Heading to BlogHer conference this week in sunny (or actually rainy) Orlando, Florida! Will I see you there?! I’m excited, a little nervous and overall pumped to see all of my blogging amigas and amigos (yes, men attend this conference as well). While I’m mingling and networking in my social shares and infinite selfies with said friends, I’m going with a plan in mind. When it comes to conferences you have to have a plan even if it’s your 10th event or 1st. I’m sharing a few tips on how to be conference ready. Let’s get ready for BlogHer!
Conference Prep
How does one prepare for a blogging conference? Well as I type this I’m actually stopping and making a grab of my business cards. I’m always afraid I’ll have too many cards, but just when I think that I need to hand one out and I can’t. So take a good number of them. I was reading in the Facebook group that don’t feel like you need to bring 500 cards. First of all that’s an insane about of cards, do I have 500 -oh yeah I do. Do I want to carry 500 cards with me? Heck no! Let’s be practical. But just to be safe, if you want bring the box with you, pull out a good bit and leave the rest in your room. You can always go back and grab more.
Back to the prep, this is going be quick so I’m going to bullet it for you:
- Choose the bag you’ll be carrying (Consider what you’ll be carrying: laptop, phones, battery back up packs, camera)
- Take all of your charging cables and back up batteries. (Carry in said bag)
- Site mainteanance (Some bloggers tend to clean up their sites bc agencies that liked you in person will be following up with a visit to your site and social channels.)
- Bring your media kits (I have never brought media kit to a conference but I have seen some nifty post card sized media kits that also serve as a business card. They are nice bc they have more room to tell about your site.)
- If you are going alone reach out to a fellow blogger you know that’s also attending. Make plans to ensure you’ll learn lots and have mucho fun!
- Dress your best (If this means jeans and a t-shirt, then you rock the hell out of it. The best advice is be comfortable and be you. Just don’t come like you’ve been at the park all day with your kids, sorry-not-sorry.) My dad gave me this tip, “Don’t dress for the job you have, dress for the job you want.” While I can be slouchy sometimes, I always try to look my best when at events. Even if my hair isn’t behaving. 😉
- Get ready to talk or not. The only way you can make connections is by talking. Prepare your elevator pitch. What do you write about and why? Be prepared to repeat that over and over again too. But hey, if you love what you do, it’ll come naturally to you. If you decide not to talk I hope you get everything you need from the sessions.
- Download the app! Yes, there’s an app for the event and if you don’t download it and you loose the agenda you’re going to be lost. Ok maybe not completely but it’s easy to have in your hand since you’ll be tweeting, snapping, facebooking and instagramming anyways!
- Put on a happy face (or at least try to). If you look upset, folks are less likely to come and say hello. I realize conferences can be very chaotic and nerve-wrecking but if you are feeling the pressure 9 times out of 10 so is another person.
So this isn’t everything, I’ll have to write up a new post on just conferences and how to make the best of them. I’ll probably get some new tips from this event too. We are always learning and I think that’s what I love so much about this industry. Overall I just want you to enjoy yourself, learn a few things and if you are walk out of BlogHer with a paid contract you can walk out proud. You did good.
If you see me, please say hello. I’ll most likely say hi to break the ice and to be pleasant. 🙂 Follow along the #BlogHer17 hashtag and see what I’ll be up to. On Sunday I will be heading to Animal Kingdom to visit Pandora: World of Avatar! I’m super excited to have been invited and I can’t wait to share it with you!
Question:
What’s your best tip when attending a conference or large convention?
Cheers!
Candy
