Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by #BlogHer16, but all opinions are our own. Thank you for your support and an incredible weekend of learning.
Candace and Lauren are now in Bolzano, Italy preparing for this week’s Yoga By Candace international retreat. Meanwhile, I just returned to the East Coast after the BlogHer 2016 conference in Los Angeles. The event was a major eye-opener. I had a lot of fun, learned a ton, and met some pretty inspiring people.
For those who may be unfamiliar, BlogHer is a media network that helps connect bloggers who focus on women’s issues and interests. 2016’s conference offered a wonderful mix of advice on social media marketing, content creation, and making a social impact. All manner of badass women bloggers gathered at the J.W. Marriott in downtown LA to learn and connect with one another. We had guest speakers like Kim Kardashian(!!!) talk to us about entrepreneurship, and in breakout sessions we discussed everything from the best new apps to help run a blogging business to the meaning of feminism (oh yeah, we went there).
During break times, conference attendees visited the BlogHer16 Expo Hall, where event sponsors set up shop to talk to us about their companies. At each entrance to the hall, an open bar offered an assortment of wines, and I gleefully ran around to each sponsored booth, complementary wine in tow, like a kid in a candy shop (or maybe just like a twenty-something gratified to find out that the occasional free drink continues after college). The booths offered swag bags, photo ops, and fun prizes. Best Buy, the electronics and appliance giant, offered some of the biggest giveaways, a free LG refrigerator. Here is my picture of the coveted cooler:
Free snacks were also abundant. A particular favorite of mine was Bush’s Best booth. You know Bush because of their assortment of beans, but the Bush product that should really be on your radar is Bush’s Hummus Made Easy, a hummus mix pack that you can add to any blended beans to get delish, no-fuss, homemade hummus. They offer roasted red pepper mix, southwest black bean, and classic. I’m old school with my hummus, so I really enjoyed the classic mix pouch:
And finally, one booth that really helped me out of a jam- Bai. Let me preface by saying, while incredibly engaging, these types of conferences are looooooong. The days ran from 8AM to 9PM, with very few breaks in between. I downed a lot of coffee to keep up with the intense scheduling, and got a little dehydrated as a result. By the time I came to Bai’s booth, I was very happy to discover their refreshing alternative to coffee or sugar-filled energy drinks. Though it is a fruit drink, Bai only has one gram of sugar. The fruit Bai uses is, in fact, the coffeefruit (the flesh covering coffee beans when they are harvested). Coffeefruit is filled with antioxidants, and is touted as one of the world’s secret superfoods. It provides a natural source of energy that won’t leave you crashing later. Here is the nutritional info for ya:
The Expo Hall gave me a fun break and some much needed sustenance to get through the crazy experience that is BlogHer. I learned about a lot of cool brands and even took away some lessons just by browsing the different booths. The primary key is this: presentation is what gets people in the door. Engage an audience immediately with your aesthetic, your giveaways, etc. All the booths I visited offered free swag, fun visuals, and interactive activities. But the one’s that had me asking for more offered presentations built upon real, worthwhile content. Ultimately, people want authentic substance, (a superfood ingredient, if you will) whether in a product, a blog, or yourself. Make sure to live up to your superfood potential!