My Plans for BlogHer 10 & NYC

As I emerge from more than a week of the insane chaos of packing, moving, and unpacking — including the 50% of our stuff that has been in storage for 2 years, since we put our Atlanta house on the market — I’ve begun fantasizing about my upcoming trip to NYC.

I leave TOMORROW! Alone!

I’m going for BlogHer and BlogHer Business, and also for my niece Hailey’s Simchat Bat.

When I read Susan Getgood’s great post about what events and panels she’s planning to attend, and why, I got inspired.

Here are my plans:

Wednesday, 8/4: Arrive in the late afternoon and find my way into the city. Evening with my sister, BIL, nephew, and niece.

Thursday, 8/5: BlogHer Business. I’ll be attending the full conference, starting with breakfast from 8-9, continuing through the Thank You reception at 6:30pm. The panel I am on is The FTC Guides, One Year Later, which is one of the breakout sessions at 1:30 pm. My co-panelists are an amazing group of women: BlogHer’s co-founder and COO, Elisa Camahort Page,  Stacey Ferguson from the FTC, and WOMMA’s Executive Director, Kristen Smith. In the next session, I think I’ll be going to the panel Parenting Magazine Presents: Is Your Messaging to Moms Outdated?

At some point, I’ll also be sneaking out to connect with my BlogHer roomie, Julia of Support for Special Needs.

In the evening, I’ll also be attending the Queerosphere party!

Friday, 8/6: BlogHer Day 1

6:30 am: Cheering at the 5K Tutus for Tanner event. With a children’s tutu on my head as a hat. Probably a violet one, but possibly iridescent lavender. This tells you how much I admire and adore HerBadMother.

7:15 am (-ish): Breakfast with the Sprout Band of Bloggers (invitational event).

There are 3 awesome looking sessions in the morning, so I will probably be sneaking in and out.

In the afternoon, I’m torn too. I have no idea what I’ll be at in the first session, but in the 2:45 – 4pm, I will probably go to the Writing Lab session on Layout.

Friday evening, dinner with the extended family in town for Hailey’s Simchat Bat. We’ll see about parties etc. I have no specific plans and will probably crash.

Saturday, 8/7: BlogHer Day 2

8 – 9 am: Breakfast at BlogHer. Smith alumnae meetup at the breakfast area? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

10 am, Simchat Bat for Hailey, followed by lunch at my sister’s.

Noon: Susan Getgood will be doing a book signing for her new book, Professional Blogging for Dummies. Congratulations, Susan! I want a signed book. If I don’t make it back from lunch in time, I’ll try to track Susan down for the autograph later.

1:30 – 2:45: The Writing Lab “Publishing Ecosystem” session with Penny Sansevieri and other great women (but I’ve spoken with Penny previously, and she is a huge part of the draw).

Edited to add: Or possibly the “Personal: Grief, Loss, Tragedy, and Community on the Internet” panel featuring the awesome and inspiring Cecily Kellogg, whom I adore. If anyone can make that topic also funny, it will be Cecily. And I’ll bet that lots and lots of the infertility/pregnancy loss bloggers I know and love will be there, too.

(I have enormously mixed feelings about the topic. I still feel some residual guilt over being a worse blog reader, and over being one of the people who drove up Bri’s stats in the immediate aftermath of her miscarriage. Until Cecily told me she was on this panel, I hadn’t even clicked on the description. But the whole group is very impressive and dynamic, AND I am a big believer in supporting your friends whenever possible.)

3-4:15: Geek Lab, building and tweaking WordPress Themes. I need to figure out how to update this blog’s look and feel.

Closing keynote.

Dinner – hopefully Indian

Parties: Sparklecorn and Green Affair. I never did get off of the Blogalicious waiting list, I’m sad to say.

Sunday, 8/8:

Possible breakfast gatherings with LesbianDad and other BlogHerQueers, and/or the Stirrup Queens, and/or an IVP gathering.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.