5 Tips To Prepare for a Blogger Conference

BlogHer17 starts tomorrow, and this Latina blogger is so friggin’ excited.

This is actually my first conference as a blogger. Can you believe it?

I’ve been to online marketing conferences left and right, but I only really started blogging about a year ago. I wanted to get the work in before I started hitting a blogging conference.

The catalyst for my blogging was my brother’s passing. I needed an outlet to deal with all the emotional bruhaha that was swirling inside me.

I’m not much of a talker of feelings, so I wrote.

I can’t begin to tell you what a wonderful form of therapy and healing it can be. And I did it publicly because I wanted to challenge myself and offer it up for someone else who may be dealing with the same issues to hopefully find.

The blogging took off and I decided to make it a real part of my life and business.

This brings me to preparing for BlogHer 2017. I was scheduled to attend a few other blogging conferences before this, but I had an injury that kept me from major travel for a few months. So to say I am excited can’t even begin to describe my mindset right now.

Why BlogHer

Why did I choose BlogHer?

It encompasses several things I look for in a conference.

• A defined audience that I can relate to and find ways to work with.
• Sponsors I want to meet and do business with.
• Things I may want to learn, such as the latest in video streaming and monetization.

Being Type A and a planner, I prep quite a bit for any conference I attend. Here are my 5 tips on planning for a conference.

Tip 1: Get your stuff ready

You need stuff. Not a lot, but enough to be prepared. Here is my list:

• Tons of business cards. You may only give out 5 or you may end up giving out 200. Either way, you need to be prepared for the 200. I never leave to any show without at least a pack of 500.
• Make sure your cards have white space on the back. This one gets me every time. You will meet a lot of people. You will not remember most of them or the specifics of the conversations you have unless you have a photographic memory. Therefore, you will want to write down easy-to-remember notes on their business card so that they can jog your memory when it’s time for follow-up. So do other attendees, and if you have no white space on your cards, they have nowhere to write their notes.
• Comfortable clothes and shoes. You can get as classy, groovy and creative as you want with your outfits. But please please please, wear comfy shoes. You will remember me saying this if you don’t. It took me years of pain and suffering through conferences in amazing yet brutal high heels for it to finally sink in. I now refuse to wear anything that doesn’t make my feet sing.
• Snacks. Some conferences really thing things through and provide excellent meals and snacks and refreshments. However, you will always find a moment where the crash will hit you. If you’re like me, you are in Energizer bunny mode and then your body says, “Wait a sec, you need water or food.” Bring a snack bar, some nuts and a bottled water with you EVERYWHERE.
• Notepad. You will want to do some brain dumping from the day’s meetings. Bring a notepad or iPad or laptop or use your phone; whatever you need to do this. Getting it all down while it’s fresh in your mind is priceless.

That is what a conference is for, networking. So get your networking hat on and just do it.

Tip 2: Join The Facebook Group

All conferences send out emails and newsletters with updates, but they also have Facebook groups where you can get the latest updates. This is important if there are sponsored events you may want to attend and the seating is limited.

This is also where you will meet and mingle with other attendees, see the next tip.

Tip 3: Learn about the other attendees

Social media’s awesomeness lends itself very well to conferences. Where else can you learn about the other attendees without becoming a bonafide stalker?

I look for attendees that I may want to collaborate with or just meet and I start the conversation.

 

Tip4: Reach out to Sponsors

This is the easiest way to connect with a business you may want to work with, so find out how to get in touch with them and each out.

I usually check the sponsor lists on the conference website and make a list of who I really want to meet along with my goals for that meeting.

Then I connect with them on social media to make sure I’m up-to-date on anything I need to know about them.

Also, if there is an app for the event, I will connect with them through the app.

I always try to connect with them and reach out before the conference and with the hopes of setting up a designated meeting time.

Tip 5: Set up a meetup.

