What I Wish I’d Known Before My First Blog Conference

This month both Jordyn and I attended our first ever blogging conference. We had saved up our earnings from our blog and were able to pay for our tickets and Airbnb with our earnings. The conference we chose was WordPress Seattle.

I am so thankful that we finally got the courage to go! However, not only did I learn a ton of useful tools for our blog, I also learned a lot about how to best navigate conferences.Which is what I want to share with you today.

Choosing A Conference

When it comes to picking a blog conference there are literally thousands to choose from. And if you expand your search to business conferences the choices are endless. In order to narrow down our search we decided to focus on our niche and our platform (WordPress).

Our niche is primarily travel and food so when we began narrowing our search to blog conferences around those two things it became much more manageable to see an actual possibility. We also kept our eye open on WordPress for any conferences they posted.

Finally, we saw WordCamp Seattle come across our WordPress notifications. Not only would it focus on the platform we use but it was in a city that is easy for us both to get to from Idaho and Oregon where we reside. If you think that distance doesn’t matter, it does. This is for your business, not a vacation! Of course a conference in Florida would be cool, but I wouldn’t be able to focus knowing a beach I’d never seen before was right outside.

My advice to you is narrow down your search!! And always stay within your budget. We made sure that our earnings could cover nearly the entire trip. Finally, read the reviews! Bloggers share their experience to help other bloggers. If they loved a conference, they will tell you. If they hated a conference, they will tell you.

What To Take

I’m not talking about a packing list here. I am talking about what I took to the actual conference and what I wish I had with me.

At the WordCamp conference there was bagels/breads and coffee provided all day long. They also gave you a $10 gift card for lunch. However, if your conference does not provide food make sure to bring snacks! You need high energy and that can’t happen without fuel. Also, bring lots of water! As someone with social anxiety, I get nervous and then dehydrated and then tired. Water was a life saver for me.

Bring your laptop! This might sound like an obvious thing but many people only had a pen and paper. This limits what you can do at the conference. Sometimes testing out practices in real time can be a huge help. I didn’t use my laptop to take notes the whole time but I did pull up my blog often and try out tips they were giving.

Bring anything you would take to a classroom. This includes pens and notebooks, your glasses, books to reference, and anything else! I totally forgot my glasses the first day. And guess what? I couldn’t see the slides. This was absolutely my own fault but it could have been easily avoided.

Bring any medicine! I don’t know why I didn’t throw my medicine bag in with my things. Half way through the day I had a tension headache and my allergies were acting up. Had I had my Excedrin and Zyrtec this would have been an easy problem to solve.

How to Network

Okay, I have never been great at networking but it is so important when you are at a conference!! I highly suggest reading some books or listening to podcasts about networking before going.

One thing we did to make networking easier for us was by ordering business cards. This created a very easy transaction of contact information. I was so glad that we had these and it made us feel much more professional.

We also followed everyone we could on social media! By looking at the hashtag for the event and the check-in location we were able to connect with so many people on social media that were at the same event. While we didn’t get the chance to meet them all in person we could comment to each other and talk about what we had learned.

What to Do

I was shocked at all of the different activities to do at this conference! The sponsor booths had such fun activities and we did them all. There was lock picking, Mario Cart, and even a podcast recording station!

Make sure to stop by every booth you can, even if you think the vendor doesn’t have anything to offer you. Worst case scenario, they might give you a free pen or have a super fun activity for you to try!

At this conference there was options of talks to go to at each time slot and some of them were workshops and panels. I highly suggest going to every workshop and every panel. This hands on and interactive setting was so helpful!

What I Wish I’d Done Differently

Okay, I know I gave you advice above about networking, but I suck at it. I so wish we had connected to more people. We did our best but it was our first time and we both are socially awkward. So do take my advice and learn how to network but my other advice is JUST DO IT!

Take better notes. I wish I had also learned a better note taking skill. If you think you will remember what something means, you will not. I have clearly been out of school for too long because my note taking was horrible! So make sure you take notes in detail.

The final thing I would change is asking questions. I wish that I would have raised my hand more and asked all of the things. There are so many things that I wasn’t sure of but didn’t ask because I am so new and I thought everyone else would be annoyed because they know the answer. Well, how did they learn?! They asked. Just ask the stupid questions!

After You Get Home

The day you get home, go through all of your notes and add anything you remember that you didn’t write down! Just because you think it is something you could never forget, doesn’t make that so. Also, if you have any questions about your notes write those down too! And then find someone else who went to the conference and ask them if they know the answer.

Implement all the things you learned. Going to the conference is great, but it won’t make a difference if you don’t utilize it! And seriously, start as soon as you get home. Don’t wait, don’t put it off. You will not have the same motivation in two weeks as you do two day after you get home.

Well, I hope that you found some tidbit of information that can help you at your first conference! Please email us with any questions! We are huge advocates of conferences now and we think everyone should attend one!