BlogHer

Did anyone catch this article in the entertainment trade, Variety?

According to them, Fox Studios is betting that BlogHer is poised to be the Next Big Thing - like Comic-Con.

So I guess it's no coincidence that BlogHer 2011 will be at the San Diego Convention Center -- right after Comic-Con wraps. (Note to my friend Florinda: You should probably just rent a house in San Diego for the summer.)

It's been many years since I was a regular reader of Variety and its competition, the Hollywood Reporter. I only learned of that article because it was sent to me by my friend, Debbie, who works at a movie studio, and has heard me gush about BlogHer since I took a chance and signed up for the first one in 2005.

"I love how they portrayed Blogher types as the mommy equivalent of 'fanboys'," she said.

Well, yeah. The coverage of BlogHer always centers on the commercial aspect, so it has gotten a reputation as a bunch of moms who are there to get free stuff from companies.

And there are a lot of women who are there just for that purpose.

But it’s actually a professional conference where people network, discuss issues, learn new skills and honor excellence in the field. And it's not just moms (nor even just women).

For me, the highlights of the conference are ALWAYS found in the general sessions where beautifully written posts are shared with the group. And this year, there was a segment honoring women who write about their lives despite political repression in their countries (from Afghanistan, the Middle East, Sri Lanka and Argentina). I don’t ever see a lot of press about that.

I got to be part of a group of 25 women who met privately with New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (who is incredibly smart and savvy and looks a lot like Kristen Bell). That was most definitely a highlight for me.

And yes, I partied more than is probably safe for a woman my age. I ate the wrong foods, I drank too much and I went to bed too late (not that it mattered; I never did adjust to the Eastern time zone so was still wide awake at 2:00 AM each night). And that included a few very nice private events thrown by PR firms for the likes of Kodak, Nintendo and Yahoo. 

I got to see old friends and made new ones. I got in touch with my inner Latina (I don't write about Latina issues, but I am the daughter of a woman from Havana). I shot oodles of footage for a MOMocrats video project.

And as busy as I was, I was forced to miss a lot of sessions I truly wanted to attend (mainly because there were usually two or three concurrent panels that ALL sounded great). Fortunately, these were live blogged here and I will be able to catch up with what I missed at my leisure.

BlogHer 2010 was a huge affair. Not Comic-Con huge, but with 2400 attendees, it was 10 times the size of the original BlogHer conference in 2005. I am absolutely stunned by its rate of growth. This has nothing to do with the vision of founders Lisa Stone, Elisa Camahort and Jory des Jardines, who even in 2005 KNEW how powerful women's voices are online. I'm stunned simply because that kind of growth in such a short time is stunning.

Prior to my trip to New York, I worried about the size of the conference. I so enjoyed the intimacy of last month's Yahoo! Motherboard summit. I hear really good things about Mom 2.0, Evo and Type-A Mom. BlogHer doesn't even have a "mommy blogger" track any longer. Maybe I'd be better off putting my limited conference budget towards one of those newer, smaller events.

But now that I've been to BlogHer and back, I'm stoked. If I can come up with additional funds, I'd love to go to Type-A Mom or Mom 2.0. In the meantime, in 2011, BlogHer is finally coming to SoCal. And I'll be there, too.