This is how I Blogopolis

9 hours of learning.
21 hours awake.
42 hours away from my babies.
This can only mean one thing.
A blogging conference.

Blogopolis.

Here is my guide to getting your Blogopolis on.
Pink style.

This post was not sponsored by Twinings.

Get there on time or have someone saving you a seat. I feel like a dick walking in when it's already started, looking through a room of hundreds of people to find a familiar face, and they're ALWAYS sitting at a table that is full. So you're left to say hi and then wander off to find whatever seat you can find. that's cool, only it's usually with no one you know and doing introductions when someone is speaking out the front feels rude.
Do carry your charger with you, maybe even a power board if you're clever. I left with a fully charge phone and it was dying just after lunch. Probably around the same time everyone elses phone's were dying and that's why all the power points were taken. A power board would have helped a few of us out.

That's a lot of awesome right there in one room.

Be polite to EVERYONE. You never know who you are talking to, and who they will talk to. Don't go and take someones seat when their bags are on their chair and things are on the table. And if you do accidentally, at least offer them their place back. You know who you are.

Ask people what their twitter handle is. Can you believe I spent all day chatting to Mountains and Musings not realising it was Jennunger from twitter? May be an idea for the people who organise these conferences to include a twitter handle on our name tags. I tend to recognise people by twitter name more often than blog name.



Morning tea couldn't have come fast enough.

Pack some snacks in your bag, or make sure you beeline it to Denwise, she's always got lollies. You can't determine when food will be served and when you will be hungry so having something in your bag is really handy.
Talk to people you don't know, especially those who you've never heard of. It's delightful to put a face to the name and find out you have an insta-BFF but what's really great is when a person you didn't know in the online world pops on over to your blog and says hi in the weeks afterwards.

Don't be upset if people only manage a couple of minutes with you. It's an intense day for us all.

I was a tad in love with our bathroom.

Get a hotel room if possible so you can have a place to chill out if you need to take a minute, and so you can enjoy in the festivities before and after the conference. Getting a roomie is even more awesome because that way you've got "a person" who you can arrive to things with which helps take some of the dauntingness out. My fantastic roomie was Lori, and I think she put up with a lot of my dribble so you should thank her.

Pack more clothes than you need. Seriously. Who didn't have a post drinks outfit? That would be me. Knew I should have crammed in my Cinderella ball gown.

Attend drinks. Pre, post, hey just slip a hip flask in to the event with you. Drinks are one of my favourite parts. Maybe it's because I need that liquid courage? But mostly because it gives you a chance to catch up with a lot of people at the same time.

To those who were privileged to have listened to my drawl on Saturday night...I'm sorry. Yep, I'm totally immature but fuck it, I think I'm as funny as a fart in an elevator and that's all that matters right?

And at the end, if you find yourself in your hotel bathroom fully dressed the next morning then you know it must have been a good fucking night.

Thank you to everyone who came and said hi to me, to those who tweeted the day madly, to those who spoke on the stage, and to those who made the conference possible.
I have a lot of information I need to process and apply now.


Next Blogopolis I vow to shout VAGINA really loudly at an inappropriate time in a man's voice. You will have to make sure you're there so you don't miss it.