Well, I did get to eat a fine piece of unicorn cake ass and I did fondle Edward Cullen's cardboard ass, but still. I received no swag. Those broke-ass bitches at Mamapop totally robbed me!
But I kid Mamapop.
For me, their party encapsulated all that was so very right with BlogHer this year. Yes, despite the Nikon Hates Baby Brouhaha (and why anyone would even think a baby should be at a cocktail party is beyond me) and Hags for Swag Bags Gate (The fist fights for swag bags was unreal this year and while I love free stuff as much as the next gal, bruising babies and elbowing folks outta the way is never cool. Ever.)
So, despite that and the odd lack of plain old ice water in a water pitcher, I had a great time.
And I have to give some credit to Momcentral. No, I did not go to the party. Hell no. I did not write that post to get re-invited, I wrote that post to call the company out on what was rude, unprofessional and disrespectful behavior. The experience left such a bad taste in my mouth just as I was about the embark on a trip that I had been anticipating for months. However, Thursday morning I woke up and packed my bags with a determination to just let it go and have a great time. To focus on what mattered to me, which was meeting and connecting with people.
And I did precisely that. I had such a fabulous time with my roomies - Rita, Celeste and Blondie. We giggled far too much and far too late into the night. I had a lovely time meeting folks, laughing and having amazing conversations that left me teary-eyed on the plane back home as I reflected on them.
I will not be linking to all of those people in this post as I will inevitably forget someone. And I do not want some links to have a perceived "value" over others because it does matter to me if someone has a readership of 5 or 5,000. It was not about popularity this weekend.Yes , I will be sending out a ridiculous amount of I Loved You, Did You Love Me, Too? emails over the next week or so. And I want to treasure and keep close to my heart some of the amazing experiences I had this weekend. In short, I came away from BlogHer with what I believe, I hope will be a few new friends. Maybe. Maybe not. After all, I had no earthly clue that Brit would become one of my most trusted friends when I met her at Blogher 06.
I linked to Mamapop for a very specific reason. Truthfully, I normally do not read their site, but RSVP'd to their party because I knew it would be fun. But it ended up being more than that - their party was amazing simply because it was about people. People! There was great music, drink and cake. Folks were there not for the free stuff - they were there because it was fun. Everyone was having an amazing time just hanging out. No one grabbed their free stick of deoderant, then hoofed it to the next party for more swag.
They stayed.
And while AlphaMom's CheeseburgHer party was a close runner-up by a mere hair and had the same atmosphere of Good Old Fashioned Socializing for the Nothing Other Than the Mere Sake of Socializing, MamaPop wins my personal stamp of approval for The KickAss Party of BlogHer.
People stayed..... And laughed..... And danced......And connected.
So, the next sarcastic pundit who wants to knock on BlogHer and write us all off as money-grubbing whores, I will remain adamant in my stance that it was not all about the networking, marketing and swag. I personally witnessed folks making friends and having fun.
And truly, is that not why most of us are blogging in the first place?
Indeed.
17 comments:
It sounds like you had fun, which is the most important thing.
Wow, fistfights over marketing shwag? The economy must really be in the dumps. Although remember the chocolate people last year? That was some pretty good sh*t. Not enough to CUT a bitch over, maybe just a sharp elbow to get a hold of the hazelnut flavour.
Next year is New York! Do you think you'll make the trek?
Well said! The Mamapop party was a total blast, no swag needed. Though the tiaras added just the right touch of class for when we were all shaking our booties to Salt n Pepa.
One of my favorite parts of blogher, just talking to you!
And thanks for saying such nice things about the party.
Swag-free is the way to be. I didn't even know we had deodorant there, but I probably could have used it.
Not only was the party light on swag, it seemed that the Dove table was largely ignored. This is what happens when people are having a great time with each other - no one gives a rat's ass (or a unicorn's ass) about free stuff.
The free booze didn't hurt either.
I don't write professionally, on-line or otherwise, and 'blogger' isn't much of a part of my identity (with good reason). So, Blogher isn't really on my radar. But, each year when people start writing about Blogher I think "oh, they should have fun!" But the last several years there are so very many complaints all over the internet about... I don't know greed, selfishness, and the commercialization of what for most of the people complaining is a commercial enterprise. And stereotypes, lets not forget the anger at the mommy-blogger stereotype. Sigh. And I wonder, why go, then? Why did you go if it makes you so upset? It has stopped being a surprise to me, so it shouldn't be to you. So today I'm thrilled to see your post. You ignored the parts that didn't work, took part in what did and had a kick ass time. I'm glad you took the time to write about it, because I really enjoyed reading it and imagining how great it was. (p.s. Welcome home!)
I had a great time at BlogHer this year in general and I wish I hadn't gotten to the MamaPop party so late (although I did get a nice slice of unicorn guts).
I have to admit, it was the pictures and tales of the MamaPop party that really made me wish I were at BlogHer this year.
I hope to meet you in New York next year, as I can hardly believe we haven't managed to connect at any of the previous BlogHer conferences.
It was my favorite party too.
So YOU were the one who left that "broke-ass bitches" comment on our Michael Jackson post! heh.
Glad you had fun. And yes, it was about community and fun. *AND* unicorns, of course. :)
Yay I am so glad to read that you had such a great time. It is a post like this that makes me think that someday I will get up the guts and go.
It was a great time, wasn't it? It was awesome to see you again and hopefully we'll get to hang out next year as well!
HOt damn. sounds like it was everything it should be...and also...awwwww. Thanks.
OMG, you RULE! I don't know if you remember me but Celeste introduced us at the BowlHer party----so cool to meet you and so glad to know that you are from around here.
Hi! I, too, was so glad to meet you at the CheeseburgHer party. Thanks for chatting, and YES, I definitely agree there's a post brewing from our conversation. My kid's got amazing eyes, but no exotic name to back herself up. How on earth she's going to have any street cred, I don't know. :)
The cheeseburgher party rocked for the socializing + fun + no swag.
Dang. I didn't even see the deodorant giveaway -- and that's totally my brand so I woulda bashed in some babes to grab a dozen. Good thing I didn't know...
I loved the mamapop party for its all-girl high school senior prom vibe. Or with the unicorns and dress-up props, maybe it's how 7 year old girls would party if they had sponsors. ;-)
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