BlogHer Recap

Holy cow! I can't believe it's over - after all my nervousness, I could not have felt more comfortable or welcomed by the wonderful women at BlogHer, especially these ladies:

Back row: Mrs. Squirrel, Liz, Frema
Front row: Carrisa, Isabel, Lizarita, moi, Molly, and CPA Mom

I *heart* them all. And what can I say about Frema and Molly, two fellow Pumas. I feel like I've known both of them forever. (And, could a pregnant Frema be any cuter?)

I swear there was something in that (oops) wine - seriously, three glasses and I was drunk. I haven't been such a cheap date in years. And was I the only one who thought "(oops)" was a misprint on the BlogHer email, like they forgot to add the sponsor name?

Maybe it was because I'm so new at this, but I learned a lot. However, I didn't really care for the emphasis on the Q&A aspect of many of the sessions. And the Technical Lab for beginning bloggers using Blogger - that one was a waste. Oh, and the General Session on day two - honestly, I didn't understand one thing the panel said.

Then there was the tension between bloggers and PR/marketing professionals. Being in PR, I feel a little defensive about the whole thing. Yes, I've been asked to pitch consumer products to blogs. Yes, I do my research before ever sending an email. Yes, I try to personalize each "pitch" and make sure it's relevant to the recipient. And, I'll only pitch products I've tried (and believe in) and products I think can actually benefit the women/men I'm pitching. No, I've never discriminated against a blogger because of her ethnicity or background. Honestly, it takes a lot of time to reach out to bloggers, so we try to reach out to the blogs that have the greatest reach. It's still new, and we're still learning how it works.

I really don't want to spend time harping on this issue - I'm not going to write a PR or Workplace blog. There are a lot of good (and some not-so-good) debates happening elsewhere in the blogosphere. But, if anyone has a good story to share, I'd love to hear it.