BlogHer '10 Ticket Giveaway

Have you heard about Blogher?

BlogHer is a conference that brings bloggers from every corner of the blogosphere together for hands-on learning, rich discussions and opportunities to network. BlogHer '10 is in New York City for two days in August and the schedule is jam-packed full of great sessions. Speakers I know and admire - Carmen Hudson, Jessica Lee, Laurie Ruettimann, and Sharlyn Lauby - are leading sessions too. 

For a blogger developing her craft, it's is a must attend. I bought my ticket and reserved my hotel room in January and planned to participate in sessions on writing, serving your community, and authenticity. Unfortunately, my plans changed and I will not be going to BlogHer '10. 

I am donating my BlogHer '10 ticket to one very lucky blogger.  

If you want my ticket, hit me in the comments and let me know why. On Friday, June 11, I'll pick the winner based solely on my arbitrary and subjective evaluation of their comments (and the quality of treats that land on my doorstep).

How's that to start the week?

Comments

[Pop and Ice]

I gifted my daughter with a ticket to BlogHer10 for her High School graduation and convinced my husband to come along and bought him the Cocktail Party Ticket but........now he has more blogs than I do!!!! And mine is terribly neglected. I can tell he would REALLY love to attend the conference, so if you'd like to encourage my favorite male blogger with a BlogHer10 Conference Ticket, I'm sure he'd be, well, thrilled, but since that's more of a girly term, perhaps pumped!

[BZTAT]

I confess--I am not a regular reader here, so that may not endear me in your arbitrary and subjective evaluation. I thought I would give it a try anyway. I saw that Laurie Ruettimann posted your giveaway on her Facebook page, and seeing as though Laurie has introduced me to all kinds of interesting things, I thought, what the hay?

I am an artist and art blogger as well as a pet blogger. I got introduced to the world of HR through Laurie's cat Scrubby. Scrubby and my cat Brewskie Butt (www.justmeowin.com) are twin brothers from different mothers. I am constantly trying to learn half as much as my cat does about blogging, I would love to attend BlogHer, because, as you say, it's is a must attend for a blogger developing her craft.

I was blessed to have my Twitter following nominate me as a finalist in the Shorty Awards this year, and I got a real kick out of tweeting about the event. My followers enjoyed it too. Should you choose me, I will be ever so gracious in blogging about and tweeting my gratitude. If you don't choose me, though, at least I have found a cool new blog to read. Nice to find you! Thanks to Laurie for the intro.

BZ

[Lorraine Woodward]

Because I soooooo have wanted to go to this, but wasn't sure where I would be in July . . . because I'm a good blogger who could maybe be a GREAT blogger with some help . . .

but yeah. mostly because it's my dream to attend this.

[Sarah at MainLineMoms.org]

Thank you for your generosity, Lisa!

I'd like to attend this conference to learn all I can from the professionals on behalf of my sister (http://household6diva.com.) She has been my inspiration and blogging mentor over the last six months as I have watched her build a community of military spouses from around the globe. (She will not be able to attend, since her husband is stationed in Germany... and she has three little ones!)

My blog is focused on building a community in my local area to support moms with little ones and to promote local businesses. The sessions you linked on writing, serving your community, and authenticity are all things that I am interested in as well.

Pick me because the copious notes I will take will delight (and benefit) my sister and me, as well as the aspiring mom bloggers in my group oh 80+ Moms with little ones! If you'd like, I could send you highlights from the workshops you mentioned too... (It won't compare with the networking, but at least you'll see the cliff notes of the sessions you were planning to attend!)

Warm Regards,
Sarah

[Maria]

Hi Lisa!

