - I just don't want to have to buy bigger jeans, because I'm cheap that way.

Genetics are responsible for quite a few of the things about you that I might be inclined to complain about, but because they weren't really surprises, it seems counterproductive to worry about them. You won't find me "correcting" anything that was part of the standard package - well, except for the terrible eyesight I got from my dad.

I know you could use more exercise, but as we're both averse to spending time outside in the cold, it'll just have to wait until spring. There's a 5k and a 13-miler that I'd like to do this year, but I promise to train you beforehand. In the meantime, I'll do my best to get back to three yoga classes per week.

Now that I'm getting older, I must apologize for the times I was lax with sunscreen earlier. If I could go back in time, I'd tell my younger self to put sunscreen on her hands every time she went outside.

I appreciate that you always bounce back despite the hours and hours I spend hunched over a computer keyboard or slouched in front of the TV. I'll keep working on culling things from my diet that you don't like and adding the things you do.

Thanks for everything so far,

Average Jane