After I arrived home from BlogHer, I was an exhausted mess. I will never forget the memories I made and the people I met, but I was also very overwhelmed and just plain, done. With over 5,000 attendees and multiple events to attend at any given time, it is no wonder I ran out of energy. There were days I forgot to eat until dinner time.
I have only been to three different conferences so far – BlogHer, Bloggy Boot Camp, and Type A Conference. So I asked my friends to share their thoughts on the other ones I wanted to attend – Blissdom, Disney Social Media Moms, Digital Family Summit and Mom 2.0.
Please share in the comments what your favorite conference is so far. I’d love to hear why you liked it!
Type A Con 2013 – September 27-29
Ticket Cost: $247
Location: Atlanta, GA
Type A Conference is focused on two main things: education and networking. When you attend, you can expect to come away with more knowledge than you will know how to put into practice, new friends for life, and contacts with companies that want to work with bloggers. I have attended Type A every year since 2010 (this year I missed due to a family camp out) and learned new strategies each time. Organizer Kelby Carr plans the conference with enough time between sessions to allow you to network with brands and fellow bloggers. In my opinion, it is one you will always be thankful you attended.
Emily Vanek from Colorado Moms is just as in love with this conference as I am. “[It is] The ONLY conference that I can come back from with actual leads, contracts and actionable items.”
Location – Laguna Niguel, CA
Cost – $300 (tickets go on sale September 2012)
Mom 2.0 is focused on enhancing the trade of blogging. Brands attend with the purpose of meeting bloggers to hire for projects. Speakers are uniquely experienced and you will have the chance to mingle and network with professional bloggers and learn from their experience.
Jill Berry, from Musings From Me, said it was the “highlight of my blogging career. It was at Mom 2.0 that I started seeing my self as a professional.”
Lisa Douglas (Crazy Adventures in Parenting), agrees. She said the ticket price was a worthwhile investment because she made money through the brands she met. “I met with two brands who set me up with contracts as a result of meeting them there. One on one brand interaction, absolutely! In fact, I still talk to those brands to this day.”
Cost – $298 (registration opens September 1st)
Location – Chicago
In 2012, BlogHer broke their own records with over 5,000 bloggers attending their conference and the biggest names speaking – President Obama, Martha Stewart and Katie Couric, to name a few.
BlogHer is so large that it is whatever you make it to be. It is part trade show, part educational conference, part party scene and part business networking. It is the only conference I have been too that kept me so busy I forgot to eat. Whether it is the right conference for you is entirely up to you. Since it is so large, you have a greater chance of feeling alone in a crowd and meeting up with friends is difficult. The sessions were standing room only and even the Martha Stewart lunch keynote was so packed people ate their food on the floor.
Location – Dallas, TX
Cost – $299
I have heard from friends that Blissdom is a very inspiring conference – one that reignites your love for blogging. It splits sessions into different tracks so you can find exactly what you need from each educational seminar. It has grown over the years but still maintains the intimate, encouraging conference it started out as.
Stacie from The Divine Miss Mommy gushed about this conference. “I liked that it was a ‘women’s blog conference developed by bloggers for bloggers.’ And it is larger but the sessions are still relevant to me and I enjoyed the speakers.” If you are new to blogging, you will catch the passion from the speakers and fall in love. If you are more experienced, there are tracks just for you and you will totally love the “blissfully” wonderful atmosphere.
Bloggy Boot Camps 2012 – See Schedule (next one is Sept. 15th in Dallas)
Cost – $99
Locations – next 2012 locations are Dallas and Vegas.
The SITS girls made an affordable one-day conference that moves across the country. If you are new to blogging or just want to get away for a day to see your blog friends, this is an excellent one to go to. Whenever someone that is new to blogging asks me what conference to start with I always suggest BBC. It is within your budget and gives you the foundational knowledge you need to grow you blog from hobby to business.
I spoke at Bloggy Boot Camp St. Louis this year and thought it was a super relaxed and fun conference. I really enjoyed the chance to share my experience with gals that were thinking of buying their first domain.
Digital Family Summit 2012 – June 29th – July 1st
Location (in 2012, ’13 not announced yet) – Philedelphia
Cost – $200
Digital Family Summit was created for families with teens and tweens who are interested in digital media. Dresden from Creating Motherhood couldn’t hide her appreciation for this conference. “Great size, great location, great concept…It was cool to see the children of bloggers, the ones that grew up within our tech, getting to learn along side of us.”
Lolli Franklin from Better in Bulk agreed. ” I LOVED seeing bloggers in their element WITH their kids. And I loved sharing that part of my work with my 13 year old.”
So if you have a child interested in blogging, be on the lookout for next year’s conference!
Blogalicious 2012 – September 28-30th
Location – Las Vegas
Cost – $275
Blogalicious is described as a conference that embraces diversity in digital media. This conference is all about the community and beauty in our differences.
Jessica McFadden, from A Parent in America, fell in love with this conference. “I like that the conference is based upon goals I personally find essential: building community amongst women online, informing businesses about the importance of diversity and women in social media, and giving bloggers practical business growth strategies.”
If community building and diversity are at the top of your passions for blogging, then Blogalicious is created just for you.
EVO 2012 – July 12-14th (2013 not announced yet) 
Location – Park City, UT
Cost – (last minute price) $399
EVO stands for “The Evolution of Women in Media.” It is a smaller conference with hands on workshops and plenty of opportunities to speak one-on-one with industry professionals and PR/marketing representatives.
It is set in the gorgeous hills of Utah and in addition to hands-on sessions there are plenty of opportunities for relationship building through activities at the resort.
