Almost six weeks ago Lisa, Jory and I asked for your feedback and help on making BlogHer '10 even better than BlogHer '09 in a post we called: We're listening. And here's what we're mulling over so far...

You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll laugh and cry. How can you not? It's the return of the BlogHer Community Keynote! This year, 21 bloggers from our community read their own work, curated by the marvelous Eden Kennedy of Fussy, Let's Panic about Motherhood, and NaBloPoMo.

For some, a ballroom crowded with several hundred bright, accomplished and outgoing women might be a scary place. A conference with close to 1,500 women with opinions and blogs is probably even more frightening! But as we juggled our glasses of wine and tried to make conversation over the din at the first night of the BlogHer '09 conference, one wise woman turned and said to me, "There's so much power in this room."

One week from now the Chicago Sheraton and Towers most definitely will know what's hitting them, as almost 1,500 (mostly) women bloggers check in...and log on.

As you all know, our sponsors not only subsidize the cost of attendance, they've also made it possible for us to allow in over 200 additional bloggers off the waitlist. But they're not stopping there! Here's a round-up of just some of the things they've got planned:Once again Chevrolet is back! They'll be hosting Ride & Drives off the Expo Hall with some their new models including the all new Cheverolet Camaro - now that's a HOT car! In fact it's so hot that Chevrolet is having trouble keeping up with demand.

BlogHer '09, BlogHer's fifth annual conference, will be our biggest conference yet. Every year we have sold out and dealt with the dreaded waiting list. This year we sold out BlogHer '09's original capacity in mid-March, which left us with lots of community members wanting in.

Still thinking about what to pack for BlogHer? In the comments on this post, Sassymonkey articulated what I'm sure is a common worry:

Today, we are thrilled to announce the final selections for the BlogHer '09 Community Keynote, our second annual Community Keynote, taking place on Friday July 24th. Just like last year, we received hundreds of submissions, and I have to start with a shout-out of gratitude to our tremendous Community Keynote grand poobah: Eden Kennedy from Fussy And the rest of the Community Keynote committee: Jes Ferris and Lori Luna from BlogHer

BlogHer's 2009 conference is in less than six weeks, which means we're entering a phase that totally stresses me out; I like to call it the what-the-hell-do-I-wear? phase. In the past week, I've started stumbling across the first of what will be far too many posts written by women who are convinced that they need to purchase an entirely new wardrobe in order to fit in at BlogHer. Let's get one thing clear: You do not need to buy new clothes for this event. Nor should you feel any pressure to look some particular way when you show up in Chicago. 

Back in December we announced the BlogHer '09 International Activist BlogHer scholarship program and invited you to submit yourself or your favorite international activist BlogHer for consideration for this scholarship.

Protect-A-Bed is sponsoring a Scholarship Contest to help with your expenses for Blogher '09.  The prize is for $300 to use towards your airfare, parking, hotel or other expenses associated with attending the conference.  You must already have a conference pass to enter.To enter you need to write a blog post per the requirements in the contest post.You can read more about it here: