Thanks to our friends at H&M, members of the EverythingMom team flew from locations across Canada to attend the BlogHer ’10 annual conference in New York City last weekend to meet, mingle, network with and learn from other attendees.
Day Three (Saturday)
Even after a full day of sessions and parties on the Friday, everyone was up and eager to start the second and final day of the BlogHer conference (hangover or not).
Carrie Anne had the chance to attend the Scholastic Blogger Breakfast at their office where she learned about the new fall releases, changes to the school B00k Club program and a new Read Every Day, Lead a Better Life initiative. Plus she had a chance to visit the Scholastic Store and meet some celebrities.
Back at the conference the day was packed with another full set of new sessions. There was something for everyone. Interested in improving your writing? There were sessions on publishing or humor writing. Looking to strengthen the business aspect of your blog? There were sessions on networking toward a job or how to pitch potential companies. There were sessions for fitness bloggers, personal bloggers, writers who use their blogs to affect change in the world.
Sometimes sessions that would interest you would overlap but thankfully BlogHer had a plan and live blogged every session. So if you missed a session or couldn’t attend BlogHer at all, you can read all the sessions on their site.
Michelle took some time to visit the sponsored suites located within the Hilton New York’s rooms, like the Ecco suite where members could pre-book a foot message and pedicure or the Hershey suite where you could actually make s’mores over fit pit (not sure how that passed fire code). None of the EverythingMom team came with kids but KMart did sponsor a child care suite during the conference sessions for parents who did. And if the whole conference experience was a little over whelming, BlogHer also offered a retreat in the Serenity Suite, hosted by a rotating volunteer roster of bloggers.
From all the parties and events and booths we visited, we did accumulate a lot of swag. Some was great and worth squeezing into an already overstuffed suitcase, others not really necessary. To avoid unwanted swag being dumped in the garbage, which isn’t really environmentally friendly, P&G sponsored a Swag Exchange. That coffee mug you don’t want may be just the ticket for someone else. Before heading into a night a final parties we did a purge at the Swag Exchange. Jen even found another Mr. PotatoHead to take home to her kids. This was just one of the many initiatives taken on by BlogHer this year to try and make the conference more green.
Michelle and Carrie Anne hopped in a cab over to ELF’s (Eyes Lips Face) new studio for a little Games and Glamour event. There they had a sneak peek at the new fall line-up from ELF. Their make-up line isn’t yet available in Canada but they are working towards getting it up here next year. The Game portion of the event was playing with Xbox’s new Kinect gaming system. Kinect works with Xbox 360 and uses a sensor to register your body’s movement versus using a handheld remote. Very cool! Toss in some dangerously delicious watermelon martini’s and Michelle and Carrie Anne had a hard time tearing themselves away.
But this was the last night of BlogHer. The last night to connect and hang out with some amazing women who, many of which, we only knew online. Tonight was the night to let loose at the two official BlogHer parties: Sparklecorn and CheeseburgHer.
Both parties were full of energy and everyone let their hair down and just had a great time. There was no differences between newbies and veteran attendees, well known and unknown bloghers, everyone was equal and had an equally fun time. Feather boas, tutus and glow bracelets graced the dance floor of the Sparklecorn party and by the looks of this video it was another great success. At CheeseburgHer, people danced on the beds, tossed pillows (yes there were beds and pillows at this party) and donned creative McDonald’s paper bag party hats. This year they even had a hat decorating contest and had set-up a decoration station full of tools to get your creative juices flowing. And the winners were pretty creative.
At the end of the night, or maybe it was early morning, the EverythingMom teamed turned in. Carrie Anne would be heading home the next day and Michelle and Jen would follow on Monday. There was a lot to digest from the last three days (and a lot to try and fit into their luggage).
| Everything Back to School |
Just as EverythingMom is the place to discover Everything for mom, H&M is the place to discover Everything for back to school fashion. You will find cool tops from $5.95 and dresses from $14.95, to sweaters from $12.95 and all the accessories to complete the look, H&M has something for every personality and style at the best prices. Visit www.hm.com/kids to see the full line of fun back to school fashions and locate a store location near you.
Tags: blogher
well…I am not a mom , but this site sounds like a wonderful resource also for dads