Posted by Laurie | June 14th, 2009

Ok, so quite some time back I bought my conference pass to BlogHer 09 and set the wheels in motion to attend my very first blogging conference. At the time of initial planning we were thinking of making it a family trip but since we took the family trip to Disneyland, it’s going to be just me going to Chicago in just a few short weeks! I’m a little anxious to take this trip I have to admit. I’m excited to meet so many people in real life, but the truth is that I’m more of a reader than a commenter (trying to change that) and I haven’t interacted that much with some of the bloggers whose work I admire and respect. I suspect it’s going to be a bit overwhelming meeting so many people in such a short space of time and I’m going to have to work really hard to overcome my shyness in such situations (not shy overall, but when first meeting people I tend to turn beet red and get a little tongue-tied, ack!) So I’m trying to be as fully prepared as I possibly can to help alleviate some of my anxiety. I’ve got my flight booked, my hotel booked, business cards ordered, map routes printed out for doing a little sightseeing, learned about taking the train from the airport to downtown and even signed up to do a 5K walk the first morning of BlogHer! I’ve learned a little about BlogHer parties and am really excited to be going to the Type A Momfluence one on Friday night where I will meet some of the other Type A mom editors and writers!! I’ve also prepped by reading a pile of blog posts about BlogHer (past ones and posts from people planning for this year), like:

• How I Would Do BlogHer differently from Nothing But Bonfires
• Getting Ready for BlogHer by Keeper of the Cheerios
• BlogHer ‘06: The good, the bad and the mildly obnoxious from Tiffany B. Brown
• What’s In Your Travelling Bag by Virginia DeBolt

And of course I regularly do a twitter search for #blogher to try and tweet with other people who are going to the conference!! So what else do I need to do to prepare for BlogHer? Suggestions really, really appreciated!!

Tags: 09, blogher, chicago, momfluence, parties, Type A Mom