Conference Expenses

Yay for everybody getting involved with this! We've had several people express interest in a Bloggy Con, and that is awesome!

Tiffany and I are still in the beginning stages of planning the whole thing. Right now, we're trying to figure out expenses, and what it will cost to have a conference. Naturally, there's the cost of booking the location, food, etc.

What would you like to see happen at a Bloggy Con? A party somewhat like Sparklecorn at BlogHer? What kind of seminars? These all figure into expenses too.

Also, we're going to be looking into sponsors for the conference as well. The more help we get to help pay for it that way, the less the tickets will have to cost to help cover the cost of the conference!! So if you have any suggestions or ideas, we would LOVE to hear them!

If you haven't taken the Bloggy Con poll already, please do so! The link is above in the Bloggy Moms link header.

Tags: bloggy, con

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mojo Mama on August 14, 2010 at 4:30pm

There was a lot of interest in Vegas, which I TOTALLY understand, but one thing to consider there is that everything is very expensive. We originally started out looking at Coeur d Alene, ID to host the conference. ("What?" you say. "Where the HELL is that???") It's in North Idaho, a couple of hours south of Canada, about 20 minutes east of Spokane, Washington. The location we would like to hold it, if we do have the Bloggy Con in CdA, is a place called the Coeur d Alene Resort. (http://www.cdaresort.com)

As far as other locations, I haven't had a chance to call any hotels in the area as far as scheduling and pricing. I do know that CdA would be cheaper as far as hotel stays and whatnot, so that was one of the reasons we were looking to hold it there. But naturally, we are trying to keep an open mind about location for all the ladies.

Of course, location is the first decision we have to make about the conference. We can't really truly know the rest of our expenses until we know the location, and what it'll cost to host the conference there.

Permalink Reply by Sofia Byrd on August 15, 2010 at 1:47pm

Idaho sounds great! It is not so far from Portland!

Sofia

Permalink Reply by Mojo Mama on August 15, 2010 at 2:09pm

Sofia Byrd said:

Idaho sounds great! It is not so far from Portland!

Sofia

That's what we're thinking too. It's a beautiful area, it's inexpensive, the hotel that we're looking to do the conference at has a pool, a full-service spa, and we're even toying with the idea of borrowing one of their "cruise" type boats to have the end of the conference party on!! It's right on the lake, and gorgeous!!

We'd love to have it in Vegas, but it would be expensive to rent a conference space, and the hotel rooms are expensive. We want to try and make this as inexpensive as possible so that as many people as we can get can come!! I don't want everybody to have to drop $1K+ to come to the conference! :)

Permalink Reply by Mojo Mama on August 15, 2010 at 2:11pm

buzzvibe said:

EdenFantasys.com was a sponsor at BlogHer, and they're really courting mom bloggers lately with their new Ambassador Program. I wonder if they'd be interesting in possibly sponsoring this.

I had heard that, yes! We're hesitant to ask them, as they might see it as a conflict of interest, but we're toying with the idea of asking Adam & Eve or Babeland to sponsor instead.

We're also going to see if we can get a local radio station to help host our end-of-conference party as well. We're trying to keep things as simple as we can, but at the same time, we want this to be AWESOME for everybody who comes!

Permalink Reply by Dawn Perkins on August 18, 2010 at 5:52pm

Are there any potential sponsors that aren't in the adult industry? I didn't think this was that type of a conference.

Permalink Reply by Mojo Mama on August 18, 2010 at 5:55pm

Dawn Perkins said:

Are there any potential sponsors that aren't in the adult industry? I didn't think this was that type of a conference.

Haha, it's not. That was just our first suggestion. And we just hope, if one sees the benefit of sponsoring a group of moms, another might as well. I was also thinking about seeing if there were any cosmetic companies, perhaps, some kids clothing companies, etc. We want to cover a whole range of different potential interests that our bloggers have! :)

Permalink Reply by Marci Baum on August 21, 2010 at 12:20am

I would love to come to this!!! I live in northern Utah, as long as school allows, I'm there!

Permalink Reply by Mojo Mama on August 21, 2010 at 12:25am

Marci Baum said:

I would love to come to this!!! I live in northern Utah, as long as school allows, I'm there!

With the date being planned to be July 15-16, I hope it won't interfere! We'd love to have you there!

Permalink Reply by Sofia Byrd on August 21, 2010 at 12:29am

So exciting!! So is Idaho still option one?

Mojo Mama said:

Marci Baum said:
I would love to come to this!!! I live in northern Utah, as long as school allows, I'm there!

With the date being planned to be July 15-16, I hope it won't interfere! We'd love to have you there!

Permalink Reply by Mojo Mama on August 21, 2010 at 12:37am

Sofia Byrd said:

So exciting!! So is Idaho still option one?

Yes ma'am! It's the decided place! We're working with the CdA Resort right now to iron out the details for the conference! :)

Permalink Reply by Nicole Brady on August 25, 2010 at 4:19pm

I realize that most conferences focus on a fancy hotel/resort but along with that comes a lot of fancy hotel/resort expenses. Last year after BlogHer (Chicago), a friend and I bantered about a different idea: Camp(us) Blog. When I was younger, I attended a few business and leadership conferences held during summer months but they utilized mostly-empty college campuses. We stayed in the dorms but our meals were catered in the conference areas. After watching the expenses trickle in travel, lodging, parking, food, shipping swag, etc, it is really unbelievable. Since you haven't locked into a location yet, have you considered this as an option. I know there are various companies (Sears Outlet, CSV stores) that are actively working with bloggers - maybe they could sponsor the event by providing linens that the bloggers would then get to take home or could be donated to a local shelter. Campuses are equipped with internet, have plenty of rooms, auditoriums and usually the cafeteria is running for other events/camps planned also. There's still access to attend local restaurants if someone wants to sponsor a party at a glitzy place. Yet I haven't heard anyone talk about moving in this direction with their events.

It's an off-the-wall idea but just wanted to share my thoughts! Thanks!

Permalink Reply by Janis Brett Elspas on October 22, 2010 at 3:26pm

The conference is in the Midwest (not Idaho) right? As I would be coming from L.A. I would really need sponsors to attend this as the flight costs alone would be prohibitive. Anyone have any advice on how to seek and pitch potential companies on sponsoring us individually to cover our travel expenses, etc? Now is not too early to start finding those sponsorships, BTW.