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I attended my very first BlogHer Conference this past weekend with my daughter, Catherine. In addition to meeting so many kind and wonderful bloggers, who helped me immensely, particularly Victoria, and gathering more information about blogging than I ever knew existed, I found lots of fun in places I didn't expect. I even had a private chat with Gina Ravera from The Closer, a favorite program of mine. But there were other things, too.
Did you know the BlogHer attendees had the use of a Macy's personal shopper? Lisa Stone told me about this shopping privilege the first night I met her and I decided to see what it would feel like to have someone do the walking for me. As it happened, I did need another piece of luggage, so I had Marguerite, my personal shopper, take a look around Macy's for me. Unfortunately, she couldn't find what I was looking for, but for 20 short minutes, I had my very own personal shopper.
Then there was my Wii experience. People had been telling me about this new gameware for some months, but I never actually saw one. No more. I had a chance to use Wii at the conference and I must say I did a pretty wicked hula hoop. (When I say wicked, I do not mean it in a good way. I was hopelessly terrible.)
I also had an experience with the Westin Hotel's electrician. When I returned to my room each evening, I sat in the easy chair to read a book. On Saturday night, the floor lamp wasn't working, so I called for the electrician. I was already in my nightgown by then, so I wrapped myself in the plush white robe supplied by the hotel. When the electrician arrived carrying a fresh lightbulb, I pointed him to the correct lamp. He looked at it, stooped over and plugged it in. He was good enough not to make any remark as he left. He just smiled and said, "All fixed now."
My biggest blooper of all happened at the Open Space portion of the conference. I asked a woman if she had enjoyed the conference. She very graciously answered, "Yes." A few moments later, my daughter informed me that Elisa wasn't an attendee, she organized the conference. I was talking to Elisa Camahort. (In my defense, she wasn't wearing a name badge and I hadn't seen her close up before.)
Catherine and I spent a glorious day on Monday touring with Laurie. The perfect ending to a perfect weekend.
The BlogHer Conference was a real eye-opener for me. I worried that I might feel out of place with all the young bloods, but there was a contingent of Seniors and Boomers in attendance and I was thrilled to make new connections with them. I walked away from the conference invigorated and inspired to create a community for seniors who are blogging. The community is only partially finished, but I'm open for any and all suggestions. Please feel free to join me.
BlogHer '08 was possibly the best conference I ever attended. Thanks for the memories.
Frances Ellen is the Narrator of the Story of Nadia - The continuing fiction story of a card reader named Nadia. She is also the voice at Frances Ellen Speaks.
