My Time at BlogHer ’11

Last month I attended the biggest blogging convention of the year-BlogHer ’11. This year it was held on the left coast, in my favorite US city-San Diego! It was my first time, and if I could describe it one word that would be–Exhausting! Don’t get me wrong, it was a lot of fun, but tiring none-the-less. I think part of what was a little exhausting was all of the anticipation leading up to it! As a physical therapist, I attend conferences and courses regularly, but it’s been quite some time since I was this excited about one.

Besides getting to mingle with some of the top companies in the US, there were some of my favorite bloggers that I got to connect or re-connect with (you can connect with them, too! @ToyQueen @mintcool and @darielacruz). Special shout-out to The Toy Queen, who like myself, is a rehab professional. The parallels in our lives go way beyond that, and we bonded over the crazy number of similarities in our professional lives at the Youphoria party. Too bad she lives clear across the country, but hey-we’ll always have twitter.

BlogHer ’11 had many many many opportunities to mingle. The convention was well-organized and, clearly, well-attended (I heard over 4,000 attendees!). They also offered a TON of courses for all levels of bloggers. I opted to focus my efforts on meeting up with the companies that were there to meet bloggers. I have to say, the networking was a BLAST! Going from station to station and meeting the PR companies and/or faces of some of my favorite companies made me feel a much greater connection to them.

Me, Pooh and Amy of Operation Shower. Photo credit: Disney Baby

I was fortunate enough to attend some great parties, too. One of my favorites was the Disney Baby brunch. I learned about their new line of infant clothing, but even better got to meet with, Amy, the Chief Event Organizer of Operation Shower, an organization that provides baby showers to pregnant mothers whose husbands are overseas (more on both of those coming soon!).

@darielacruz and yours truly. Photo credit: Philosophy

Here are some of my favorite companies-stay tuned for some great products we’ll hopefully feature in the near future!

• Tempurpedic
• Philosophy
• Dove Ice Cream
• Dr. Scholl’s
• Technogel
• Ford Motor Company
• Lindt Chocolates
• Red Envelope
• Discovery Bay Games
• Scrubbing Bubbles
• Disney Baby
• Hallmark
• 3M
• Hershey’s (who, btw, hosted a S’mores lounge…need I say more?)