blogher

UPDATED: Logistics (Hotels, Airports, etc.)

Here's what you need to know about the conference location, airports, hotels, transportation and even babysitting for BlogHer Conference '05:

Birds of a Feather Meet-ups

This is a thread to discuss the Birds of a Feather (BOF) sessions. Here's what we envision taking place, and we look to your comments to help us shape the sessions to better meet the needs of the group.

Read on...

BlogHer Debate: Does the current link-based power structure matter?

The first joint session after our Welcome and Kick-off discussion of why we're all there will be a debate:

Does the current link-based power structure matter to you?

"Link-based power structure"? Yeah, it's a mouthful, and it refers to today's measures of influence, from Google ranking to the Technorati Top 100. Some are saying this measures not only influence, but even credibility!

And does that matter?

There is a contingent that thinks Definitely Yes!
There is a contingent that thinks No Way!

I want to hear what they both have to say...read more...

How to Be Naked

Are you interested in how other bloggers manage the adulation, the flaming, the realities of a two-way conversation? This is a topic that we'd like to refine and present at BlogHerCon.

I'm commonly asked these questions by people who read my blog:

• Has your boyfriend left you yet? (Translation: How do the people close to you feel about you writing about them?)
• Did you really "quit" your job? (Translation: Did your boss read your blog, where you hinted for months that you were going to quit, and pave your path to self-employment?)
• How's your relationship to your mother? (Translation: Do you mind that she posts comments to your blog that embarrass the hell out of you?)

It has occurred to me that these are not questions confined to my situation, but to many bloggers who write personal content. Sure, blogs have combined the personal with the professional more than any medium, but they are also recalibrating our definition of personal. Salon writer and blogger Ayelet Waldman writes about how discussing her suicidal thoughts on her blog traumatized her kids. Even I--the blogging equivalent of a compulsive streaker--had to say, "Woman, enough!"

Do-ocracy: What will you do with a room of your own?

Update: Do-ocracy has begun! Sign up for a Room of Your Own here.

How do you subvert the dominant hierarchy?

You give up control. That's one of the things I want to do at BlogHer's July 30 conference.

Here's how: Welcome to "The Room of Your Own" a part of BlogHer's conference run by, for and of women attending.

Why? Because being audacious enough to suggest we hold this thing, doesn't mean I think I know what you want. So the room of your own is a testament to BlogHer's mission to community-based education and exposure.

Yes, we're still planning a full conference with speakers and trainers and an uber-schedule. But in this way, BlogHer is a do-ocracy. As in do-it-yourself. Is there something you want to talk about at BlogHer's Conference '05? Do it! Do it here. Tell the community and they'll come. Or help! Starting in the comments section on this post right now,

Note: BlogHer is reserving a fully equipped, large conference discussion room for you to organize, time and plan your own sessions or discussions or meet-ups. It'll be available all day, with tables and microphones and coffee and everything else -- solely for this purpose.

So let 'er rip...

The BlogHer Closing Session: Taking BlogHer Home

I asked in my original post introducing the concept of BlogHer Conference:

What would be measurable success? If we had a BlogHer Conference again in a year what would cause us to pat ourselves on the back and say "job well done"?

The closing session is partly to help us all figure out how to answer that question for ourselves. Read more...

Volunteers: Sign up for free live-blogging scholarships here

Update as of 7.12.05 - Thank you for your interest! We are very happy to report that we (make that Elisa Camahort and Mir Verburg, who worked very hard on this program) have filled all our BlogHerShip opportunities for Conference 2005. Please don't hesitate to add your name below if you'd like to be considered for 2006. -- Lisa

-----Original post:

When we announce the BlogHer Conference '05 schedule on May 1, we're going to be looking for a few dozen obsessive-compulsive live-bloggers. Note: I am particularly interested in getting people to blog the opening and closing sessions in languages other than English.

Here's the scoop: We'll pay for your $99 conference--yup, you get in FREE--if you commit to live blog one or more sessions.

There's only one hitch: We're not casual about this. You gotta be committed--we are using these live-blogs posts to archive the conference for women around the world who cannot be with us on July 30. So when you put the post up on your site, that day, it's got to be a gorgeous record of she said/she said.

Interested? Please provide your email and site link below or email one of the BlogHer team (Elisa, Jory, Purvi or me) and put "Volunteer" in the subject line. Thanks.

Sponsors

We're sorry, sponsorships for BlogHer Conference '05 are closed. If you're interested in sponsoring our 2006 conference, please contact Jory Des Jardins. Thanks for your interest and support.