Benefits vs. Costs of Attending a Blogging Conference

Last week I made a last minute to decision to travel to New York City and attend BlogHer’12.  BlogHer is an organization that promotes, influences, and encourages women in the blogging business.  They host several conferences throughout the year including BlogHer Food and BlogHer Entrepreneurs, along with their main annual conference BlogHer.

BlogHer is a three-day event where women and men come together to share their own experiences about blogging and learn about the business of blogging from blogging professionals.

Why I went to BlogHer

My relationship with blogging is unique in the sense that blogging is my most recent career endeavour.  I have been a financial planner and a professional in the financial services industry for many years and I have always enjoyed creative writing.  When the market crashed a few years ago I needed to start supplementing my income so I started working as a freelance financial writer.

I started booking contracts to write product brochures and web content for financial institutions and insurance companies; however this work was all contract based.  I needed a more steady income stream and that is why I started applying for blogging jobs, because it is continuous work. Over the past three years I have been writing for various financial blogs and I started my own personal blog just over a year ago.

I went to BlogHer to make business contacts in blogging and financial industries as well as to promote my personal writing services. But more importantly, I went to BlogHer because I wanted to learn how to make my blogging jobs work for me.  I wanted to know how my blogging can help me achieve my personal career goals, I want my personal blogging experience to be more than just a creative outlet, I want it to help advance my career as a writer.  It was an added benefit that BlogHer was being held in New York City this year, if you are a regular Dinks reader you know that I absolutely love NYC.

My BlogHer experience

To say that my BlogHer experience was overwhelming would be an understatement.  I was among 3000 other bloggers who, just like myself, were there to learn how to follow your dreams, start your own business, and brand yourself as a professional blogger.

I attended several information sessions and panels at BlogHer which included Pro Tips: Branding and Blogging Professionally, When It’s Time to Spend Money to Market Your Work, and How to Price and Value Your Services.  Some of the Keynote Speakers included Martha Stewart and Katie Couric

I absolutely loved my first BlogHer experience and I am looking forward to attending the conference next year in Chicago. I discovered several great new products and services at BlogHer which we will be giving away to our Dinks readers, so stay tuned in the upcoming weeks for some great giveaways.

The benefits of attending a blogging conference

Attending a blogging conference is a great way to meet industry professionals, interact with fellow bloggers, and learn about blogging as a business.  This was my first official BlogHer conference experience and I am so glad that I went.  I met some great people, I made some excellent contacts, and I came home with a new perspective on turning my freelance activities into my full time career.

I know that attending a conference can be very expensive with the event ticket cost, the travelling and transportation costs, as well as the cost of staying in a hotel for several days; but trust me when I say that the knowledge gained and the personal or professional experience is definitely worth the cost.

• Hotel Room: $157.08 – thanks to my favourite discount travel website Priceline.com
• BlogHer’12 Ticket: $153.72 – for the Saturday conference only
• Bus Ticket to NYC: $139 – this was the cheapest way to travel in a short time period

Total Cost to attend BlogHer’12: $449.80

(Experience Gained: Priceless)

With that being said I look forward to meeting you all in the next few weeks at FinCon in Denver.

Photo by Anastassia

Kristina Tahnyak

Tahnya is a Certified Financial Planner and former Investment Advisor turned marketing and communications professional She holds a degree from Concordia University, is debt free and currently works in the field of digital marketing.