these are merely helpful suggestions…

August 15, 2010

{This post was written in the spirit of Letters From a Nut by Ted L. Nancy. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, there’s a small chance this could still be funny. This was written one night in the hotel room while at BlogHer, when Ellie and I were at our giddiest. You’re welcome.}

~~~~~~~~

Dear Blogging Conference,

We wanted to write to you today to express some gratitude, opinions, questions and ideas. As your conference comes to a close, we find ourselves reflecting on our weekend and we are filled with many over-flowing emotions.


Please give this letter to the highest of higher ups, so they can know about these emotions. We are the people. We are the bloggers. We are tired, and even so, we deserve to be heard, we the people-bloggers.


As a side note, please be sure to consider our status in this subculture. We are known. No less than one to five people rushed up to us and wanted to say hello in the last few days. If you think about how there are millions and millions of blogs out there, one to five admirers is really a lot.


Of course we want to thank you. We bet this whole event-planning thing is terribly difficult and even tricky. Thank you for making a way for us to have this precious time together in person:

Tandem Tweeting


We admit it’s a little awkward for bloggers to communicate in person, but as you can see, that can be remedied. So we share this picture with you as a suggestion for future attendees. Side-by-side tweeting gets all that strange eye contact and body language stuff out of the picture. It’s more comfortable, you know? Especially if you can swing it on a plush hotel bed–make it a double!


@onecraftyellie – I M tired.

@HeatheroftheEO – Me 2
@onecraftyellie – remember that one time when I danced at the sparklecorn party?

@HeatheroftheEO – I wasn’t there.

@onecraftyellie – Oh. Just a second. I’m going to tweet @maggiedammit & @annsrants to see if they remember

@HeatheroftheEO – OK. I’m going to pull the covers up higher now. am a bit chilly.

@onecraftyellie – stop tweeting me. I’m trying to tweet @maggiedammit & @annsrants to see if they liked my dancing.

@HeatheroftheEO – Jerk. End tweet.

There you have it. 140 characters or less of complete comfort.


Anyway. We would also like to apologize on behalf of ourselves and all the other attendees. We realize that our feet bled all over the hotel sheets while we were sleeping and you probably had to pay for that. But it was inevitable really. I mean, if you pack 7 pairs of high heels and put them on feet that don’t recognize such shoes, you get what you asked for–goiter blisters within 5 minutes. So about those stains–may we suggest those wipes that are supposed to remove stains, the ones that were in a swag bag? Maybe those will work on the sheets? Just a thought.

Speaking of thoughts. We have some really good ones! We love community keynotes. There’s nothing like hearing the actual voice (as in audible, not figurative) of our fellow bloggers. The posts that were read were moving and sometimes heart-wrenching and then sometimes funny. So we thought it might be cool if the blogger’s name and their blog and twitter handle could be written up on the screen the whole time they talk. We are bloggers. We are somewhat creative. Which means we are scattered and we forget things like names really quickly, especially when overstimulated. Thank you.


(To clarify–we don’t mean that you should write on the big screens with a sharpie or something. We mean you could project the words to the screen from an overhead or something of that nature.)

Also. Could you tell the hotel employee who was checking badges at lunch on Saturday that I (Heather) should not have had to take my name badge out of my lanyard thingy to prove I could eat there? He had me take my attendee name badge out from behind the CLEAR plastic, and then he inspected it like an airport security person does. Do I look threatening? It got wrinkled from trying to get it out and I don’t like wrinkled things (especially noses, for the record). Thanks!

Next up: Let’s talk elevators. There was something terribly frustrating about the elevator system. Tell the hotel we don’t know why the elevators hated us. I’m pretty sure we could have gotten more swag had we not spent half the day waiting for elevators and then being surprised to find ourselves in the opposite corner of the hotel when we would step off, far away from our intended destination, in chafing heels.


(Just so you know the truth, we almost never wore heels, actually. Only for those first five minutes. I’m guessing this is the case for many attendees. Maybe you can tell the hotel people that if they’re mad about the sheets.) (And maybe you should tell next years attendees not to bring any heels. If we all went heel-less no one would care or compare. You know how women are about comparing their shoes. It will be The Great Heel Ban of BlogHer ’11–so exciting!)


We have another idea. Maybe next year you could create some kind of really large sign (this time, with a sharpie!) that explains what blogging is to all the other hotel guests. It’s terribly exhausting to feel so misunderstood while explaining over and over.

Like this:

Stranger: Why are there so many of you with those name badges on?

Blogger: It’s a blogging conference.

Stranger: Blank stare (almost as bad as a wrinkled nose) or a confused expression or a “what does that mean?” Or a, “What do you do at a blogging conference?”


Awkward. We’ve seen sharpies change the course of history before. We’re pretty sure it can happen again. You’re welcome.


One last thing. Can you let everyone from the Change Agents session know that when Maggie said (from the panel and into a microphone) -“Oh, I don’t know. I can’t speak to alcoholism…,” she was being sarcastic. You see, when the topic of alcoholism was approached, she was simply using her sense of humor to disarm the listeners…but no one laughed. This leads us to believe they did not get the joke. So we think people should know that her alcoholism has not gone away.


