From a fellow blogger who wants to attend more conferences.
Laurie, can I ask you something? When an organization asks me to blog for their conference, is it reasonable that the conference fee be paid and if they don’t offer, should I ask? I want to be more visible, I don’t have a sugar daddy, and I am not sure how it all works.
Maybe you should get yourself a sugar daddy. Just kidding. Those guys are needy and overrated.
If asked to attend a conference, you should first review the agenda and see if the speakers pique your interest. If you find the conference to be interesting or compelling, you can politely ask, “What expenses are covered?” That’s a good place to start.
Most conferences will provide a free press pass to bloggers. If one isn’t offered to me — and I really want to attend a conference — I will ask.
From a business perspective, I generally attend a conference when airfare & hotel expenses are covered and conference fees are waived. This hasn’t always been the case. Sometimes I do pay for my own travel expenses depending on the conference, the budget, and what’s on the agenda.
If you’re not sure what’s being offered — and this applies to conferences or a job offer or a proposition from a strange guy on the street — it’s important that you ask for clarification. It’s never gauche to ask for more information before you make a decision, and it’s important for you to do a cost-benefit-analysis to determine if any endeavor, including a conference, is worth your time.
Now who wants to be a professional conference blogger? It’s got to be better than you regular job. Let me know and I’ll put you in touch with the right people.
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Hmmm… A Professional Conference Blogger. I’m willing to do that, on one condition: I want to attend Anthrocon (http://www.anthrocon.org/) next year (this year might want to go to SoCal) to stay in rooms with furry animal mascots.
is that really possible?! that would be my dream. but I need health insurance.
Sadly I think Twitter may be killing the blog star (my apoloigies to Buggles). Is there really a need for people to blog from conferences, when a great percentage of the attendees have hand held access to twitter. I’m not sure if you can compete with a #tag and a smart phone. People want info faster and faster, blogs used to beat the trade publications, but now tweets beat the blogs. Twitter creates a real time nearly virtual experience for attending events, and has totally changed conferences. Look at Comicon. They were one of the first to cater to bloggers to get their message out, but the fans that couldn’t be there folllowed the discussion and events real time via twitter.
@Tracy I dunno, dude. I’m not sure my network is big enough to help you land that job.
@Lorraine I married for health insurance.
@Puf That may be true — but Twitter is plateauing and WordPress is up. Maybe Twitter forces bad bloggers to rethink their strategies.
What experience/education/skills would be necessary?
Oh, Lorraine, try seeing if you can hook up with a group that offers group health insurance; a local business alliance, chamber of commerce, or HR/blogging group. Sometimes colleges offer healthcare plans for their alumni as well. It may still be pricey, but it’s a lot better than paying straight up and out of pocket for insurance or medical costs.
@econopete – good tips on insurance…timely as mine just went up about 35%, so I’m looking.
I’m with you Laurie re. WordPress vs. Twitter. More sustained thought on WordPress.
Dude, I would totally do this. Though I might have to punch someone in the face after I’ve heard the phrase “seat at the table” for the 50th time, like, that day. Think that would disqualify me?
I’ll do it– only if it’s a porn conference.
Sign me up yo! I’ll bunk with HRMinion to save a dime on the hotel cost.
Hi Lorrie,
It’s funny how I just ran across this post…I have just recently started offering my services as an “Event Community Manager”. I haven’t seen this offered as a professional service before and I’m anxious to get things rolling.
I published a few articles on how to use social media to market events, and how to promote yourself using other people’s events. I really think it’s viable & would love to talk to you more about it. Hopefully you can put me in contact with the right people. I certainly would appreciate that!!
Thanks for the insight & point in the right direction.
grr…I hate it when I spell names wrong. Forgive me & plz correct.
Funny. I think of WordPress and Twitter as being in supportive roles to each other, not competitive ones.
@BZ Nope, not supportive — but not really in competition with one another, either. The market is segmenting according to what I read on the internets.
@Correeeeeeeeeee No problem. Also, good luck on your job hunt. I’m not sure I can advise, but maybe others who read this blog will have suggestions for you.
@adowling Yo, you can bunk with me. I’m done with h1n1.
@mattymat Yuck. No thanks.
@Minion The new thing is “HR obsolescence.” You can be good at payroll and other HR administrative skills, but if you have those skills, you’re contributing to HR obsolescence and you must go. Barf.
@Marsha I think it just wins out as a blogging platform and is much more creative than blogspot — and it’s really about micro-communication versus more thoughtful discussions, I think. Punk Rock HR, hosted on wordpress, is really a social network.
@econopete Subject matter expertise, a blog, and an audience.
Now that we’re talking who gets to bunk with who, I ‘ m in.
Conference blogging sounds like fun at first but I bet it can be a pain. With that said, sign me up! I could do it a few times a year…
Hehe…actually my name is misspelled 90% of the time, but it’s usually Corree. Dad always dreamed of living in France & spelled it with the two e’s so people would say “Coreeee”, like it was French.
Well, the idea I had is the same as Professional Conference Blogger, just with a little more detail involved. I’d like to get started as there and move into the rest. If you know of any conferences looking for someone then, plz send ‘em on over! I’m willing to travel to the event or just manage the virtual events too.
Thanks!