BlogHer Conference Site is Live, and Registration is Open, Open, Open

December 17, 2007 by Elisa Camahort in BlogHer Conferences

It gives me great pride and pleasure to announce that our new BlogHer Conferences section of the site is now open for business. Not only that, but registration is also open for both BlogHer Business this April 3/4 in New York and BlogHer '08 this July 18-20 in San Francisco.

I'd like to particularly thank BlogHer's Community Manager Denise Tanton, BlogHer's Events & Marketing Manager Kristy Sammis, and BlogHer's Marketing Programs Coordinator Joy Johnson for working their butts off to make all of the above happen.

So what is new with this conference site? Well, it's going to be a great single place to go to find out everything you could want to know about all of our events in 2008. The simple tabbed content areas will let you easily toggle between the Business, Annual and Reach Out Tour events, and the conference-specific left navigation bar will also let you answer your questions with a single click.

We're even heeding the request of many a conference-goer, and we will let people self-select to list themselves as an attendee for the Attendee pages.

Denise has opened up new '08-specific Forums, and never fear: when you post about the conference it will be included in the "All Posts" section of the conference pages, just like your posts currently work on the rest of BlogHer.com.

There will soon be a flood of content, so i recommend you familiarize yourselves with the various areas of the site now :)

Finally, we have opened registration for our first two events next year, the Business Conference and the Annual Conference. There is early bird pricing available now for both conferences, so if this is already in ink on your calendar, now's the time to sign up.

We've launched with a new registration partner, and we are hopeful that the interface and functionality is much simpler and clearer.

As always we look forward to your feedback.

If you have feedback on the conference web site, please contact Joy at Joy.Johnson@blogher.com

If you have feedback on the registration process, please contact Kristy at kristy@blogher.com

If you have feedback on the Forums, please contact Denise at denise@blogher.com

And if you have ideas about conference programming, email me at elisa@blogher.com

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Woohoo!

Missy December 17, 2007 - 8:05pm

I am so excited. Can't wait for next year!

 

Wot, no PayPal option? No invoice option?

Koan December 17, 2007 - 10:33pm

Why accept payments by credit card, but *not* by PayPal? This is the internet, right? Not everybody *has* a credit card. What message does this send to people who aren't financially able to have a credit card? I didn't see *any* non-credit card options - is BlogHer disenfranchising some would-be attendees?

You know I'm playing Devil's Advocate, here - but, as someone who was credit card-less not too many years ago, it gets my hackles up when I see organisations I *know* to be inclusive inadvertently send a message that "you're welcome here, maybe..."

Just registered, by the way, so I accept my point is probably moot - but personally, I would have preferred to pay by PayPal.

 

Hmm, we can definitely look into PayPal

Elisa Camahort December 17, 2007 - 11:15pm

We've never registered any other way but credit card, which doesn't make it the only right way, of course. In the past three years it did come up, but only once or twice. I can't remember what we did, actally.

But I agree it would be totally cool to support Paypal, so Kristy will look into that tomorrow morning. If the registration vendor can't support it we still might be able to accept the payment and then give a code to register in the system. It might require jumping through a couple of hoops on both our and the attendee's end, but for someone without a credit card but with a Paypal account, it would be worth it :)

On the other hand, invoicing for a conference registration...not something that makes sense for us.

Stay tuned...

Elisa Camahort
BlogHer
elisa@blogher.org

 

If this were 2005 again, I'd be disenfranchised

Koan December 18, 2007 - 12:43am

Elisa, thanks for your prompt reply. Here's the thing - in 2005, when I registered, I *didn't* have a credit card - I had been discharged from bankruptcy, but was still persona non grata to most financial institutions (and I have no problem with that - I had to prove myself credit-worthy again). All I had was a debit card, from my bank, and not a major-badged debit card, either. The 2005 registration site accepted that card - which is why I was able to register! ;) The 2008 site doesn't.

So, the circle of enfranchisement appears to be smaller, from my personal experience. And I *know* that BlogHer is not about disenfranchising people. So I'm bringing it to your attention, and suggesting you think about it, is all.

I'm privileged to be able to afford to register on the day that registration opens - and I'm privileged to have a credit card that allows me to do so. In 2006, I couldn't afford to come - in 2005, I could *afford* it, but wouldn't have been able to pay by the available 2008 mechanisms.

Also, what message *might* be being sent to people by opening registration without giving any information about other payment options, or that some places might be held available for those who can't immediately drop a couple of hundred bucks on registering for a conference registration that is seven months off, might sell out long before then, and that they might therefore not get the chance to attend (to the detriment of *all*)?

I know that BlogHer has dealt with such matters in the past - I think it's a shame to launch registration without reassuring people, explicitly, that there will (or may be) options for those who can't afford the full fee, or at least not immediately.

