Socal Mom by Donna Schwartz Mills

Equality Day, BlogHer and Senator Gilliland: Meet Me at the MOMocrats

I think I mentioned in my BlogHer post that I was privileged to be part of a group of about 25 political bloggers that got to meet with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York...

...I was privileged, because I don't think I've contributed a post to the MOMocrats all year.

However, while so many of us were gathered together in New York, I was tasked with getting video footage of as many of them as possible. This is one of the reasons I enjoyed my 2010 BlogHer experience so much, because I love these women, for how they write and who they are. And I left New York determined to contribute more to the site.

Anyway, I ended up tagging along with the MOMos and found myself among a group of bloggy superstars (which included BlogHer co-founder Lisa Stone and Morra Aarons of Women and Work, Anita Jackson of MomsRising.org, Emily McKhann, one of the women behind TheMotherhood.com, and Jill Miller Zimon of Writes Like She Talks, who's followed through on what she says by actually running for local elective office -- and winning).

I didn't say much. I just pointed the camcorder at whoever was speaking and hoped I'd like the results.

I finally got around to looking at the footage I shot yesterday... and was pleased to discover that most of it doesn't suck.

That's good, because today is Equality Day -- the 90th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, extending women the right to vote -- and I just knew I'd caught the Senator on tape with something really good to say. And it inspired me to write a post... which you can view here over at MOMocrats.

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.

Greetings from BlogHer '10

I am here. I am happy to be here.

I am utterly overwhelmed.

It's big. It's noisy. And I'm really glad I didn't sign up to be a live blogger, because although the 2400 attendees have NOT crashed the wi-fi network (HOORAY!!), they no longer set up surge protectors and tables in all the session rooms.

I hope the next time I attend, I'll have a new computer with a long-lasting battery. And if I don't, I need to remember to pack a good notebook. There's so much good information being presented, but if I can't plug in, I can't take notes. BECAUSE I ALWAYS MANAGE TO LEAVE AT HOME THE ONE THING I REALLY NEED.

In the meantime, I gobbled down a quick lunch (really good food, by the way! Thank goodness for the largesse of corporate sponsors) and am dashing this little post off in the "recharge lounge" - which DOES have plenty of spots to plug in. It is also a bit quieter than the ballroom and exhibit hall.

Not Another Getting Ready for BlogHer Post

It's nearly 6:00 PM on Tuesday and in a little over 12 hours, I will be boarding a plane to New York City to attend BlogHer 2010.

I'm not going to bore you here with a detailed post about how I haven't even begun to pack yet, or what I'm hoping to do there or all the old friends I can't wait to see or all the new ones I hope to make. After all, I've been there, done that -- three times already.

I'm chuckling a little to myself after skimming through through the third of the three links above, which was the post I wrote just before leaving for BlogHer 2005. I actually took the time to read the blogs of ALL the other attendees that were posted to the convention site prior to embarking. I can't believe I HAD the time to do that, even if there were only about 200 attendees at that first nascent conference. There are more than 10 times that number expected at the New York Hilton this week. There is no way I can get to meet all of them. I'll just be happy to do what I stated above: catch up with some old friends and meet a few new ones.

Anyway... for those of you here in SoCal who will NOT be flying off to New York City, my good friend Cynematic is organizing another edition of BlogHo -- a tweetup/gathering on Saturday night in Hollywood. This saved me from feeling sorry for myself last year... and I have a feeling it's a new tradition that may save me again next year.

Go. You'll have fun.

Vlogamama: Because Even Mommy Bloggers Need Continuing Education

I'm pretty old school: I started blogging because I have a compulsion to write, and the easiest things to write about are the activities I pursue in my own life.

I never expected anyone other than family and friends to read this stuff. I certainly never expected to make any money doing this, or that my online endeavors would open up my little house-and-family-centered world to some interesting experiences (such as dining with the Vice Chairman of GM, visiting the corporate headquarters of Johnson & Johnson, or hanging out at the Oscar red carpet).

Blogging is like any profession or hobby: As time goes by, you want to progress - get better - and push the envelope. That is why in 2005, after keeping this blog for 18 months, I signed up for a little upstart conference called BlogHer... which opened up a whole new online world for me. I met some of the most fascinating, generous women I've ever known -- and discovered all kinds of amazing tools and techniques I could be using to be a better blogger.

I incorporated some of these right away: deli.cio.us, Flickr, Technorati tags (typing this out now, I'm blown away -- can you believe all of this was BRAND NEW just five short years ago?) But there were other areas that didn't feel right to me.

