Too Legit to Quit: A BlogWorld Expo Review
Nov 10th, 2007 by msdanielle
BlogWorld Expo is Over
There is a lot of buzz about the BlogWorld Expo (BWE) now that it’s over, and everyone is giving their two cents on their experiences. And of course, I have to put in mine!
First off, BWE was probably the most important networking event of my career up to this point. Not only was I able to meet and hang out with some big time bloggers, and talk to some of the big advertising networks, I got to sit down and learn some highly valuable PPC tips from Darin Carter.
Wait a second, the infamous Darin Carter? Yes. He’s actually a really great guy, and because of personal “life changes,” has put on hold shipping out some of his many blog prizes. That’s OK, life happens. But apparently I’ll still be getting the Wii…right, Darin? 
All kidding aside, the knowledge he shared with me was priceless. In addition, the event solidified existing relationships and opened the doors for new ones. It couldn’t have gone any better if I’d planned it this way.
What Did I Take Away From BWE?
I can’t even place a value on the legitimacy of this event. What did I experience, see, or take away from this event?
- ShoeMoney is the real deal. If you’ve ever met someone and thought, “Now that guy’s for real,” that’s what I think about Jeremy. No one will ever be able to discredit him in my eyes, ever. What a genuine person he is, and a real team player. Knowing that other bloggers are there to support your efforts, no matter how big or small their blog is, and that you can support theirs is such a fulfilling aspect of being a part of this community. He’s encouraged me to do a radio show, which I think was really awesome of him. We’ll see if this pans out in the future. Thank you for the words of encouragement, Jeremy!
- JohnChow knows how to have fun. If there was anything “mobile” lying around, John Chow was there to launch it across the exhibit floor in a heartbeat. It was great because at one point a bunch of us got into a foam-missile war, but only to be thwarted by security! Thanks for the fun memories!
- Nate Whitehill is the man. Nate is truly one of the coolest, most sincere, most dedicated and deserving people I’ve come across. He’s one of those people you feel like you’ve known for a long time when you finally meet in person. I give him mad props for doing his thing this year and making the move to go big time. HOVA!
- UniqueBlogDesigns is gonna blow up…big time. Nate, Josh, Matt, and Dave (CTO) are an extremely talented and driven group, and their business is going to pay off for them hugely in 2008. Their booth was one of the hottest at the expo, and their calendars are going to be booked very soon, so if you haven’t gotten your new blog design created, make sure to contact them to get it up and running. I congratulate them on being a shining blog success story!
- Bloggers are legit. One thing I kept hearing among the group this weekend was, “This is the most legit group of people I’ve ever hung out with.” I couldn’t agree more. And it has nothing to do with money. I believe a majority of bloggers are like-minded people, regardless of topic or intention. Bloggers are motivated, driven, technical to a degree, inclusive, intelligent (usually), opinionated, and creative. This is why we’re drawn to each other (at least the ones I know), and this is why we’re legit. What bloggers are not are quitters.
This event opened my eyes to the magnitude of power and influence that bloggers have, what they can learn from each other, and what they can achieve together. I can’t stop now. This blog stuff is too legit to quit, baby. I’d be letting others down, letting myself down, and squandering amazing opportunity if I quit. I want to play with the big dogs.
Last But Not Least, Pictures!
Here are a few pics from the event. I’ll be posting more pictures and thoughts in the next few days:
Gary, Matt, Josh, Dave, Nate, Me, and Darin
Matt, Me, John Chow, Nate, Darin, Greg Morgan, Neil Patel, Cindy (booth girl), ShoeMoney, Josh, Gary, and Dave
Prija, John, and Greg
Jeremy “Shoemoney” and Me (in my very own Shoemoney shirt!)
Wendy Piersall and Me
Me and Suzie Cheel
DJ Dust and Me at Tangerine — Watch out, we got them crazy no-finger gloves!
[Let me know if you have any questions about the event. I'll try to post some more thought pieces on blogging or BWE as they come to me. Have a great weekend!]
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cool pics. looks like you had a fun time. so who was the coolest person you met there??
me of course!
honestly, everybody who attended was super cool. but i was really impressed with how much of a regular person jeremy is, and how welcome and included he makes you feel. that was pretty cool
Looks like you had an awesome time Danielle. Thanks for posting the pictures, I’m so Jealous.
Will you be at PubCon?
i don’t have plans to be at pubcon. i am planning on attending more conferences in 2008 though, possibly aff summit west. are you going to pubcon? if so, i’ll be jealous too! would be great to meet you. jc says he’s renting a penthouse at one of the hotels, too…
In that case, you will be missed. I don’t know John although I am a long time subscriber to his blog. Unfortunately, I have never had any reason to communicate with him as we have very different business models and approaches to marketing.
I saw you (I think) in his video at the blogging movie stand. (Congratulations on that by the way). You are the spitting image of an old roommate of mine!
