BlogHer 15: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

BlogHer 2015, the blogging conference from BlogHer and SheKnows Media, is a wrap. This was my first BIG blogger conference, and while I decompress from my trip I thought I would write out my first thoughts.

The Good.

• New York City, duh! I’m still in love with the city that never sleeps at night.

• All the people I got to meet IRL (in real life).

* Volunteering.

As a volunteer, I got to meet people as they checked in at registration, adding to the people my kids claim I collect. It was a pleasure to meet Joyce, the author of The Voice of Joyce. She’s as passionate as I am to educate people about voting responsibly. The women from Prudential complimented my skin, claiming the shine I battle keeps me young-looking. Directing confused conference goers to the correct place was another way to chat people up, as I did when I met the representatives from Sirius. As I gave directions to the Expo hall, I was able to pitch them on the spot.

• The closing party. Boy II Men, DJ Spider, and Nick Cannon provided the entertainment. McDonald’s provided the food. I danced until my body ached and sang until I sounded like Lauren Bacall.

The Bad

• Red wine makes me bloat. White wine gives me a headache. Le sigh.

The BlogHer app. Perhaps if I were using a larger device, I would have navigated it better. As it turns out, trying to navigate the app on my phone left me confused. I’m struggling to be one of those who adapt to no paper, but I’ve had too many notes tapped on the fly lost when I received a phone call or I leave the app without saving. It wasn’t until the last day I realized that there was a feature that allowed users to download the full conference information for easier reading. I will make it a point to fully explore any new app I use in the future. For example, the timing of the sessions. There were four sessions that I really wanted to attend, but they were scheduled at the same tine. I would have liked if the sessions were repeated to allow attendees to have more choices.

The Ugly

• It took a day or so, but I realized that bloggers are very introverted. I call this ugly because so many people could feel isolated or think that women were cliquey. When I attend local functions, I never noticed that some women are quiet. I float from table to table, hugging, congratulating people on their success, and laughing at the alteration to my name tag (it reads aka “Not Rachee“). In New York, there were plenty of people to talk too, but I know there are women who left feeling lonely and insulted because of a perceived snub. I’m sure there was a mean girl coalition on site, and having as many women in one place can be overwhelming. But I  truly think that the majority of women are writers, writers who spend so much time in their thoughts and cranking thoughts out on a computer have a difficult time going out of their comfort zone.

Swag

Between banking, community events, and other conferences I have attended I learned that the giveaways clutter my home, and I usually feel guilty when I want to throw it out. As I perused tables, I took literature of the brands that interested me

politely declining offers that I thought would be a better fit for someone else. Even after consolidating, I still struggled at the train station.

Conclusion, I will definitely attend BlogHer the next time it is in New York. I may even spring for one of the trips across the country.

Did you attend Blogher15? Do you have any Good, Bad, or Ugly tales to tell?