I have no idea what it takes to plan a conference. I’ve planned meetings and taken care of various types of logistics at my job, but that’s on a pretty small scale compared to organizing something of this magnitude. First you have to think about big-picture things, such as choosing a city and the venue. You have to decide on an agenda, and whether you’ll serve food, and how much you have to charge attendees in order to make sure you can pay for everything. Will there be sponsors? Who will be your speakers? And most importantly, will anyone register?

Enter FitBloggin'10, a conference whose goal “is to educate, inspire, share, network, and learn how to blog your way to a healthier you.” They’re planning “events and panels geared towards anyone who blogs or is interested in blogging about a healthy lifestyle.”

FitBloggin’ is the brainchild of Roni Noone (I’ve heard that other fitness bloggers are collaborating with her on this conference, too, but rather than attempting to list them all I’ll ask them identify themselves). She blogs at Roni’s Weigh -- in addition to a number of other sites -- and will be a speaker at BlogHer ’09 next week. She also spoke on a panel at the regional D.C.-area BlogHer conference last fall.

I have to admit, I think the idea of a fitness conference is pretty cool. Next week I’ll be attending my third BlogHer summer conference, and I must admit I’ve always wished they had a specific track dedicated to health and fitness topics. Why don't they? Well, there’s only so much time, I suppose, and there’s a lot of stuff to fit into that time.

Is FitBloggin' strictly for fitness bloggers? Absolutely not. There are plenty of people who write about exercise and living healthy on their blogs, but also write about other topics, too (including myself). And just like there are people who attend BlogHer conferences who have never-ever blogged before (yes, I’ve met them), or because they want to find out how to get started, FitBloggin’ won’t turn you away just because you don’t write exclusively about health and fitness.

Due to all the preparation that must be involved, it’s no wonder that a conference taking place next March (3/20/10, to be exact) would already be asking for input, suggestions, and recommendations. (Heck, even the folks who plan the BlogHer conferences begin planning the next year’s conference as soon as the current one wraps up.)

Additional information:

Location: “FitBloggin’10 will be hosted at the Marriott Baltimore Waterfront. Located on the edge of Baltimore’s historic Inner Harbor and steps from downtown. The Marriot is located in Maryland’s newest neighborhood, Harbor East.”

Tentative schedule: It’s just a rough outline right now, but it’ll give you a good idea of what they’re planning. It looks like there are three discussions scheduled (and possibly having a choice of more than one option if they end up having multiple sessions).

Call for ideas: Roni said, “I hope to get more information about, and for, sponsors in the next month but more importantly I’m interested in what YOU want out this event. After all, if it’s a place to connect, learn, grow and network what is it you want to connect, learn, grow and network about? I’m hoping to see if my ideas are on the right track but to also make this conference a place where we, collectively drive it’s direction."

Contact: You can leave a comment on any of the posts on the FitBloggin’ site, or email Roni at roni@skinnyminnymedia.com.

What do you think of a fitness/health blogging conference? Would you attend if you could?

Related Reading:

Merry Mary said that she’s "all for the idea" of FitBloggin’ and “will be there no matter what I have to do (sell a kidney for plane fare? hitch hike to Baltimore?)."

Stacie facilitated a fitness workshop for the Go Red Girlfriend Women’s Conference, sponsored by the American Heart Association. She says she “had alot of fun encouraging women to use simple dance and movement as forms of exercise in order to improve their health and decrease their risk for cardiovascular disease.”

(Contributing editor Zandria blogs at Zandria.us.)