Let me begin by saying what an amazing time I had at BlogHer 09, and how vividly I remember staring at my computer screen longingly last summer as the tweets flew by. But as a new blogger who’d just spent a chunk of change getting up and running, it didn’t make sense. So I was thrilled to be finally meeting many of the blog friends and heroes I’ve come to know through their posts.
Maybe it’s always been like this, or maybe a year made a big difference. But there was a lot of tension, and some full-on drama, surrounding some of the events and personalities at BlogHer. It can almost overshadow the good when viewed online. After all, negative events make for better, more dramatic tweets. But it would be a shame if that were all that came across from BlogHer 09. Telling Dad did an incredibly cool song that pretty much sums all of that mess up. He does it so well, I won’t drag you through my blow by blow. (Literally!) Watch this, and then come back after the jump for the upside.
So. A bunch of mommy blogger swag hos, whacking each other over sex toys and laundry detergent, and aggressively bleating their sponsor info at unsuspecting fellow attendees. Maybe, but wait, there’s more.
I was a mic wrangler for the International Activist Scholarship Panel. I watched in awe as the women, from vastly different backgrounds and countries, shared one common theme: a mission to use their voices to lift up their communities.
I thought of what the dollars spent on swag could do for their countries, and envisioned a future partnership where sponsors delegate some of their conference budget to the scholarship recipient’s causes, or causes by American blogger activists. And where the International Activist Scholarship honorees are put front and center at the Community Keynote, because they deserved to be seen and heard by everyone. They came from across the world, and it was sad to know folks were sprawled in the aisles in some of the business panels down the hall.
I was thrilled to see BlogHer founders Lisa Stone and Elisa Camahort in the session, and I honor their commitment to the program. But, as one American woman stood up and said as tears ran down her face, “They deserve to be in the ballroom- people need to hear this. WE NEED TO HEAR THIS.”
I agree, and am so grateful that I was in that room. I don’t know that I would have been, had I not been assigned it. I may have been off trying to learn some more branding or marketing or packaging or what have you, and while I know there’s a place for that, I think there’s a place for so much more, as well.
The entitlement of some individuals around snatching free items was disheartening. All that people are entitled to is air, food, water and shelter, and you know what, swag hags? You’re in a little slice of the world where most of us have those things. We’re pretty lucky. It was amazing to see women where much different circumstances are a reality, and the dignity they emanated.
But I really believe there were more community minded people at BlogHer than materially, and many bloggers, marketers and PR professionals I met were absolutely wonderful. I’ll be in NYC in 2010 for sure.
I’m also taking a step to make sure it’s clear which side of the mommy blogger divide I fall on. I’ve placed a “Blog WIth Integrity” badge in my sidebar. It’s about adhering to basic print journalistic standards regarding disclosures and product receipt, and letting readers know that’s my practice. As a working print journalist, I always have disclosed on this site, I just want to make it even more apparent.
Thanks to the amazing women who are leading the charge in bringing the pendulum back to center- Susan Getgood, Liz Gumbinner, Kristen Chase, and Julie Marsh. You saw an issue that many have lamented, and gave others a concrete step in the right direction. That makes you community activists of a sort, and I appreciate you using your megaphones for more than your own gain.
WIthout further ado, I bring you the International Activists:
Annie Zaidi, India
Blog Mission:”to use writing to force people to rethink positions or examine established ideas, and to break stereotypes about certain communities or groups based on gender, religion or race.”
Blog Mission: “The mission of this blog is to strive to show indigenous communities as a source of pride. There are a lot of misconceptions about indigenous people, and Cristina shows a more personal side and uses her own voice to represent other members of indigenous communities in the Bolivian Altiplano.”
Blog Mission:”To provoke more thorough examination and investigation of gender and equality issues. She also writes a weekly series highlighting other women around the globe who are committed to helping women.”
Pilirani Semu-Banda, Malawi
Blog Mission:”To bring awareness and change to Malawi’s social and economical problems. Some development projects have been kick-started based on stories published on the blog, including the improvement of monitoring programs to get rid of child labour in the tobacco industry and an increase of treatment to women suffering from fistula.”
Thanks for hanging through this loooooooong post. Check those ladies out, please- they’re amazing.
I greatly appreciate my partial sponsor for BlogHer, Daymon Worldwide, a nationally renowned private food label marketer. I appreciated even more them “getting” this space so deeply that it’s about a conversation between brand and blogger, and not expecting evangelizing at the conference. Thank you!
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