For the last month or so, many people (fellow bloggers, public relations people, etc.) have been asking me if I was going to BlogHer this year. (BlogHer is a community for women who blog. They hold an annual conference. This year, it’s from July 18 – 20 in San Francisco, CA.) Anyway, my short answer to the question has been “No”. Here’s the long answer. I think that BlogHer is a great community and that the conference would be a wonderful way to put together the faces to the names of the writers of the blogs that I read/ a great networking opportunity/ a great learning experience/ etc., etc., I’m not going to BlogHer because of my big three (time, energy & money)…

1. Time: I have had a fun, full summer so far. I’m also going to a family wedding in the near future. Traveling to San Francisco just doesn’t fit into my summer plans.

2. Energy: I’ve been talking to my husband lately about how my energy seems to be depleted. Part of it is the heat – the heat energizes some people while draining others. I’m one of those people that the sun drains! The other part is that my younger son Sean has more energy as he gets older. He has more/I have less – not the best equation. I need to conserve as much energy as possible!

3. Money: The cost to attend the full conference ($348) is actually really reasonable. However, when I factor in air travel, ground travel, hotel, etc., etc., it doesn’t work for me this year. (As I mentioned in point 1, we’re going to a family wedding this month. Air, car, hotel, etc., etc. for a family of four is not cheap these days.)

So, those are my main three reasons. Then, I thought about it. What are the REAL reasons? (I’m a woman – if I really want something, I can figure out a way to make it happen.) Here’s the main two:

1. Family: I don’t like to be away from my family for extended periods of time. I’ve slept away from home one night (my Dad’s wedding) with Sean and twice (my Dad’s wedding/ giving birth to Sean) with Michael. I love my family. I like my family. I don’t like to be away from them.

2. Discomfort: I don’t like to be around large groups of people unless I’m serving in some type of capacity. When I have been to large group gatherings in the past, I have usually been helping out in some capacity (i.e. hosting, speaking, doing registration, etc., etc.) I prefer smaller groups when it comes to meeting/mingling.

All that to say, I hope that the women (and men – they’re invited!) that are attending BlogHer this year have a great time. I’m eager to read about it BUT I’m perfectly alright with not being there. (Hopefully next year it’ll be closer to the East Coast/ the pros will outweigh the cons and I’ll be ready to go!)

Posted by Kimberly on 18 Jul 2008 at 03:06 pm | Tagged as: My Life