Jessica Rosenberg from It’s My Life shared why she loves going every single year. “Evo is a wonderful smaller conference that really caters to food, craft, photography and journaling bloggers, though any blogger will get something out of the truly star quality keynotes and the high level interactive sessions.”
Other smaller conferences – dates and links
Be on the lookout for other conferences – I know I did not cover them all! Below you will find links to a few other conferences that are smaller and worth learning about.
Niche Mommy Conference - August 23-26th – New Orleans
Bloggy Conference – September 27-29 – Cincinnati Ohio
Brands & Bloggers Summit – July 21st, 2012 – Chicago
Disney Social Media Moms – 2013 not announced yet – Walt Disney World – Invitation Only
Keep chatting with local bloggers for other conferences that are close to you! I know Social Media Clubs are a fabulous way to network with local professionals and there are local blog groups putting on smaller meetups all the time.
What is your favorite conference every year?
{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
Food Media Forum was my favorite – for selfish reasons
I’m really grateful for this post. I want to attend some other conferences next year, but I just assumed they would all be too far away. I’m interested in going to Blissdom and Blogher next year, but now I’m also really interested in TypeACon.
Thank you Laura! I didn’t quite get to the niche conferences – that should totally be a follow up post. I really think everyone should look hard for local niche conferences to attend. Food Media Forum was amazing and I loved it :O)
I’m really hoping to attend Type-A now that it’s a new date, when it was in June it always conflicted with my little one’s birthday. It sounds like a great place for learning and networking!
I totally agree – September works soooo much better than June! And yes, Type A is top notch for education. It was at Type A that I became friends with Janice from 5 Minutes for Mom
Great post! I agree the Type-A is the top of my list for learning and making great bloggy friends. I also had a blast at Blissdom this past year. I had to cancel my Type -A, Disney, Reviewers Retreat and BlogHer this year though because of my baby but I can’t wait to hit them next year!
I’d love to hear more about Blissdom! From what I hear it is known for being encouraging, emotionally energizing and a place to fall back in love with blogging. What else am I missing?
BlogHer ’12 was my first blogging conference (!) so I really jumped in all at once. This is a really great post for me to read, since it helped me sort through the other conferences that are out there and think about which ones might also be useful for me to attend. Very cool. Thanks!
I am so glad you found this helpful! Please let me know if you have questions about specific conferences and I will hunt down the answers.
I haven’t been to any conference – YET!
I was all set to go to Bloggy Boot Camp in Dallas, but something popped up and I had to sell my ticket.
I am going to Blissdom13!!
I would LOVE to experience BlogHer – even if it’s just once. Mom2.0 sounds awesome – I’ve talked with Lisa about it and I’d like to get there sometime, too!
I think you would have loved Bloggy Boot Camp, so sorry something came up. But YAY for Blissdom! This one is close to you
I’m personally a fan of Type A Mom, which I shared with you as a roommate a few years back! I do not enjoy BlogHer at all, too much chaos. I want to learn something. But on the flip side of that coin, I made so many contacts at BlogHer I owe a lot of that to my success!
Disney Social Media Moms is great for events and speakers combined. That conference is such a treat to be invited to.
This is a great post Annie, I enjoyed learning about the conferences I didn’t know about!
Lee
Lee, you know I am dying to go to DSMM! Maybe, just maybe, I can get an invite? *crossing fingers, toes and eyes*
I had a great time at Brands and Bloggers Summit and BlogHer this year and can’t wait to head out to my next conference!
I was at BBC STL, you did a great job speaking! I wanted to go to FitBloggin this year but don’t know that its gonna work out (why is that AND HLS on the east coast, GAH!) but I’m thinking Blissdom is the way to go. I love Texas anyway!
Oh thank you Courtney! I really have heard amazing things about Blissdom. I don’t know if I will be able to go so please take pics!
Thank you so much for the kind words about Type-A! This is a great roundup. If anyone has questions about typeacon, just let me know. I missed you this year, Annie!
You deserve every ounce of praise!! You have continued to put on a fab conference for so many years. so thank YOU Kelby
*blush*
I loved BlogHer but I would DIE for an invitation to Disney Social Media Moms. I have heard so many amazing things about it!
Thanks so much for the rundown. I know I will return to Type-A in 2013, and I’m considering Blissdom in March. Though I had a great time at BlogHer this year, it was a tad insane, and I didn’t like sitting on the floor in sessions.
I still don’t understand the reports I’m hearing of people sitting on the floor to eat during the Martha Stewart interview-there were tons of available tables left in the front right of the room where I sat. It wasn’t the best view, but it was better than sitting on the floor.
hmmm Tricia. That is really interesting about the empty tables. Maybe people were just too nervous and once they saw one person sitting down they assumed there was no room? LOL!! I would feel so foolish if I sat on the floor after hearing this (I wasn’t there for this though)
I went to BlogWorld last year and thought it was great for education, it was in NYC then but I think it’s moved to Las Vegas now, so I might have to miss it but I highly recommend!
I totally didn’t put BWE on here! oh duh! So did you think it was worth the money? I know it is really kinda pricey compared to “mom blog” conferences
I didn’t realize BWE was more expensive – I was there on a press ticket so I didn’t pay.
Blogworld actually is very affordable. I think people look at the business/corporate pass price. The blogger pass is comparable to other blog cons.
Kelby – that is exactly where I got confused
It was late and I was not sure what the difference was between business pass and blogger pass (other than the significant price difference)
Loved BlogHer 12 but now looking into a smaller conference. Evo 11 was a favorite.
I haven’t been to any besides Reviewer’s Retreat which is great for those wanting to get into review blogging. I wouldn’t suggest going if you have been reviewing for a while though. The conference was small so you were able to interact with almost everyone!
I may look into 2.0 since it will be pretty close to me this year! I would love to do Type A one year!
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