Attending my first BlogHer conference a little over a week ago gave me terrible flashbacks to the first day of high school. What if no one talks to me? What if I get lost? What if I sit at the wrong table?
As a young, single non-mother at the largest conference for female bloggers, I definitely felt like a fish out of water. BlogHer does a great job at creating a positive environment for moms who blog. It gives them the resources to make connections with scores of impressive companies who want people to publicly review their products. The expo halls gave me the chance to learn which brands are most effective at marketing themselves to their demographic, but I quickly realized there wasn’t much there for me. Single bloggers have no interest in learning about the benefits of organic baby formula or bringing home samples of Huggies. BlogHer has taken strides to acknowledge that bloggers come in all shapes and sizes, with parties like Social Fiesta for Latinabloggers and the Queerosphere for the LGBTQ community. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a gaping hole for those looking to connect with other twenty-somethings who write about dating or finding a job after college or trying to become financially independent.
The Voices of the Year community keynote is a must attend for anyone at BlogHer and it didn’t disappoint. I laughed and I cried, but I could not empathize with someone reading her blog posts on lactation. It will be many years before I can understand the complaints of menopause. In the future, I would love to see BlogHer feature one of the incredible young women that are using their blogs to write about life after a tragic accident that left them paralyzed or the importance of living a life filled with happiness. I may even nominate one myself.
BlogHer is so successful, in part, because it provides countless networking opportunities. I tried to have an open mind, hear what others were passionate about, and start conversations with those around me. I may not have children or fully understand the concept of a “crunchy mom,” but I could definitely talk about the importance of a brand-blogger relationship. I had plenty to share and was eager to learn about what these women had learned from working on a blog.
I left the weekend feeling relieved that I had survived my first major blogger conference, with new insights into web analytics and search engine optimization under my belt. I just couldn’t help wishing that I had more of an opportunity to connect with bloggers who were single, unmarried, and without children.
Have you noticed that some conferences and brands still struggle to engage the “non-mom” blogger?
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