BlogHer 09, The Overview

I took the official post-BlogHer '09 survey yesterday, so I guess it's time to stop fooling around and post my thoughts.

Honestly, they're so many and varied, I'm afraid I'll bore and/or overwhelm myself by posting them. And I haven't yet had a brilliant idea for breaking them up.

And that's no fun!

I had an epiphany while doing the survey, though. I had to choose how I felt about the conference overall, and realized that overall, my experience was more positive than negative. Until that moment, I honestly wasn't sure how I felt.

I'd expected more of a content focus, more how-to, especially in the ideas-for-how-to-monetize area. Perhaps I simply attended the wrong sessions. At one point I felt I had to pick either the Expo OR the afternoon sessions, and rereading the titles perhaps that was where I missed out. I really enjoyed the Expo, though!

There was something about BlogHer that I’m having trouble describing. It was a taste of another world, a glimpse of another life … a chance to just talk and connect with other women, a time to not be isolated.

I felt important to fellow bloggers and to the sponsors just for being who I am, in a way that being at home just doesn't give me.

I'm going to break up my specific impressions into different posts by day -- as much for me to remember as for anyone else to read it. But if you do read them, I hope you'll get a glimpse of how fun it was to be part of that community in person, however brief it was.

I may not go every year in the future, but next year's an easy yes since it's in NYC, yay!