 

Two different issues, each will be addressed

Elisa Camahort December 18, 2007 - 10:53am

Koan:

You're right that we've dealt with folks who can't afford the registration fee before...typically by proposing they volunteer for a bloghership or even propose themselves as a speaker. I think it's a great idea to add some copy to the registration summary page pointing people to the How You Can Participate page that outlines those options, and Kristy is going to add that.

We really *haven't* dealt with people who can afford the fees but don't have credit cards. As I mentioned, it's come up maybe 2 or 3 times over three years and 2000 attendees. Now maybe that's because our prior solution accepted debit cards without a credit card affiliation, although I hope I don't sound too dizzy when I say that I had no idea that was the case! In any case, you've brought up a good point, and Kristy is looking into the Paypal payment option to see if we can add that to the capabilities of the system.

Elisa Camahort
BlogHer
elisa@blogher.org

 

Thank you, Elisa! :)

Koan December 18, 2007 - 11:24am

Great answers on both points! Anyway, have I mentioned how much I'm looking forwards to attending? Because I am!

 

Now Accepting PayPal

KristySF January 18, 2008 - 11:55am

Hi Koan,

Just to confirm - we have now included information on our registration page about volunteering opportunities.

And we now accept PayPal for all registration as well. :)

---
Kristy Sammis
BlogHer's Conference & Event Planner
e. kristy@blogher.org

 

My cup runneth over! :)

Koan January 18, 2008 - 9:26pm

Of course, if *nobody* ends up paying by PayPal, then I'll look a right lemon... which wouldn't be the first time!

Thanks, you amazing women, you!

 

New Conference Section Up

Kylie December 18, 2007 - 4:56pm

Terrific News! Will there be any information for conferences that are not sponsored by BlogHer as well?

 

Probably not in the way you mean, Kylie :)

Elisa Camahort December 19, 2007 - 7:58am

Hi Kylie:

Kinda curious about what you're envisioning, but I can tell you that, in general, this portion of the BlogHer site is about BlogHer events. We're doing 8 events next year, so we expect a steady stream of information, and we need a consolidated portion of our site to make it easier for folks to find what they need and learn about our activities.

Now, we do often do partnerships with other events, like offering mutual discounts, and those events will get real estate in our sponsor section. And info about conferences where we or BlogHer editors are speaking might also be provided, but in general this is not intended to be a conference information clearinghouse site.

Does that answer your question?

Elisa Camahort
BlogHer
elisa@blogher.org

 

REGISTRATION OPTIONS - (?)

mommadona February 20, 2008 - 3:11pm

Also sent an email, because this was pretty frustrating.

The site is not well-thought out.

NO registration fee information UNLESS you complete the registration process (which seems really overly anal).

Would love to attend, but I don't have time for this type of process of the black hole type.

A re-write would really, really help.

UPDATE: OK, I went back over and found the "fees" button at the top of the page......hidden up there where no one goes, because they are busy reading the information and scrolling down

Then, I saw the fees.

Sorry - that is WAY out of my league. And I don't see how any woman who's trying to make a living in this day and age could possibly justify $350 for a conference that's not directly business-related.

In other words....PROFESSIONAL bloggers will attend. Others - not so much.

Who are you trying to reach?

 

Mommadonna, so sorry...perhaps you cold apply for a BlogHership?

Elisa Camahort February 20, 2008 - 6:04pm

I'm sorry you feel that way, Mommadonna, but our attendees are actually mostly not professional bloggers and that's never been the primary focus. The annual event is for all bloggers across all types of blogs and all sizes.

We've found that $350 for three full days of educational and community content and, unlike many such events, full meals, snacks and even cocktails, is considered a pretty good value by most of our community. We have regularly polled attendees and community members on this.

At these rates it is, in fact, it's our sponsors who even make it possible.

That being said, we do also realize that it's always going to be out of reach for some bloggers, which is why we have BlogHerships...volunteer positions that come with a free conference pass. You can read more about the available BlogHerships here. Hope that is helpful.

Elisa Camahort
BlogHer
elisa@blogher.org

 

Reprinting my receipt

corinnamakris June 11, 2008 - 2:11pm

Hello all,

I registered the first week online registration was available and I just realized this past weekend that I have lost my receipt.

Is there a way on the website to reprint it or perhaps someone could e-mail it to me?

I am so excited about seeing everyone again I could plotz! (to quote my grandmother).

I attend many professional conferences thruoghout the year that are not related in any way to my blog and I found BlogHer to be the most useful, most fun and certainly the best organized conference that I have ever attended.

 I made contacts that have helped me throughtout the year both in relation to my blog and to other, non-blog matters as well. I made friends there too and this has really never happened for me at any kind of conference. 

I am really looking forward to being there!

Corinna Makris

www.ACelebrationofCuves.com

Live the Life you Love and Love the Life you Live

 

Corinna: Sent you confirmation email

Elisa Camahort June 11, 2008 - 2:28pm

Hi Corinna:

I just forwarded you the confirmation email we got when your registered,

Elisa Camahort
BlogHer
elisa@blogher.com

 

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