I'm an NYC-based recent college graduate and aspiring wordsmith/entrepreneur about to launch a co-blogging site and support group for early stage tech entrepreneurs in the Sillicon Alley startup space. As a former corporate monkey and bright-eyed new entrepreneur, I've discovered a ton of blogs by VCs and experienced founders, as well as plenty of networking opportunities, but no clear staging area or community for bootstrappers and early-stage hopefuls. My goal is to tap the experiences of struggling entrepreneurs to pull together a database of resources (such as how to craft pitches, how to find co-founders, and how to deal with the general manic-depression that comes with the startup life) and a meeting ground for those seeking and dispensing targeted, effective advice. I'd love the opportunity to attend the BlogHer '10 conference in order to learn more from fellow, successful bloggers who've built successful and supportive communities. My hope is that by developing my own craft, I'll be able to more effectively address the challenges faced by my fellow startup founders.

Cheers!
~ Maria

[Shannon]

Hi Lisa,
I was so excited to see someone was offering a ticket to BlogHer and hope I am getting my comment up in time for your selection.

I am actually writing this post from the airport in Las Vegas returning from speaking at the recruiting conference Fordyce Forum and know how much energy you can get from immersing yourself in a conference when you are passionate about the content. Conferences are a great learning experience but even when there are things repeated that you instinctively “know” how to do something, they give you that little added inspiration and kick in the butt to get it moving. I would have loved to go to BlogHer and like HRevolution had no idea they would sell out so fast! Whatever the list is for notifying upcoming HRevolution next year I hope I am on the list. I lesson I will definitely know better for next year.

There are a number of reasons I would love to go to BlogHer. First I’d love to meet some of the bloggers I have been following over the years like Jessica Lee, Laurie Ruettimann, Carmen Hudson, Amy Windsor, Jenn Korducki, Jill Felska, Miriam Salpeter and Sharlyn Lauby but I’d also love to connect with bloggers in different areas that I haven’t explored. I’ve recently met Cecily Kellogg at some local social media events and am jealous at some of the great information she’s mentioned from going to these events.

Second is I would make a great attendee. I always wonder what happens to people when they leave conferences. They are pumped up to get moving on the new ideas they accumulate but weeks later nothing has changed. I am ready to be a sponge and get to work on my blog. This would come a few months into the start of my personal blog about a time where I probably will have tons of questions. I am happy to take notes, tweet, take photos, or gather any information for you I can relay back to you and being in Philadelphia I frequent NYC often so I would be there totally to focus on the conference and all it has to offer.

I guess the main reason I want to go is like I’m sure a million others, I’ve contemplated starting a blog for years but never followed through. I’ve cross posted on other blog sites like RecruitingBlogs.com and Cruitertalk.com and even started one for my company back in the fall under http://blog.waltonsearch.com/wordpress/ where I do post occasionally. I probably have 300 hundred pages of half written blog posts never posted but they have all sat stagnant. Part of the reason is the mixed nature of the blogs. I am a recruiter and excel at social media tools for recruiting and sourcing and until, well ironically today, my recruiting niche has been healthcare. I also have a background in photography and began showing my work again a few months ago. Until recently trying to either separate or focus on one or the other has been a challenge. That was until now. I’ve changed my business model and am changing niche recruiting focus from healthcare (something I fell into because healthcare was “hot” when I started recruiting in 2001) and am partnering with another firm to source candidates for start ups and the social media and design space. The other part of my day is devoted to working with other recruiters and local small businesses in designing their websites and sourcing strategy. For someone who is not a huge blogger yet, I am a wiz at Word Press and have been setting up others for some time now. I am very active in my local network of women entrepreneurs, sit on the board of a local women’s business group and noticed there has been a gap in a web space for women to connect in my county. I have purchased a domain separately from what my blog will be and am building a site for women to connect locally. I have enlisted a copywriter to help edit content in the beginning and take some of my 300 page half blogs along with the women in the community and be sure they become published. Many of them want to add their blogs or begin to blog and it would be great to get some exposure to hearing from women who are successful in blogging in topics outside what’s usually in my Google Reader such as recruiting, HR, photography and social media. And, yes, though I haven’t ever commented on your blog until today, I am one of your many readers.

As a last note while I didn’t get a nifty treat on your doorstep in time for selection (promise to send plenty of swag from BlogHer :) if I get a BlogHer pass I’m dedicating my first blog post of what will surely be a fun blog in your honor. I hope you are ready because it’s going up this week!