Why I go to blog conferences.

If you follow me on twitter you already know I spent part of this weekend in Charlotte for Bloggy Boot Camp with the SITS girls. Dayum, people, it was pretty awesome.

I met a bunch of peeps. I learned a bunch of stuff. And I have a lot to say, but I'm still fried. Or slightly fried. So I'm going to share pictures instead. Mostly.

These shots don't cover all the peeps I got to connect with, but they include a small handful. And that's okay. The cameras didn't have much time to come out, as this one-day-intensive was all about blogging.

So much so that I want to go to Dallas for their business intensive. Damn.

Anyone want to send me?

Think I'm kidding? Check the hashtag. I'm SO NOT KIDDING.

Anyway, like I mentioned, omgahhhh! I met some friends!!!

I met the Dose Girls. If you don't know my friends over at The Dose of Reality then you are missing out. These ladies are some of the funniest women in the world of blogging. For serious. They're also so damned sweet. And I adore them. So much so I have two pictures to share. And sorry, I cut out two new friends from the Diva shot below because I needed to focus on my girls. But I am excited to have made some new friends, too. I just needed to show you me and this duo close up, m'kay?

I adore them. And you know how we feel like people we only know online are like floating heads? I mean, we only see their twitter and facebook profile pictures, and even if we're friends on facebook we usually end up with shots from the neck up. Well, see above. ^^ They're PEOPLE!

But, of course, taking our own picture - our selfie-trio? We're ALL floating heads together.

*Snort* I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself. We're cute, though, aren't we?

I also got to spend some quality time with Jen of Jael Custom Designs. Jen was amazing enough to give me a ride to and from Charlotte. And we were roommates for the night, and I don't think she got sick of me, so that's a good thing. We're practically neighbors and yet we don't get to see one another nearly as often as I'd like. Hopefully we can change that and do lots more bloggy-business together in our area.

One of the cool things about this conference was that the ladies of SITS planned it so all attendees were assigned tables for the first few sessions of the day, and through lunch. And then you were able to be "free" to connect with your "friends" - this guaranteed you a chance to meet people you'd never even heard of before that moment in time. So Jen and I were together for our first table (oddly coincidental, perhaps?) and then after that we didn't see one another til after lunch. So we met different people, made different connections, and had totally different experiences.

And yes, we surely would have anyway, but you know there are people who go to conferences and ONLY sit with people they know. And they have their set experience planned out. This was kind of cool and different in that way. No cliques, no seat saving, etc. I liked it.

Anyway, here we are as the conference came to an end. I think we look pretty good after a day filled with learning and networking!

 I also got to meet two local bloggers who I hadn't yet met. Apparently we had to go all the way to Charlotte to connect. They are Allison and Sarah, two of the ladies over at Mom in Chapel Hill. Allison also writes at Go Dansker Mom and wrote an incredible post about the BBC experience that's already up. (Overachiever!) Sarah writes over at 2paws Designs and also, apparently, has a recap post up. (Y'all are too speedy for me!) And I got to reconnect with my BlogHer12 roommate, Amy, of Somebody's Parents. Who - geez - I might not have seen SINCE August? What the heck? Seriously. She lives here, too. What is WRONG with me? Why don't I connect with people IRL when they are RIGHT HERE? /note to self: change that ASAP. Here we are taking a picture below:

* Note - I did a lot of tweaking with picmonkey on these shots. I sadly left my Verizon Wireless Blackberry Z10 home this weekend because it was missing when I was packing to leave. Of course I found it hiding on my desk when I got home - but my pictures suffered from the lack of it.

Lastly, I got to take a quick shot with Deirdre of JDaniel4sMom. We did not get to spend as much time together as I would have liked, but it was still awesome to connect with her. If you're looking for ANYTHING to do with your little one? Anything at all? Head on over to her place. You won't regret it. I promise.

Are you tired of my name-and photo-dropping?

Yeah, I am, too. I suppose I could have done a recap instead and been done quicker.

But if you haven't seen my tweet AND my #BBCChar facebook post about the most important way to sum up this (and any other) conference, I'll fill you in on why this was critical for me to share.

First off, I've done so several times before. I've talked about the amazing people I met and hung with at Type-A Parent Conference 2012. AND at Type-A Parent Conference 2011.

And then I also shared how I was SO excited to meet some of my friends in NYC at BlogHer last year! For me, that was the most important part of BlogHer12.

So it should be no surprise that I'm giving you a post like this again.

And the last reason why is a quote that comes from the incomparable Tiffany Romero:

"Conferences are invaluable for meeting people face-to-face."

Yep. Yes. THAT is why I go.

Sure - I go to learn. That's a given. But the people? They are why I keep going. And probably will continue to. So - who will I see at Type-A Parent 2013 in Atlanta in September?

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