You should seriously reconsider going to pubcon. I think this year will be special
everyone was buzzing about pubcon. i have a feeling it’s going to be very huge, in a very special way. i am considering it, but i wasn’t planning for it, so it would be difficult to fit in since i was gone a few days for bwe. if i don’t go, i hope to get full reports from everyone!
WOW! You met all the people I can only dream of meeting. Congrats on your success!
-Mike
What type of bill are we talking when you went?
Hotel? Pass to get in? Things like that.
let’s see… passes were $175, hotel $100/nt, flight $150. plus food and whatever else. we bought 2 bottles of water, 2 small bags of potato chips, and a mini fruit pie (usually $.79) at the convenience store in hard rock for $21. hehehe… gotta love vegas…
I WISH I WAS THERE.
I WILL CRY ABOUT THIS MISSED OPPORTUNITY FOR 90 MORE DAYS…
your face is still messed up
HAHAHA thanks
I know my face is not the best looking..
Hey Ms. D!
It was really awesome meeting you and Gary! I am still freaked out by the whole wrist sweaters you girls were wearing but rock on
hand sweaters, huh? how about them flashing jelly rings?
those were crazy 
it was great meeting you as well. YOU rock!
Wow Ms. Danielle, you flew to vegas??? Aren’t you residing in Cerritos (unless I read wrong elsewhere)? It could’ve just taken 4 hours of driving
-Mike
Time is money Mike. I’d rather spend the $$$ to fly than to drive for 4 hours out of my precious life.
this is true. long beach airport is about 15 mins from my house. plus, it’s 4 hours if there’s absolutely no traffic. the last two times i went a couple legs were 8+ hours =/
Danielle, it was nice to finally meet the superstar behind this blog. Thanks for the fun night out and hooking us up with sweet ass VIP seating at the Tangerine nightclub!
Hopefully we can all party hard again in the near future!
Cheers,
Anthony
that hook up was ALL Prija, and i also have to thank Dusty (DJ Dust) for being an absolute sweetheart and all-around great person. i had an awesome time too, definitely looking forward to more parties and get-togethers. too bad you guys are in toronto. i’m glad you made it home safely!
The more I hear about it and the more pictures I see, I definitely am going to have to try and make it out there for that next year! Glad you had a fun time.
you should definitely try to go next year. it’s going to be a better month too, september instead of october.
thanks for visiting!
@neil duckett – sharing is caring.
Great photos Ms D, thanks for sharing.
Danielle, I had an absolute blast kicking it you all week! These past 3 days have been some of the awesomest of all time. And I mean that lightly. I can’t believe how fast it all actually went by.
Seriously, I think I got a total of 6 hours of sleep in the past 3 days LOL. Anyways, you need to make sure you go to Pubcon in December forealz. It will be a blast especially with the Rockstar contest and you know we will be rolling ultra-VIP status just like this time! Alright keep it real, how a playa feel. .
Nate
@josh buckley – it was a blast. everyone was really warm and lots of fun to be around. i’m so lucky to be a part of this community, for sure…
Awesome, it looks like you guys had such a great time!
Nate sounds like one of those dorky, desperate geeks who would love being around a girl and get all nervous and sweaty-palmed when she comes close. I bet he followed you around like everywhere you went too, huh? Just don’t turn into a stalker buddy. LOL. J/K. Keep up the good work Danielle.
hey hey let’s not hate!
It sounds amazing.
Maybe just maybe i’ll be earning enough to make it next year
.
The pics are awesome too. Shame it’s mostly guys, was this the deal for the whole event? The fact that blogging is a fairly new business gives the opportunity for it to grow without sexism or any ism for that matter.
you hit it right on the head . . . . there weren’t many girl bloggers representin’ . . . we’re gonna have to do something about that for next year!
yea it would’ve been great if we had some more female bloggers up in the mix. where was jeni?
she lives in vegas… jeni where were you?! 
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Was awesome to meet you at the John Chow Blogger Dinner. Next time around we will actually get to talk more!
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Wow, that looked really fun!
I sure hope I can attend next year’s event. Can’t wait to meet some of you
-Mike
i am definitely going to try to attend next year!!
Sounds like everyone had a great time. Hopefully we’ll have something like that in Japan soon. Nick, Thomas and I will need to represent
we were like, “dude jason should’ve been here!”
you were missed… if you have a blogging conference in japan make sure to take lots of pics!
Will do!
It would be interesting to see the similarities and differences between BlogWorld Expo and BlogJapan (or whatever they might call it)
Yeah thanks a lot for not letting me know we were going to Tangerine, I felt like a total idiot
You guys should have made it to Tao Saturday night though, it was a blast. Anyway it was good to meet you in person finally, hopefully I’ll see you at blogworld next year, I don’t think I can make it to pubcon.
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Everything I’ve read has reinforced this was a great conference, and very sorry I missed it. Looks like you had an awesome time, and you got some major props from Shoemoney over at his blog. Looks like you might really be about to blow up!
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