This is my favorite one. I always set up a meet up with like-minded attendees that I want to get to know. Listen, you have to let go of the fear of meeting new people. Every single person there is attending for the EXACT SAME REASON that you are. They want to meet fellow creators, meet brands to work with and learn new things.

I will be meeting with some awesome fellow Latina bloggers and creators at this show during a meetup I coordinated. It’s not sponsored or fancy, just a bunch of like-minded attendees getting together.

That is what a conference is for, networking. So get your networking hat on and just do it.

If you are going, hit me up. I’d love to say hi!

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5 Cool Techie Products to Geek Out Over

As you probably already know, I’m a geek.

Now, I’m not your typical comic book reading geek, although I’ve been known to read some here and there.

I’m more of an everything techie, especially online tech kinda geek.

I read through Techcrunch, Gizmodo and ProductHunt like most of my girlfriends read through Cosmo and Vogue. I’m the annoying friend who comes to a dinner party and brings up the latest in AI (Artificial Intelligence). Sometimes it goes over well and other times I get the spaced out, nobody cares looks.

Don’t get me wrong, I can enjoy Vogue, I mean, what girl doesn’t like a good lipstick or a rockin’ pair of heels right? But I generally don’t get all excited about those things the way I do with tech.

I figured, today would be the day I shared a few of my favorite finds.

Apple Introduces Augmented Reality for iPhone

If you’ve heard anything about AR or Augmented Reality, it’s generally about the pricey headsets that have been getting all the press. While those are very cool, they are still out of reach for the general consumer as far as the price goes.  Everyone needs a device that everyone has access to, so Apple decided to put their hat in the race and announce their AR initiative at the 2017 WWDC (World Wide Developer’s Conference).

Check out this CNBC article, Apple’s new software is a game changer for augmented reality, experts say for more details.

Then you have to also think about what this means for Facebook who is banking a lot on AR. Think about this; Apple controls the mobile platform that Facebook users use to access the social network.

Here’s a cool story on the implications by TechCruch, Apple undercuts Facebook in the augmented reality platform war.

Planet of  The Apps

I’m a  huge Gary V fan. He is a tech entrepreneur who just dishes out truth bombs like most of us breathe. He has also launched a new show called Planet of The Apps on Apple.

The show features app developers pitching their apps to a panel consisting of Jessica Alba, Will I Am, Gwenyth Paltrow and Gary Vaynerchuck in a Shark Tankesque format.

Drone Racing is a Thing

I love drones and what they can do for us in every capacity. I also know there are tons of issues with privacy and airspace. What I didn’t know was that there is an actual league now for drone racing. It’s an actual THING.

The Drone Racing League, aptly named, has raised over $32M in funding. If you think that’s nuts, did you know that last season over 72 million fans tuned in to watch the races?

It’s straight outta TRON people!

Check out the video and you’ll see why it’s so exciting.

Baby Food Delivery Service

With the onslaught of organic food delivery services, it was just a matter of time before someone launched an organic baby food delivery service. That’s what Yumi, a Los Angeles-based company did, to the tune of a $4.1 million seed investment.

I have to say that I would have totally paid for this service when my kiddos were babies. I was lucky enough to have a Cuban mom make the food from scratch.

They are launching in California with no competition, but there is a competitor in New York called Little Spoon. It’s the Uber versus Lyft for baby food delivery services.

 

Bobby Bizz Backpack

I hate laptop bags.

If they are useful, they look terrible and if they look fabulous, they are bad functionally.

Then there is the “hey I’m carrying my entire business on my person” security aspect.

The Bobby Biz briefcase-backpack looks great, has a ton of storage options and most importantly, is secure. Check out the video. You’ll love how they handle needing to get a latte at the coffee shop without lugging everything to the counter like I always find myself doing.

There you have it. This list could easily be dozens of items, but then this post would be too long and boring. We both know there’s no time for that nonsense.

I have to get back to work and so do you!

I’d love to hear which one was your favorite.

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Discovery at the Virginia Living Museum