BlogHer 2016 Conference

Have you attended a BlogHer Conference before? Maybe you haven’t attended before. Furthermore, I am not sure if you are familiar with BlogHer or not. BlogHer is a community and media company for bloggers and entrepreneurs alike. Three BlogHer founders, Elisa Camahort Page, Jory Des Jardins, and Lisa Stone established this amazing company in 2005. The conference company thrives to become very popular. It includes many workshops, training, expositions, and a huge blog advertising network. It continues to grow each year to be more politically voiced by women, especially for women.

Two years ago, I should had written a post about my first BlogHer conference, but I wasn’t quite ready to start my writing post until now. I am writing here to share my experience.

My First BlogHer Conference Experience

In July 2014, I attended my first BlogHer Conference in San Jose, California, without them providing American Sign Language interpreters for awhile. I complained that I had no interpreters provided at this time. Consequently, BlogHer staff team did not know that I am Deaf. Luckily, I had an evidence that I communicated with one of BlogHer staff about providing interpreters via an email before I arrived at the conference. The staff did not know what happened. Thankfully, one of the staff gave me a refund because he felt bad that I did not have an interpreter with me for half of the conference on the first day.

Later in the afternoon, one of the staff finally got an interpreter for me. We went to a workshop and we also attended the conference to watch women on the stages. They won BlogHer Voice of the Year awards. The next day, two interpreters were here for me and I was happy to see them with me all day including attending the workshops and conferences.

A lot of women were hysterical about meeting Arianna Huffington when she autographed her books in the Expo. One of my interpreters grabbed me and cut in line. Finally, I got my first autograph from Arianna Huffington with her book in my hands! I thanked one of my interpreters for pulling me in the waiting line shortly before Arianna left hurriedly for her flight. Everything I learned at the conference was a great experience for me, except that I did not get my chance to attend some workshops on the first day due to the absence of interpreters.

My BlogHer 2016 Conference Experience

Last month, I attended BlogHer 2016 conference, located in Los Angeles on August 4-6, 2016. The reason I attended the conference was to see Sarah Michelle Gellar and Lori Loughlin. Other than that, I wanted to learn about SEO techniques, Pinterest Strategy and writing the published book workshops. Good news, BlogHer provided me American Sign Language interpreters from ASL Interepreter Connect, LLC on time. I was joyful and thankful that I had contacted Jennifer, one of SheKnows.com staff team about getting sign language interpreters. My interpreters, my husband, and I went to the Expo Hall and collected a lot of amazing stuff. I got a free tote bag; it included a lot of information and samples.

On the first day of the conference, I went to the Staples meeting this morning. A lot of women were standing in line and they gathered some breakfast from the buffet. I was nervously hungry and I wanted to eat my breakfast before the meeting. Lori Loughlin and other women discussed their experiences about back-to-school supplies. I wanted to take a picture of myself with Lori, but a lot of women were terribly overwrought after her. I knew that I could meet her later in the future, who knows?

…Here you go! My ASL interpreter interpreted sign language for me…

After the Staples “Back-To-School” meeting, I went to the Expo for awhile with my ASL interpreters. Later, we went to the conference to watch Sarah Michelle Gellar and Elisa Camahort Page on the stage. They discussed Sarah’s experience with her new blog, FoodStirs, which she founded. I was so inspired to hear about her blogging experience. Watch this video.

When the morning conference finished, my interpreters and I ran into the workshop for SEO techniques and social media. In the workshop, I learned a lot about SEO and social media. I knew that SEO was very complicated, but the information helped me tremendously.

I was excited to see Kim Kardashian and listened to what Kim shared. Watch this video.

After the afternoon conference, I decided to go to the hotel early. I was totally exhausted, and I had an assignment in an online class. I missed the evening conferences, including the voice of the year winners and a special presenter.

On Saturday, I met my ASL interpreters, and we went to the morning conference. We watched the Pitch with the judges. The Pitch competitors were so amazing to give their motivational presentations. The judges questioned them with many interesting topics regarding their presentations.

…In BlogHer Conference, Stacy Katz, a founder of “Not Parent Approved” was lecturing while my ASL interpreter was signing…

The Pitch winner, Zahra Aljabri received Grand Prize which included a blog business investment, $10K and an addtional $40K in marketing support.

My husband and I met Nia Peeples again. She remembered us from the last time we met at Bloggy Boot Camp in Temecula, California with Tiffany Romero last year. A Hollywood actress, Nia and I were thrilled to chat a little through my husband’s sign language interpreting before we took a picture! Nia is a lifestyle blogger and founder of Beautiful by Nia.

Nia Peeples, my husband Justen, and ME!

At the end of the day, my husband and I went to the Expo and collected free samples from the sponsors before it closed. My ASL interpreters, my husband, and I went to the closing party and met a few of the other bloggers, but they were too wild. The interpreters and I chatted for awhile while my husband was kind of busy talking on his phone.

What an amazing experience!

I cannot wait to attend BlogHer 2017 conference on the East coast. I do not know where the BlogHer 2017 conference will be. In conclusion, I am hoping to see you all there if you consider attending. Check out BlogHer.com.

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