I am SOOO excited to be heading to Blogger Bash in New York City in just a few short weeks!

That’s right, the awesome folks at Acorn Influence are sending me to the Blogger Bash blogging conference in Manhattan July 13 & 14. As an added bonus, the event is being held on the Majesty yacht docked at Pier 81. That’s right–it’s a blogging conference on a yacht. Pretty awesome!

So at this point you may be thinking “Jenn. . . why do we care? What’s the big deal about attending a blogging conference anyway? Why are you so excited?”.

I’m glad you asked!

5 Benefits of Attending a Blogging Conference

1. Blogging conferences are fun.

Let’s get this one out of the way first. It’s just plain fun to go to a blogging conference. You get to go to interesting places and visit. Unlike a conference for, oh, let’s say accountants, the goal of the conference planners and sponsors is usually to make things fun and visually interesting. After all, they want the bloggers and brands to come away with great stories to tell and beautiful photographs to share about the experience. There are usually parties, theme events, celebrity meet and greets, and even an occasional concert! AT Blogger Bash 2016, I’ll be attending the Care Bears Share Your Care Brunch, Peanuts Keynote Lunch (with a panel of voice actors from the new Peanuts movie), the Sweet Suite ( a night of play with top toy companies like Jakks Pacific where we get to see the 2016 holiday toys before they hit the shelves) and tons more.

Like I said, fun!

2. Blogging conferences provide professional development.

Wrapped up in all that fun is actually a lot of learning. I’ve learned a lot at the various conferences I’ve attended over the years from the speakers (PR professionals, agency representatives, brands, bloggers, and more). Things like how to pitch a brand, growing your readership & followers, how to run the business side of your business, best practices for social networking sites, information about the latest and greatest services or tools, how to improve your photography, what the hottest new trends in the social media space are. . . you get the idea.

While I always learn great things in the sessions, sometimes I learn even more in the hallways and coffee lines. That’s where another blogger might give you a tip that’s worth the whole trip. For example, a conference was where I learned about PicMonkey–the service I use to edit my photos online–from another blogger. Other times it’s just been the encouragement of another blogger to try out that idea that I’ve been mulling over for months.

3. Blogging conferences get you energized & excited about blogging.

You can get into a bit of a rut in any job, and blogging is no different. There are days when it’s a grind. Sure, you can just write when you feel like it–but then you don’t have a business, you have a hobby. There’s nothing wrong with that of course–hobby bloggers are wonderful too! But when your blog is a business that is helping to support your household, you need to have some consistency to get those statistics the brands are looking for so that people will pay you to do what you do. That means sometimes you’ve got to write when you aren’t in the mood to write. It happens.

Attending a conference can get you out of the rut. Being surrounded by folks who actually understand what you do (a rarity at home), who are sharing tips and ideas, who are all excited about what they do. . . it has a natural effect of getting YOU excited again. You can take that feeling home with you and use it to jump start your next post or project.

4. Blogging conferences connect you with other bloggers.

The internet is a big place–it’s easy for folks to be rather anonymous–not because they lack personality, but because we are consuming so much information online that frankly it’s hard to keep everyone straight. I am constantly researching topics that interest me and reading various blogs, but usually I’ve gotten there because of a pin I saw on Pinterest or the results of a Google search. Like many readers these days, I don’t necessarily follow a specific blogger and read everything they write (although I’m thrilled to have those of you who do follow me regularly–YOU ROCK!!)

Meeting a blogger in person really solidifies their blog and personality in my mind. And let’s face it–most folks who decide to blog do so because they are passionate about something and have the desire and drive to share it with the world. That makes them pretty interesting people to meet and hang out with. Yes–blogger in general are just fun people!

The biggest value of connecting with other bloggers in person is the long term relationships you can build. Some of my very closest friends now are bloggers that I met for the first time at a conference or on a brand trip. I have in particular a small group of women who I chat with online almost daily (and have for years) about blogging and life–asking advice, sharing information, giving support. It’s invaluable. Other bloggers I’ve met may not have such a long lasting or frequent relationship–but that personal connection has led to interesting collaborations and opportunities.

5. Blogging conferences are fantastic for networking with brands.

Finally, conferences really can open doors with brands. If you feel like the internet is big, imagine being a brand trying to figure out what bloggers to work with. It isn’t like there is a master list somewhere. It’s kind of like being single, moving to a big city and diving into the dating scene. Where do you go? How do you meet folks? Are you more likely to go on a date with a stranger your neighbor sets you up with, someone on tinder, or a person you met at the park and had an interesting conversation with. I don’t know about you–but I’d go for the interesting person I met and felt a connection with (if I was dating that is. Which I’m not–I’m very happily married thank you!). And if instead you decided to do none of the above but just sit home watching Netflix. . . well, you wouldn’t exactly expect prince charming to show up on your front door looking for you, would you?

Brands are at blogging conferences because they WANT to meet bloggers and develop relationships with them. Having the opportunity to speak with the brand representatives can put you on their radar and lead to future work and collaboration. I’ve gotten many sponsored posts, review opportunities and even invitations to events from the folks I met and interacted with at conferences.

Do I have you convinced that attending a conference like the BloggerBash 2016 in Manhattan is a good idea? Well then I’ve got a deal for you! There is still time to !

I’m so excited to be going and would love to see some of you there! (If you are another blogger who is going please let me know!)

As if the conference itself wasn’t enough, Jakks Toys, one of the major sponsors, sent me a big huge box this week with some of the toys we’ll be seeing at the Suite Sweet 16 on the first night. It’s so neat to receive these things before they are even available in stores! Included were:

Max Cliff Climber : a remote control car which can climb over anything and pull up to 150 lbs

XPV RC Skateboarding Mikey This is a remote controlled skateboarding Michelangelo from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It does spins and of course says phrases like “Kowabunga”.

Magical Wand Cinderella a beautiful princess doll that sings, says phrases and has her dress light up magically with either the press of her necklace or

and. . .

well, I can’t tell you about the last one because information about it hasn’t even been released yet! I will tell you that it’s sure to be a hot, collectable, trade-able toy!

Buddy and I couldn’t resist immediately taking the XPV RC Skateboarding Mikey out for a spin. My son wasn’t sure why I was so excited about it. Hey, I’m an 80’s kid who was in highschool when the originals came out (you know, back when we only had a few channels and cable TV didn’t even come out to where I lived in the country). Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was just campy enough that a respectable highschooler could still watch it. I may have even caught an occasional episode as a college student. . .

I am attending Blogger Bash 2016 as an Acorn Ambassador. Products from JAKKS were sent to me to use and test at no cost, my thoughts and opinions are my own.

Save