My Bountiful Days at BlogHer Days Three & Four

by Lori Cunningham

My days at the big BlogHer conference in San Diego seemed like a whirlwind.  If you’re on the fence about attending BlogHer, I would definitely recommend going.  Will it help you launch you and your blog into a big time sought-after expert?  Well, perhaps not.  Will you be “discovered” while you’re there and given a high paying job?  No.  Will you make some great connections with other bloggers, connections that could last a lifetime?  Yes.  Will you be energized by all the possibilities and sessions you attended, ready to take your blog to the next level?  Yes.  Will you have the time of your life?  Yes.  And some people make it to BlogHer every year, how lucky are they!

For those of you reading this article who are not bloggers, my series of BlogHer articles has probably been eye-opening to say the least.  Most bloggers are not paid for the work and commitment they give to their blogs.  If your readership gets big enough, you can charge for advertising.  Bloggers have different goals.  A growing number of bloggers are getting into consulting to help other companies harness social media.

According to eMarketer.com,  there are 4 million mom bloggers today.  

That’s a large number.  Blogging provides moms a nice outlet, a channel to explore their passions, a louder voice to be heard, and an empowering way to reach and help others like never before.

Blogger conferences are a great way to continue the social network you’ve begun online.  It’s a time to learn, to seize opportunities (either with other bloggers or with sponsoring brands), and to put it bluntly, just have a lot of fun after all of your hard work growing your blog.

Speaking of fun, let me recap the last two days of BlogHer activities I attended: (also see Day One and Day Two)

SATURDAY

Sweat Pink Bootcamp

The alarm rang at 5:30am.  The day before my roomie, Marisa, hopped out of bed to turn off the alarm.  On this day, she just laid there than finally dragged herself to her phone sitting on the desk across the room to turn off the alarm.  (Notice how I didn’t get out of bed to assist?  Bad me.)  After we got dressed, we made our way to the marina to find out where in Embarcadero Park we were having our Sweat Pink Bootcamp by Fit Approach.  We walked quite a bit out of our way before we discovered we were going the wrong way.  We finally made it to the camp, where we found 7  other people already working out.

@SoCalMarisa and I bootcamping it

Where was everyone?  The session was “sold out.”   Ah yes, they were up in their rooms sleeping, having either 1.) already turned off their alarms and rolled over or 2.) made the decision not to get up so early after going to all the parties the night before.

Honestly, I thought Fit Approach would be easy on us because of our various fitness levels and the fact we were there for a conference so we probably weren’t fitness diehard’s.  Nope, we weren’t so lucky.  We ran, threw heavy balls in the air, did push-up’s, squats, you name it.  Two of us even did frog jumps over each other as one did a push-up!  Nonetheless, I am a regular bootcamper, so I did appreciate the thorough workout.

Bob Harper Workout

My roomie, @SoCalMarisa posing with Bob AFTER the workout.

Nearly limping from the previous workout, Marisa and I scurried to make it in time for the Bob Harper workout sponsored by Quaker Oats.  Mats were laid out and nearly all filled.  You can bet the first row was poised, cameras ready.  Shoot, a camera, that would have been smart!  What was I thinking?  For those of you who think Bob Harper is cute on the Biggest Loser, I can tell you, he’s even cuter in person.  I never realized he had such beautiful blue eyes before.

Bob’s full hour workout combined boot camp type moves along with yoga.  We stayed pretty stationary but could certainly feel the workout.  Bob cracked jokes throughout the workout and even hammered one attendee for wearing full make-up to the class.  Can you blame her?  She was meeting Bob Harper, hello?  Again, I thought, what was I thinking?  I looked like death warmed over coming from my last workout.   At one time, Bob was giving little shoulder massages during one particular tough pose.  A little point to my poor shoulders and a smile brought him to the back row for a little relief for my shoulders.  I was impressed at his skills.  Suddenly, I forgot all about the agonizing exercise I was doing.  Thanks, Bob.

Quaker Oats handed out Bob’s latest yoga DVD as well as supplied Gatorade G Pro Energy Bites to take home.  The bites are actually very tasty and help to give you energy right before your workout.  You’re supposed to eat 1 to 4 bites depending upon the intensity of your impending workout.  Back at home, I took two bites before one of my intense boot camp workouts and it worked well until 1/2 hr. later, then I was drained.  The next time I’ll have to try 3 bites.

Enough About Us, What About You?

Now this was a brunch I was really looking forward to.  Hosted by Blogging Angels and Zebra Partners, its purpose was

to educate and motivate bloggers to move their blogs forward.  Perrin Kaplan, founder of Zebra Partners, led the discussion which many bloggers attending found very useful.  She helped us to focus more and be better prepared for opportunities which might arise.  There were some great sponsors there, many with a technology bent to their products.

Vendor highlights include the HerInteractive.com’s Nancy Drew series of games for the PC.  They have some great titles – 25 of them for the PC alone.  The games look very well done and very engrossing, meaning once you begin playing, you’ll want to keep on exploring.  They gave us each a game to try out. My daughter will get to try hers out on Christmas day.

Sapphire Energy really caught my attention.  They are turning farmed algae into an energy replacement for
the gas we use in our cars.  Amazing!  They have figured out a way to harvest algae, thus lessening our dependency on foreign energy, and use the same distribution channels already used today for the transportation and distribution of gas.  Using these existing channels means no new infrastructures need to be built and algae produced energy can be used more broadly.  Very fascinating stuff.  I am hoping to arrange a tour of their facilities at a later date.

QualComm is creating a new marketing campaign to educate consumers about the

processing power in the mobile devices they choose.  They call their processor Snapdraggon S1, S2, and S3.  The faster the processor, the better the response time and multi-tasking.  Similar to the Intel Inside campaign, Qualcomm will help consumers make better choices as to which type of phone they need dependent upon their uses for the phone.  Simple texting and phone use will only need a S1 processor.  But if you’re a gamer, love to watch movies on your phone, or you’re a HUGE multi-tasker, the S3 is your best bet.  Many HTC and HP phones have the Snapdraggon processors in them.  I was happy to find that the new HTC Sensation phone HTC gave me the day earlier had a Snapdraggon S3 processor in it.  It is noticeably faster than my S2 HTC My Touch phone.

Another company, Striiv, introduced us to their new product – a pedometer with a squarish LCD screen.  It tracks all sorts of things in addition to your steps.  Ate a Big Mac for lunch, Striiv will help you walk it off.  But there’s more to this product than a mere pedometer.  It has a social aspect and together with everyone else who owns a Striiv pedometer,  every step taken equals a donation to fight obesity, sponsored by large businesses who want to encourage individuals to walk.  It sounds like a really cool gadget, but they haven’t officially launched yet.  More to come on this great device.

Legoland Here I Come!

Thanks to the SDMomfia team, I received a four pack of tickets to the local LEGOLAND, just 1/2 hr. away from San Diego.