BlogHer for a Newbie

Today was the first full day of the BlogHer Conference. Now in it's 11th year, the leading conference for bloggers and the brands that want to work with them, all converged on the San Diego Convention Center. That's where I was, too. Half party, half educational sessions, I was a little overwhelmed at first. I started the day walking the expo hall where I saw the Pringles mascot - the mascot of my cupboard since I was a kid.

I then passed through the P&G booth, which was the recreation of a home, complete with giant toilet! I then hit the Egglands Best booth, where I played a slot machine and won a plush "egg" for my 4 year old. Other booth visits included Glad, where they unveiled plastic containers with a built in compartment for dressing, dips or sauces! This had to be one of the best take- home tchotkes of all! Look for them in stores this fall. The Post-It company gave away purses that held post-its, which I knew my wife would like.

Hallmark had a special suite where you could pick a greeting card and they'd mail it off for you - complete with postage. They also raffled off a library of their recorded-book library - all 17! Skinny Cow handed out ice cream and chocolate candy. There was a Hot Wheels suite that was showing their new hot tracks, Hot Wheels tracks that actually mount on the wall! Kids will get a kick out of seeing their cars to loop-de-loops and more practically in the air!

Hershey's had a cozy suite that allowed people to actually make s'mores onsite!

And the Jimmy Dean Sun was on hand to great bloggers as well.

ChapStick handed out my wife's favorite item from the conference - apple flavored chap stick. My wife immediately applied it and began kissing our entire family! She kept saying how it reminded her of Bonnie Bell from her childhood, but that it had the thickness of the Chap Stick that she is addicted to. Aside from the brands, as blogger newbies (can't you tell we're new from the photographs?? - I actually forgot left my iphone and camera at home!) we attended several of the conferences that spoke about the business of blogging, the fun and personal side of blogging, content creation and more. There were also sessions hosted by leading brands whose marketing executives talked about how bloggers - even the smallest - could partner with brands on product reviews, though leadership and more. There were also several sessions that featured leading media folks, including one panel that included reporters from the Huffington Post and The Hollywood Reporter. The conference runs through Saturday and apparently there are a lot of "celebrities" coming on Saturday as brand spokespeople. My wife was excited about celebrity trainer Bob Harper, but we returned home today so she'll miss out. Anyway, it was quite an adventure.