I couldn’t make it to the BlogHer conference this weekend in Santa Clara, California, so I tried to participate from a distance. There was a live chat during the conference but unfortunately the chat was somewhat disconnected from the actual sessions and most chat participants were not in the room with the speakers. I tried to read the live blogs as I was chatting, while checking out photos of the panels on Flickr but it quickly became tiresome and confusing. A live broadcast from the conference would have been much better and I heard that the organizers will try to provide it next year. You’ve got to start somewhere and the future is promising.
So it wasn’t quite like being there but still, I could sense the excitement through my high speed connection! I’ve read some good accounts of the conference, one of them by a brave man who attended. It seems like there was a big sense of frustration with the male dominance over the various « bloggers A-lists », especially Technorati’s. Hey girls, try blogging in another language than English and see your readership and potential of recognition drop way, way down!
So was there truly a need to dedicate a conference to the subject of blogging AND women bloggers? The issue is still open for debate but it seems like all participants, male and female, loved the energy in the place and the deeper sense of sharing information. There was a big turnout of « newbies » and I guess it was to be expected. Most regular conferences about blogging are very tech oriented and a higher percentage of men – geeky men – attends them, which could be off-putting for a lot of beginners.
Every time I attend a conference, especially a conference that has to do with a Web related subject, I’m always amazed to see how few women speakers there are. Participants at the BlogHer conference made the same observation.
One of the most interesting initiative that has come out of the conference is the creation of a Wiki for speakers. Women and men who have an area of expertise and presenting skills are encouraged to add their names to a bank of available speakers. Mary Hodder, who developed the Wiki, said:
« I’ve seeded it with about 50 women, but I want men and women to put themselves up. The goal is to show conference organizers that when they are looking to have a panel or talk on an area that there are many folks to choose from. I will be adding more men, but this effort comes from a need we discussed at Blogher, where organizers often say they can’t think of any women who are expert enough to talk, or they just chose those they could find in their usual circles. »
