Enjoying My First Blogher Conference in Los Angeles

 

What is a Blogher conference all about? I write as a Sheknows Expert which is part of the Blogher family and I really was not sure what Blogher: Experts Among Us conference in Los Angeles would be. I decided to go after my friend, Melissa, called me and said, “How can you not go? It is in Los Angeles.” I have been saying that 2016 is Year of the Conference so it seemed I should go. This conference opened with Wine and Gyn, all the questions you would ask your gynecologist if she was your best friend and you went to drinks. I knew I was in the right place!

Earlier this year I went to my first TBEX Travel Blogging conference in May at the Mall of America and stayed at the brand new Hyatt Regency Bloomington. I loved the conference, the behind the scenes tour at the Mall of America and my executive suite at the hotel. Then in June I went to my first SCUBA show in Long Beach where I drooled over all the destinations I have yet to dive and I stayed at the incredible Hotel Maya where I had wooden floors, a balcony with a view of the Queen Mary and s’mores! I was pretty much in heaven. For Blogher, I stayed at my own house and I went to the conference each day by Uber. I realized after I sat in traffic one day, I should have taken Uber to a metro stop. But enough about where I stayed, what did I learn? Would I go again? Should you spend time at conferences?

Each of these three conferences has taught me so much. I have another conference in Texas in August and in Arizona in November. All five of these conferences, I am going to for the first time. It is a year of exploration.

My focus this year has been to grow my skills with video. I was thrilled to be able to attend the workshop on Managing Your YouTube Channel. The panel included three incredible women: Kandee Johnson, Whitney White and moderator Sarah Penna from Awestruck. I am always worried and wondering if I am running my YouTube channel the “RIGHT” way. I really appreciated all that they shared. It was the perfect place for me to be. I now have over 550 travel videos on YouTube, ROKU and Amazon Fire Tv and across all my platforms I have 700,000 video views. I learned from this group that I am not alone. It is really hard work. It does take a long time. I just have to keep going.

I went to a special event with AARP called Disrupt Aging. The panel was also three women who were fantastic role models for making your own way in life. I loved how they talked about opportunities, staying positive and owning every aspect of yourself. 

In the Expo room, there were incredible companies of all types from Baskin Robbins to Lamps Plus and everything in-between! Everyone was friendly and ready to share about their product and how to get involved. I met Luvvie Ajayi and was able to interview her about her new book, “I’m Judging You.” I even got my own Judgey Pop!

The best part for me was spending time with travel friends new and old. It was great to have meals together and talk about challenges on the road and learn from their experiences. I highly recommend Blogher and I plan to go back again next year! Actually, I will go back to all of these conferences next year.

Let me know if you are going and we can meet up. Happy and Safe Travels! Lisa Niver

Lisa Ellen Niver

Lisa Niver is an award-winning travel expert who has explored 102 countries on six continents. This University of Pennsylvania graduate sailed across the seas for seven years with Princess Cruises, Royal Caribbean, and Renaissance Cruises and spent three years backpacking across Asia. Discover her articles in publications from AARP: The Magazine and AAA Explorer to WIRED and Wharton Magazine, as well as her site WeSaidGoTravel. On her award nominated global podcast, Make Your Own Map, Niver has interviewed Deepak Chopra, Olympic medalists, and numerous bestselling authors, and as a journalist has been invited to both the Oscars and the United Nations. For her print and digital stories as well as her television segments, she has been awarded three Southern California Journalism Awards and two National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards and been a finalist twenty-two times. Named a #3 travel influencer for 2023, Niver talks travel on broadcast television at KTLA TV Los Angeles, her YouTube channel with over 2 million views, and in her memoir, Brave-ish, One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After Fifty.

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