One of those was video blogging, which was being produced by a handful of pioneers even then (before pocket camcorders like the Flip made it REALLY EASY to do). I found the concept intriguing. After all, my college major was Radio-TV-Film.

Actually, my first major was theater - but I have a face made for radio. And after a disastrous exercise in freshman acting class - when I was told by the blind girl (!) that she hated my voice - I realized I wasn't going to make it as an audio performer, either.

But writing is something that has always come naturally to me, and I decided to focus on that. For several years, my writing efforts were concentrated on telling stories through visuals and dialogue... until the years passed and I realized it was time to get out.

For nearly seven years, this blog has been my creative outlet. While my friends engage in scrapbooking and cool crafts, I've self-published my weird little thoughts on the Internet. I've been accused of being narcissistic, and I suppose I am - but not any more so than anyone else who keeps a journal or writes a memoir. The difference is that I publish mine myself. I'm still kind of surprised when someone tells me she's read it...

...and I love it. I love the immediate feedback. I love the relationships I've built.

And yeah, I'd be lying if I said I didn't love getting free stuff. But while I didn't expect to earn an income from blogging when I started out, it would be really nice if I could. For one thing, I wouldn't have to keep defending my blogging activities to my husband, or try to explain it to my friends.

I could blog without the guilt.

Although I say over and over again that I don't really care about my stats or my standing or my popularity on the web, that's not entirely true. Somewhere, in the back of my mind, I can't help but think that I will someday create something of value from this obsession to write.

So I had a lot of reasons to sign up for Kimberley Clayton-Blaine's Vlogamama workshop, which was held on Saturday at the luxurious Montage in Beverly Hills:

1. Web surfers increasingly prefer to watch video over reading blogs. Text-only sites are becoming extinct. And I'm sensitive enough about my old age without comparisons to a dinosaur.

2. Search engines now have the ability to index video content - so having some can dramatically increase your rankings.

3. Can you say "viral"?

4. The blogging networks I belong to want us to do it.

5. Kodak gave me a beautiful HD camcorder for the red carpet interviews I got to do at the Streamys this month (previously disclosed!), and I would like to put it to good use.

6. After attending the Streamys, I've felt renewed interest in telling stories via visuals and dialogue again. But so far, all my attempts have been dorky -- especially after I saw what Sugar Jones did with her Streamy footage... all I can say is WOW.

I hoped Kimberley could point me in the right direction.

And I was right. Kimberley cut right to the chase with excellent tips and guidelines to make our little video blogs more engaging. She also showed us some best-case examples of what some of the more creative mommy blogging vloggers are doing right now and then told us how to get our finished product out and in front of an audience.

It was quite an eye-opener. Web video is a whole new world.

We finished the workshop with a hands-on session, where we partnered into pairs and took turns video-ing one another, trying to incorporate the guidelines Kimberley set forth.

I was only partially successful - and had even more difficulty when I tried to edit the goofs out. (NOTE TO SELF: Must find better video editing platform. And no, at this time, I cannot afford to purchase an iBook so I can use iMovie, which everyone says is THE BEST for this purpose.)

One other main flaw with the video attempt below is that I'm pulling it from YouTube. Vimeo (one of Vlogamama's sponsors) has superior quality - but I've exceeded my upload limit for that service this week, and I wanted to get this post up while the workshop is still fresh. I will replace this clip with the Vimeo version as soon as I have one:

Kimberley will be holding this workshop in other cities very soon. Information forthcoming on her website, here.

I would be remiss if I did not make mention of the level of service we received at Montage Beverly Hills. We've all had to attend meetings held at hotels, and often need assistance finding the meeting room. You are usually lucky if you can collar someone who will give you a meeting room name and point you in the right direction. You might not quite follow where you're supposed to turn and then get lost. (Well, that's what usually happens to me.)

At Montage, the question "Where do I find the meeting room?" did not result in directions. No, the hotel employee I asked insisted on escorting me there.

The same thing happened when I asked the wait staff where I'd find the ladies' room. I was not sent off into the hallway alone to look for it - I was led there.

From the beautiful luncheon spread to the golden pens we were given for note taking, all of the women in attendance were treated like VIPs.

And you can get an idea of how gorgeous the facility is from this video Kimberley made of the session.

Disclosure: My attendance at Vlogamama was paid for by Yahoo, as I am a member of the Yahoo Motherboard. But I didn't know that when I signed up! Kimberley had kept the cost of the workshop for non-Motherboard members surprisingly low. Knowing Kimberley and the scope of the material we would be covering, I felt I was getting a bargain before I discovered I wouldn't have to pay for it.

I have no affiliation whatsoever with the Montage hotel chain (much as I would like to!). I am merely a fan.