I don't think I've ever had four days of my life go by as fast as those I spent in Chicago for Blogher '09.

While I plan to have a follow-up post, I wanted to quickly share my lessons learned and observations as a blogger and a marketing practitioner before my family and I hit the road tomorrow.  Destination?  California, Sacramento to be exact.

The obvious observation is that relationships are still the most important to me when it comes to these conferences.  I would gladly trade all the swag in the world in exchange for the personal connections I made and fostered.  For a lot of people, it was reconnecting with old friends and for many more it was laying a foundation for building strong relationships.

For example, if I had not booked the flights I had, I would not have had the pleasure of sitting next to the Happy Housewife.  And had I not roamed the lobby and halls outside of the conference rooms, I might not have bonded with Mom Spark, More Than Mommy, NYCity Mama, Mummy Deals, TJ Staab, Gina Rau, or Southern Fairytale.   You see, it's the relationships that matter.  In this wild, wild West of the blogosphere it's so important for people to see that the person behind the blog, the Twitter profile, and the Facebook page are real.  And that they keep it real.

I also learned that when swag bags are involved, women will go batty to get one.  Have you seen footage of brides going to the annual wedding gown sale at Filene's?  Yeah.  It's like that.

Furthermore, I observed what makes a splash at a conference and what fizzles when it comes to the expo hall.  An interactive booth is key.  Meaning:  give the attendee a reason to stay longer than a glance at the tscotchkes so you can get their rapt attention and engage in conversation.  Hair styling and foot massages were popular offerings.  Simply offering a product demo and some marketing collateral don't cut it anymore.

Finally, and probably most importantly, I learned that while the mom blogger contingent is a large and influential one, there are other large communities that have influence and reach across their own demographic.  As the world becomes more digital and brands embrace emerging media, it will be important to be familiar with communities outside the scope of the mom market segment.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Getting Bloggers to Pay Heed to a Floor Mop (nytimes.com)


• Announcing The Social Times 25 (allfacebook.com)


• Tonight - Live From Downtown Chgo! Meet MomItForward's Jyl Johnson Pattee! (successful-blog.com)


• BlogHer Wrap Up (stirrup-queens.blogspot.com)


• Patient-bloggers at BlogHer '09. (diabetesmine.com)