BlogHer 2010 was NOTHING like I expected. Which confuses me.  And makes it hard to wrap my head around.

Let me start this post saying that I am a BlogHer newbie.  A veritable baby in a sea of blog conference experts.  Now, you must know that I stalked BlogHer online last year.  Truly. I read all of the tweets.  I visited all of the posts and I camped out on the Flickr stream.  So I had an idea of what to expect.

My ideas were wrong.

Being a self-help kind of girl, I expected BlogHer to be centered around education and learning. Err… not as much as one would think.  I mean, there were many sessions covering diverse topics.  But many people blew them off.  In fact, some of the bloggers I met confessed that they didn’t even go to one session, which blew my ever-loving-mind. I, personally, was there for an education.  I own my own business and I blog on that site as well as here and at the Washington Times Family Today community so I was ready for some serious blogging and social media  input.  I was going to take notes and write serious posts on what I learned and how to apply it.  Sadly, I will not be doing that.  Yes, I did take away nuggets of good information but overall the sessions were designed to be very informal.  (Apparently Power Point and handouts were not allowed.) That informality did not jive well with my personal goals.

But the networking, well, the networking opportunities were priceless. I’m an extrovert so I have no problem introducing myself to other people and engaging them in conversation.  Which works to your benefit when you are in a huge convention like this one.  And honestly, that is where this self-help gal gleaned the most information.  I learned more from my peers than I did in the sessions.  And I am completely okay with that.  Learning is learning is learning!

My fellow bloggers and I conversed about honesty in blogging, we compared iPhone apps for productivity, shared our personal stories, observations and goals and really connected. That part was priceless.

I got to meet Dawn Meehan (author and blogger at Because I Said So) who was my inspiration for blogging in the first place and Jo-Lynn of Musings of a Housewife who was the first blogger to ever acknowledge my existence.  My roommates Bailey (Makeover Momma), Lara (Chicken Nuggets of Wisdom) and Jennifer (Savoring The Thyme) were a blast to hang out with.  And the parties and gatherings? I can’t even begin to describe how interesting and fun they were.  From those I met some phenomenal entrepreneurs and inspirational professionals.  I was treated like a queen. (Which any mom will tell you is rare.)

Most importantly: I left BlogHer with a new direction and new vision. I found inspiration in my fellow bloggers and they helped me clarify my vision for this blog. (Which will probably take on a new direction going forward.) The knowledge that I already had was reconfirmed by the sessions.  I learned what to do and what NOT to do. Was it worth it to attend?  Yes. Yes it was.

Besides all of that, I sure had one hell of a good time!

Wondering if BlogHer is for you?  I recommend you read this article:

• BlogWorld v. BlogHer: the Differences are Apparent (blogworldexpo.com)

Tags: Blogher, BlogHer 2010 was nothing like I expected, Flickr, review of BlogHer 2010, social media

I’m exhausted.

But in a good way.  In a very, very good way.

This past Saturday we (Lara & I) held our second Momz Share event. (First event details here.) This one, appropriately titled “The Silver Spring Soiree” was hosted by the wonderful (and hilarious BTW) Jessica McFadden of A Parent In Silver Spring at the The Little Gym in Silver Spring, MD.  We had over 70 (totally lost count) bloggers from the DC Metro area in attendance!

Some of the night’s highlights?  Well, where to begin…

–>RAISING MONEY FOR CHARITY! An auction to benefit the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life and Team Why Mommy, anchored by Sunday Stillwell of Extreme Parenthood in honor of our friend Susan Niebur of Toddler Planet‘s courage and tenacity.  The women in attendance were extremely generous, buying up raffle tickets for the cause.  And the donations?  Well, we had THOUSANDS of dollars worth of DONATED items from business as well as an additional $1,000 donation from Bit Defender!  Truly overwhelming!

Our gratitude goes out to:

La Papillon Spa, Peace Love Lip Gloss, Bring It To Fruition, The Round House Theater, The Maryland Science Center, Port Discovery, The National Aquarium, Tuscan Home Decor & Design, All things Italian, Certifikid, Then Again Photography, The Melting Pot of DC, Tech Savvy Mama, Be Lifestyle MedSpa, Simplify Organizing,  BitDefender and their BitMoms community!  (Although she won’t want me to, I really must mention my creative-cohort at this point – Lara Dipaola.  She worked like a maniac to arrange all of this.  I did none of it.  She is my personal hero!)

–>WE MUST NOT FORGET THE FOOD! Food for the soiree was provided by Sarah of The Soupergirl,  Theresa of Treet, and the last minute heroics provided by  Done Right Catering.  (Seriously, they saved the day and personally supervised the entire time.  What a fantastic company.  Hire them NOW!)

–>GOT PASSION? We were also lead in an exercise in finding our passions by Lauree, life coach and owner of Simply Leap .  (I’m planning on writing a separate post on this tomorrow.  Inspiring stuff!) Also much gratitude to Melanie Spring of Sisarina, our Momz Share mentor and sponsor extraordinaire.

–> DID I MENTION THE NETWORKING? This is just such a unique opportunity to meet other area bloggers and network offline.  Someone told me that evening that Momz Share was “the best part of a conference.”  Which totally made me smile.  BECAUSE THAT IS THE POINT.  The entire reason we began this project was so that bloggers can network offline and build strong relationships.  We want everyone to form partnerships so that they can reach out and have support in their online efforts.

INTERESTED IN SEEING MORE PHOTOS? We have a Momz Share Flickr group and photos can be found here.  (Many thanks for Then Again Photography and Laura from Better in Bulk for their skills.  You ladies are amazing!)

INTERESTED IN READING OTHER BLOGGER’S TAKE ON MOMZ SHARE? There will be a link up here.

FEEDBACK? If you went and would like to provide feedback anonymously, do so here.

Tags: American Cancer Society, Flickr, mom blogger event, Momz Share, Relay For Life, Silver Spring Maryland, Washington DC metro area bloggers