Blogging and the City - BlogHer 2010

My Adventures in New York at BlogHer 2010

I just returned from attending the 2010 BlogHer Conference in New York City.  It was a great conference and my first visit to New York City since I was 17 years old.  

Blogher is the largest blogging conference for woman.  Since I am all about frugal, Blogher was a conference that gave a lot for the money. The conference fee was only $199 and it included two days of conference sessions, tons of food, parties, and access to the vendor exhibition hall where hundreds of major corporations were in attendance to form relationships with bloggers. This conference sold out quickly and was attended by 2500 bloggers.

The right conference can hold the key to cheaper travel
The conference was held at the Hilton Hotel in Manhattan, right down the street from Times Square. Although New York City is not cheap to visit, I would say that visiting while attending BlogHer made the trip very affordable. The conference negotiated a hotel rate of $199 per night for attendees and that rate is doggone cheap for a 4 star hotel in downtown Manhattan that is walking distance from Time Square and Radio City Music Hall.

Party like a Rock Star!
Because BlogHer attracts so many woman bloggers, major corporations held public and private parties as part of the conference. I attended two fabulous invitation only parties, one sponsored by AOL and the other sponsored by Avery, Aveda, Stride Rite, Lays, and Ghiradelli Chocolate. I also attended a frugal blogger breakfast sponsored by Retail Me Not and Red Plum and a private movie screening sponsored by Disney. Celebs were also part of the conference including Padma Lakshmi from the cable show Top Chef and super model Veronica Webb (representing Eucerin) who gave me (and Detroit) a shout out on Twitter - just in case you did not know, Veronica was born in Detroit!

Me with Super Model Veronica Webb - Detroit's in the house!

There were many other parties sponsored by companies including Martha Stewart, Schick, and Loews Hotel to name a few. Some bloggers were invited to a night tour of New York and then a private party at the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum and others danced on the giant piano at FAO Schwartz like Tom Hanks in the movie "Big". The conference sponsored parties were also pretty darn nice with dancing, dancing and more dancing. It was wonderful to be treated like a VIP - and have it all included for no more than the price of admission!

I had a wonderful time at the conference. I met some great bloggers, saw old friends from the Disney Social Media Moms Conference, attended fantastic parties, did some unique sight seeing, and connected with great companies that will be sponsoring giveaways on FREE IS MY LIFE.


They don't call New York the city that never sleeps for nothing. So, say tuned to read all about my adventures in New York City and be prepared to win a few prizes alone the way.