I sat down yesterday after leaving Blissdom 10 to organize my thoughts. I wanted to determine whether or not this was a good, bad or indifferent experience, and ended up writing a novel. To not bore you to death, I decided to divide my review into three parts: The Bad, The Good and The Sponsors. I have also edited that original novel ruthlessly. If you don’t care to read my review(s), you can just pass on it, but this way it is not taking up the main page.
First let me say this is my first blogging conference. It is not, however, my first conference. While every conference is different, there are some general expectations for knowledge and networking. Blissdom exceed my expectations on one front, and disappointed on the other.
The Bad
Name Tags
Huh? You’re scratching your head, how can name tags be disappointing? Well, when you get together with 500 people that you know by their blog name it might be best to list the blog name first! Over and over I heard this complaint. No one knew my full name which was on the top line in large font. Next came my blog name in much smaller font and the twitter handle was the same font as the blog name! Now my given name was not recognizable to anyone, but my blog name was recognizable to a few people. I heard complaint after complaint that the blog name should have been first, large font, and an outstanding color so as to draw attention to the blog name. And, I agree with those that voiced that complaint.
Outlets
Because I am old this did not apply to me, but many people brought their laptops to the sessions. While a tweet went out for people to bring power strips the truth is that should never have been a consideration nor tweeted. The conference venue should have been responsible for power sources at the table.
Last year at BlogHer there was an uproar because the internet was not working. Blissdom tried really, really hard to make sure the same thing did not occur at this conference. After all, a blogging conference with no internet is… well, absurd! I was told there was an early problem (I don’t have first hand knowledge of this) that the folks who put together Blissdom immediately hopped on. Those of us arriving late Thursday or early Friday never encountered any down internet time. Kudos to Blissdom for making certain there was working internet available throughout the conference.
Well, you never had down internet time as long as your computer was charged that is. I spoke to at least five people currently or formerly in the PR field that stated they would have moved on to another venue if plugs were not guaranteed at the table.
It really was most disconcerting to see lineups of women squatting or sitting against the walls while juggling a laptop and trying to type.
Note to blogging convention organizers everywhere: If the venue will not guarantee working internet and power sources at session tables, move on to the next venue.
The Sessions
The lack of useful information that could be applied to my blog was disappointing. I gave up after my third session. I found a much better use for my time (and that is in “The Good” I will list tomorrow).
General Comments
One suggestion I heard over and over was for the conference to print a list of attendees; blog name and first name and give this list to every attendee. I would add that emailing the list in pdf form when the conference sells out could be a useful tool if people wanted to meet up with Blogger A or Blogger B. The emailed list would would have to an opt-in though as many may want to protect their privacy (yes, some bloggers may not want people to know everything they do *gasp*). This way folks could seek out a particular blogger if they knew they were attending. Another great suggestion I heard was when a blogger signs up for the conference, have them state what type of blog they write. There were a ton of frugal bloggers there, and the sub-section of deal-blogger was well represented. It was tough to find people in your genre (see name tags above). I am very grateful to Jenn from Frugal Upstate for putting together a quickie meet and greet for the frugal bloggers.
Tomorrow I will be discussing “The Good” which was actually “The Great!”, so stay tuned!
