I_Blog, final entry

So who was at the I_Blog Conference? I can't say for sure. I didn't attend every day and didn't get to speak to everyone. Wish I did. The following awesome people were there while I was. If you are reading this and you attended, please leave a link in a comment and accept my apology for not remembering or speaking to you. Blog love to everyone, JULIA

• My Red Apron
• Brett Trout
• The Extraordinary Ordinary
• Boogers and Burps
• Deb Brown
• Beth Blair
• Lyz Lenz
• His and Hers Photography
• Blogging Basics 101
• Three Boys and a Dog
• Life with My 3 Boybarians AKA Graphically Designing
• Lille Punkin' Reviews
• One (of several) Dairy Mom
• Ang England
• Y'dstoti
• Keeping It Personal
• The Magic FarmHouse
• Six Five Sky Guy
• Family Rambling AKA Iowa Geek AKA Fab Food Friday
• Travels With Children
• Pitches and Glitches
• Carol Schiller
• An Iowa Mom

I_Blog, part 3

I understand that some people attend blog conferences in order to meet the authors of the blogs they read. I get that. If I had a yearbook, like a blank page in my conference brochure for autographs, I would have had everyone there sign it. Everybody was _that cool_.

Who was there? I_Blog had speakers and registrants. The registrants, like me, came from a wide variety of backgrounds, representing several Midwest states. The speakers reflected the same. I can think of one who came from outside the Midwest, but I won't hold it against her. There were people with blogs and people who will soon have blogs. There were many like me who could not attend all three days. And there were some I did not meet.

Those that I did meet were great people, all with different points of view. This difference makes them all the more attractive. Like many functions that I’ve attended, nursing babies accompanied their mommas, and dads and kids hung out elsewhere.

What did the speakers say? Lots. Jody designed two tracks -- one for beginners and one for experienced bloggers. Choosing one workshop per session was difficult at times.

The experience was great. Having small audiences allowed for wonderful personal interaction and attention. The hotel had great ambience. I don't know if I can say more, other than I am still hungry for more.

I_Blog, part 2

In addition to the food buffet, we had a workshop buffet.

Ready to hear more about the I_Blog Conference? Yesterday, I forgot to say that a Picsio cam was given away on Sat. afternoon. And I want to make a video within the next 12 months, I soooo missed out on that. WAAAAH! (I am finalizing the storyboard now, so if you want to contribute to my camera fund, call me.)

So anyway, what did I do at a blog conference? Open a laptop and have everyone type posts as a group? NO!!! I learned how to make a blog “better." I really don’t like that word, but I can’t think of just one word that is suitable. Maybe "more effective" is what I want to say. I also heard business advice. Traditional business advice, given from a blogging perspective.

Afterward, I remembered some words I heard about 15 years ago – as technology use increases, the need for human interaction increases. That is, the more you communicate through digital devices to buy stuff, converse, and do research, the more you crave contact with live people. Moral of the story: Networking! It’s all about networking.

We also ate food. Good food. Some people don’t care about what they eat as long as it's food, but I do care. Coupled with the fact that I get hungry frequently, I definitely worry about food when I travel. Being a dancer and athlete probably works against me in this area. The Hotel Pattee provided great food for us. Having food provided was a convenience. We can maximize the networking and not worry about being late for an upcoming session because we left the building. 

And the food was a little fun. If there had been a tip jar for the omelet man’s Sunday brunch, I would have left one, even though he had to use a torch to light a faulty burner. The torch impressed me. And Midwest Dairy had yogurt, OJ, and milk for us at all times. 

Fun at the i_blog conference

little blogs on the prairie

i_blog was this weekend and I love love loved it! Attending the i_blog conference in Perry was fun and educational. I love meeting new people and new ideas. I promised my sister, who just had a baby on Tuesday, that I would tell everything on my blog.

What was i_blog? I_blog was a fun, three day gathering of Midwest bloggers. Held at the Hotel Pattee, and sponsored by several rock star companies, i_blog provided adult ed through workshops for bloggers. [It was like a home school conference without a vendor hall, but for bloggers.]

Swag? I didn’t go for the swag. But there were plenty of goodies – pads of sticky notes courtesy of Cozi, a notepad and $50 discount coupon from Hotel Pattee, Midwest Dairy generously gave an afternoon snack, recipe books, and insulated bags (they will fit two gallon milk jugs), and Land O Lakes gave coupons for free yogurt and cents off for cottage cheese.

There were also fantastic giveaways: Kum and Go gave two $100 gift cards, Verizon Wireless gave a droid 2, Midwest Dairy gave a handheld blender (that I won!), and Brett Trout gave two copies of Cyber Law. (I am too lazy to put an amazon affiliate link here.) Verizon Wireless had a booth full of goodies and info – drawstring bags, water bottles, key chain fobs, cozies, non-slip pads for your dashboard, ink pens, you get the idea. There could have been more on Friday, but I didn't attend that day.

Well, are you jealous yet? You will have to go next year. Wait until my next post. Then you'll really wish you would have been there.

OK, I have no pictures from the event right now. How about this one?  As I told the dairy moms at our Saturday morning breakfast, we saw Toy Story 3 Thursday night, and everyone loved it for their own reasons. I found these forgotten toys recently on closet shelf.

i_blog conference

Our table seems to always contain a newspaper and book in the background.

I just traded purses, from the every day small to the large enough to fit a notebook in. It's the i_blog conference. I've never attended a blog conference before, just thought about it and read about. This year, I'm doing it. It's my adult ed. I've got family members and a brand-new ministry in need of assistance in the blog arena. Leave me a comment with your most pressing blog question. I'll see if I can find the answer in person this weekend.

I_Blog Conference

See my new badge in the right-hand sidebar? I'm attending the I_Blog Conference this year! I would love to meet some of you at the conference. I won't be staying at the hotel, but I will attend each day's programming.

I read tweets about the conference last year, and as I've grown as a blogger here and as a webmaster for my homeschool business (gosh that sounds bigger than what I do), I really see the need to learn some things in order to be more effective. I'm also watching a lot of blogs evolve and thinking about my own blogs --  how could I make some elements of other blogs work for me? Similar to home schooling support groups, this is my continuing ed.


To attend the I_Blog Conference, I will miss the Iowa Honey Producers Association's annual conference (yes, we keep bees in our back yard), but I've never found much there for the recreational beekeeper.

Now for the obligatory photo. This is my youngest, a few minutes after she completed the Ankeny Youth Triathlon in 18:51.

Doesn't she look great with her chocolate milk? She wore this smile almost the entire race.

This shot is part of Darcy's Sweet Shot Tuesday. (I know, I'm always behind. It's Wednesday.)