I’ve already written about BlogHer on my other blogs — a look back at the history of the conference on Snapshot Chronicles and my plans over the 5 days I will be in NYC on Roadtrip.
Here, as I have in the past, I’m going to tell you about the sessions I am looking forward to followed by a few words about promotions and pedicures.
On Friday, I actually don’t have much choice about what to attend as I am participating in two sessions. At 10:30 am, I’m on a panel about the FTC Guidelines for Endorsements and Testimonials moderated by Lisa Stone. The other panelists are Kimberly Coleman and Stacey Ferguson. Then at 2:45 pm, I’ll be joining Beth Blecherman and Kimberley Blaine in a Room Of Your Own which we’ve called “Social Media is Bringing Sexy Back to Branding — Do You Have the Social Media Strategy and Tools for Success?” In a nutshell — how to integrate social media into your branding strategy and guidance on picking the right tools for your objectives.
The “don’t miss” session of the day though will be the Community Keynote at 4:45 pm.
On Saturday, I will definitely be listening to those Radical Blogging Moms Joanne Bamberger, Annie Urban and Stephanie Roberts at 10:45 am and I’m going to try to make it to the ROYO – Little Fish in a Big Pond at 3pm to hear Nora Leibowitz, Catherine Holecko and Celeste Lindell talk about the pleasures of blogging small.
In between the panels on Saturday, I’ll be doing a book signing for Professional Blogging For Dummies at noon, and trying to squeeze in stops at a couple of the sponsor suites and a tour around the trade show floor.
Which brings me to promotions. This year, BlogHer controlled all the space at the hotel, including the suites and party spaces. I think this is a very positive thing, as it ensures that everything within the Hilton is open to everyone. No more secret suites by invitation only on site. Yes, there are private events but they are elsewhere.
A few smart PR people have done their homework and are reaching out to bloggers who’ve written about the conference in the lead-up weeks. Because I hosted the Boston pre-BlogHer BBQ two weeks ago, I’ve been writing about BlogHer 10 for a while. Which is why I’ve gotten a couple invites to suites being held on site, but these invites are just to get the on site suites on my radar. They are open to everyone, and I urge you to check them out. P&G’s Align is offering reflexology massages in their suite and Ecco shoes has pedicures and foot massages.
I guarantee you, that kind of pampering is the best swag you will get at BlogHer.
A word about suite etiquette. Don’t just take the services or swag, eat the cupcakes and scram. Have the courtesy to listen to the pitch. Otherwise, it’s like accepting someone’s dinner invitation and asking for the meal to-go.
In fact, I definitely recommend checking out P&G’s Align. They sent free samples of the probiotic supplement for the bloggers at the Boston BBQ, and I’ve been trying it out. Not sure I’ll actually buy it once my free samples run out — depends on the cost — but I feel better since I’ve been taking it.
Another company that generously provided free product to all the attendees at the BBQ was anti-virus maker Kaspersky Lab, which gave everyone a free one-year license for their anti-virus suite. They are holding an Anti Virus Summit at the Westin Times Square on Thursday August 5th from 4-8 pm. If you write about tech or are concerned with online safety and security, it should be a pretty interesting event. They’re bringing in people from their malware and virus research teams to give you an inside view of identity theft, web attacks and the vulnerabilities of Flash, PDFs and social networks.
I also have it on good authority that they’ll be serving sushi and pad thai along with a drink called a Kaspertini following the presentations. Unfortunately I have a previous commitment so will miss some of the presentations, but I’ll definitely make the effort to stop by. If you’d like to go, email Christen Gentile at PR-Americas@Kaspersky.com
See you in New York!
Disclosure: P&G and Kaspersky Lab provided free product for the attendees at the pre-BlogHer BBQ at my house. Myself included. I wrote Professional Blogging For Dummies. If you buy a copy, I get a royalty, and if you buy a copy at BlogHer, I will sign it for you.
And I just had to go get a pedicure in advance…