Oh. One more last thing. When blogging events are in big cities (and they usually are, let’s just be honest) every attendee should be given some sort of portable GPS, maybe as swag?!? We saw many bloggers standing on street corners looking up and around with confused expressions while wearing little black dresses and heels…you can see where we’re going with this. Getting lost=walking a long ways=bloody heels and toes=stained sheets.


Sincerely,

Ellie and Heather (room 620) (with Alexis) (she’s the pretty one)

P.S. Wait. We just had the best idea ever. Next year, we should all wear lanyard HATS!!! Fashionable hats, of course…with our name and blog name in very big red Sharpie letters. That way, we won’t have to stare down at one another’s chests or navels as discreetly as possible to see if we’re matching the in real life face with the online avatar/profile pictures correctly. (Awkward.) If we had this information on hats, well, I’m sure you could imagine how that would be easier. When glancing at names, we could all just act like we’re looking around, high up. Again, you are welcome.

xoxo

{ 19 comments }

Andrea August 15, 2010 at 8:44 am

Teehee…definitely guilty in the blister category.

Kellyn August 15, 2010 at 8:55 am

That was awesome! I can only imagine the blisters that were had all weekend long, and the lost and confused faces.

Christine August 15, 2010 at 8:55 am

Shooing my children off as I read this and lauding hysterically.

Deb August 15, 2010 at 8:56 am

Genuis. Except I'm not wearing a lanyard hat. It would shade my iPhone too much to see the tiny text on Twitter.

Is Dis Normal or Dysfunctional? August 15, 2010 at 8:56 am

Right on Ellie and Heather! So sad that I wasn't in on your tweeting world while at the conference, how did I miss you! I guess we'll now have to meet online…ok, I guess we're used to that.

I'm the "Shizzle" girl in Carissa's photos, and yes I was in my sneakers. I take my dancing seriously.

Note to self, "Next year bring split toe dancing sneakers. Take more breaks to mingle and meet like-minded BFF's. Use the stairs."

alexis August 15, 2010 at 10:16 am

again. no picture. dammit.

next time, try not to spill your drink on your feet so we have more time to dance at sparklecorn.

Hyacynth August 15, 2010 at 10:42 am

You know, Heather, you could totally implement these ideas at Cupcake in a sort of test run. I will even bring the sharpies! :)
And, tandem tweeting! Ha! Melissa and I have been very guilty of this but we weren't sharing a bed.

sara August 15, 2010 at 1:29 pm

this was hilarious!!!

maggie, dammit August 15, 2010 at 2:16 pm

HAAAAAAAAAA!

Thank you for clearing up that alcoholism thing. I'd kind of forgotten that particular embarrassment. Heh.

Excellent letter.

Annette August 15, 2010 at 5:26 pm

Stop it! All of this laughing is exacerbating my bladder control issue…

Tooje August 15, 2010 at 7:23 pm

I'm addicted to your BlogHer "stuff" and yet equally jealous. You must stop.

Okay, not really. I do have a question though. Did any of the swag contain chocolate? Milk chocolate?

katdish August 15, 2010 at 7:38 pm

It should probably come as no surprise to you that Letter from a Nut by Ted L. Nancy is one of my favorite books.

Well played, my friend. I'm gonna have to get myself up to the next Blogher conference. It's not too girly is it?

Brittany at Mommy Words August 15, 2010 at 9:32 pm

Excellent. I could so rock a hat. And so should the dudes. I got sick of looking at crotches to see badges attched to pants pockets. You are too funny!

ElisaC August 15, 2010 at 9:36 pm

Some of the best suggestions ever, thank you!!!

As someone who ended up in my cute outfit wearing Merrell clog MaryJanes in an unmatching beige color, I like the great Heel Ban most of all.

Elisa Camahort Page, BlogHer

swonderful August 15, 2010 at 10:32 pm

I felt very strongly after attending last year that everyone should be forced to wear a t-shirt with their twitter and blog name on it. We need to SEE the name, in big writing, otherwise you walk right by people you want to talk to.

Luke and I sit like that with twin laptops every night. We are so 2010-lame.

Elaine A. August 16, 2010 at 12:23 pm

I'm thinking you could get Sharpie to sponsor you for next year… ;)

I can't believe people are still that ignorant to what blogging is. Really? Get with the times people!!

"Not Telling" August 16, 2010 at 1:03 pm

Hilarious! I commented on it at Ellie's but had to come tell you how much I enjoyed it. I wasn't there, but I have to go to professional conferences and it's pretty much the same story. (Ditto on your other posts about BlogHer. Sounds like the whole thing has become just like a lot of other professional conferences. Too bad.)

Amy August 16, 2010 at 11:05 pm

you must be way more approachable than i am, i didn't get asked the question about what a blogger is – ever.

love this post, it made me laugh out loud several times (but it doesn't translate well to a husband that is quietly reading his book and doesn't relate to wearing shoes that are gorgeous but not comfy.)

Kameron August 17, 2010 at 8:28 am

I brought heels along with my super cute flats and the heels were basically a decoration for my hotel room as they never made it out the door. I am nothing, if not a comfort seeking being! Also they should give out Dr. Sholls blister stick as swag to everyone. Even with the cute flats, my feet were saved by this awesome invention.

Oh man I would have hated to be a guest at the Hilton that was NOT a part of the conference. Being in an elevator with 10 women carrying giant bags of stuff, all tweeting from their phones and giggling profusely must have been rather annoying! Ha!

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