BlogHer 2012: The Good

I’ve already shared with you what I learned in the various sessions I attended at BlogHer 2012 but now I thought I’d give you my random thoughts about the event as a whole.

The Good:

Most of the food served at the Hilton for breakfast and lunch was decent although repetitive.

Most of the sessions I attended were presented by excellent speakers and gave me valuable information.

We didn’t have to “reserve” our spot in sessions ahead of time.  Conceivably this meant that you could drop in on one and if you found it didn’t meet your needs, you could move on to another one.  See comments below for why that particular strategy didn’t work though.

The Official Canadian Blogger party sponsored by Chevrolet and hosted by Mom Central Canada was held on the rooftop patio of the Thompson Hotel and it was lovely.  The view was spectacular and the music wasn’t so loud that we couldn’t meet new people and engage in some wonderful conversations.  What food I could eat there (most contained things I was allergic to) was delicious – other than the first batch of sliders which were raw in the middle.  Keep reading – you’ll see that there was a theme with sliders throughout this event.  I never ever want to see one again.

The Queerosphere party was a welcome relief from most of the other official parties.  The atmosphere was lovely and the music was such that you could have conversations while it formed a pleasant background for the event.  The food was very tasty and there were more tables and chairs there than at the other parties I attended so it was actually possible to sit down to eat and chat.

I had a great time at the final party, CheeseburgHer.  Thank you McDonalds for providing us with the only edible burgers of the whole event.  It was nice too to have the craft tables so that if you wanted to, you could actually do something besides dance and drink.  More seating would have been appreciated but really the atmosphere was festive and fun.

Meeting new people, learning about them and their blogs, connecting them was fantastic.  This includes people like Jaderbomb, Karen/Graphics Fairy, and Rebecca Parsons with whom I am friends online and had been dying to meet for ages, new people I knew nothing about, meeting up with people like Simone from Prime Publishing whom I had met before but had not had the time to really have a discussion with previously, and meeting up with brand representatives like Anna from Hershey’s who were a joy to talk to and taught me a lot about brand-blogger relationships.  Most people were friendly, down to earth, and just seemed to be happy to be there and to connect with others.

Free wifi was provided both in the hotel rooms and the sessions.

Electrical outlets were provided in the sessions.

Martha Stewart.  I had been warned that she was dry and boring as a speaker but she wasn’t at all in this context.  She was fascinating and inspiring and I loved getting to see her!

Of course, travelling by Amtrak there and getting to see all the amazing sights along the way as well as seeing New York City for the first time was simply fabulous!

Continued in the next post with “The Bad”.