BlogHer 2010 Conference Recap
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I still have another day left in New York City to explore and adventure, but the BlogHer conference is now over – and what a conference it was!
Friday morning began with a 5k walk around Central Park. It was organized by some of the other bloggers, and most of them were running it but I prefer walking. I wound up getting a wee bit lost on my escapades (the map could have used a bit of fine-tuning), but that’s all right because you can’t really go wrong if you’re wandering through Central Park. I made my own route!
Some of the buildings visible above the trees in Central Park
After that, the conference began. Breakfast of scones with eggs and sausage as well as fruit was served (along with lots of other pastries and such). I sat with Sahar of FatFighterTV during the Welcome speech (so exciting to meet her at last!), and then I wandered through the expo halls to check out the booths of 100 sponsors.
The day was filled with sessions both informative and not-so-informative, and meeting great people and generally having a fabulous time. When evening came, there was an art show before the gala began.
There was also a room of balloons. Because I guess balloons are necessary at parties?
When the gala itself started, there was karaoke and dancing for all. I met a really great woman, Beth, who was totally game to sing karaoke with me! We picked Blondie (“One Way or Another”). This was before we found out that there was no prompt screen – it was a live band that we were singing with. Too cool! We at least had a page of lyrics and the guitarist sang quietly along beside us so that we’d know when to start singing. Thank goodness for that. It was a ton of fun and we had such a great time with it.
Give me a microphone and I am all over it.
Saturday was more fun sessions, plus the pleasure of spending more time with Sahar and meeting Fitarella in person! We went out for coffee and sat together in a session. I also got to have lunch with the wonderful Anne-Marie, who generously spent a great deal of time talking all about social media with me. Afterward, Sahar and I stumbled upon each other once again – and I must say, it is so nice to meet bloggers in real life that you can get really comfortable talking to. In the evening I attended two parties (A Green Affair and Blogalicious) before packing it in.
The festivities continued the following morning with a brunch hosted by SoyJoy. We ate some wonderful food and sat through an informative panel about nutrition. One of the panel members was Cynthia Sass, co-author of one of my favourite cookbooks, The Flat Belly Diet. I sat with the very sweet Jill Berry, and I also had the opportunity to meet Kath of Kath Eats and Jennifer of Savoring the Thyme, in addition to running into several of the other bloggers that I had met previously at the conference. It was a fun time all around!
Grand Central Station
Following the brunch, I met up with Danielle once again and we went to see an off-Broadway show together. We saw Falling for Eve, which is now one of my most favourite theatre performances – it was really unique and incredibly funny. We spent the next couple hours walking around New York and dining at the Candle Cafe.
I know. We're pretty darn adorable.
New York has been fantastic, and the conference was an enormous amount of fun. The past few days has also reaffirmed two important things:
1) I love bloggers. And writing. And editing. And PR. Communications is definitely the kind of work that is ideal for me.
2) I want to live in New York City. Very much. It is my kind of city!
How was your weekend? Done any travelling recently? Got any brilliant ideas for how I can pick up and move to NYC? 🙂
Sure sounds like you are having a great time.
We can’t wait to hear about your next adventure….finding your way back to the airport tomorrow (hint: start early!)
I had that figured out aaaagggesss ago (*cough* er, that is, I had it figured out partway through the conference when my roommate mentioned taking the shuttle to the airport and told me exactly how to order one *cough*. Thank goodness for Anita or I might have been stranded in NYC forever with no clue how to get home! Wait, is that a bad thing? :D).
My shuttle picks me up way early, so I’ll have plenty of time to hang around the airport and twiddle my blogging thumbs, no worries!
Sounds like a great time! I would love to go to this conference one year, even if just to meet some bloggers and visit some of my NYC friends 🙂 I love NYC too, and I’ve only been there once. I want to go back!! I just can’t seem to find the time in my packed schedule. It’s one of those places at which you have to spend at least a week in order to see everything!
For sure! I’m spending a few extra days in NYC but there’s still lots of things I’d like to do… once I have more disposable income I plan on returning to spend more time, and then I can do a proper shopping (tehe) and really take the time to explore the museums and roam all over the City.
Sounds like you had a fantastic time! Glad you enjoyed the experience.
I am obviously not a big city girl as I enjoyed my quiet weekend of meeting friends for dinner, picking peas from my garden, and making strawberry jam. 🙂
Ooh that is equally lovely. I like getting a bit of both (going out and having quiet weekends). Too much of one thing and I start to miss the other. But oh my goodness big cities are exciting!
Someday I’m going to come and find you and you’re going to teach me how to make jam, okay?
I’m so glad you’ve had a great time! I adore Sahar and will admit to a teensy bit of jealousy that you’ve been hanging out with her. 🙂
I would be jealous too 😉 (I has a blog crush).
Hey Sagan! It was so wonderful to meet you and spend time with you! Glad you found someone to buy the ticket to the show. Love that scarf. 🙂
@Cammy – you are too sweet. I missed you this year!
Yes, Danielle was able to go after all! And I’m looking forward to hanging out with you again sometime 🙂
A) Did you just write that you “love editing”? Yikes.
B)Glad it was such a great experience for you!!!
C) What topic will you tackle now……..?
A) I’m CRAZY about editing. Sincerely love it. My friend let me edit her manuscript and I did nothing else during the few days that I spent poring over her novel because it was so much fun. The only downside is that when I read just about anything now, I’m automatically checking it for errors…
B) SO MUCH FUN 😀
C) What topic WON’T I tackle? 🙂 We’re going to look at raw food again. And the 100 mile diet. And environmental health, and how to read product labels of non-food items. And… so much more. I haven’t decided yet which will come first, heh. Any requests?
And she’s the best editor you’ll ever meet.
Sounds like you had a great time! I love karoake too! Although I’ve never got to do it with a live band! Woohoo!
My god that is cool! By the by I love the outfit. I definitely updated my wardrobe after seeing the zounds of well-dressed hipsters at Lolla.