Coming Down from My BlissDom High

I don't want to rave too much about BlissDom. Not because it wasn't wonderful (it was!) but because I want to be able to get a ticket for it next year! Honestly, I'm not sure the Hotel Preston could handle many more internet users!

First I want to give a lot of love to Mrs. Fussypants and One2One Network for hosting the bash. They did a tremendous job and I would like to book my spot NOW for BlissDom'10. (Not joking ladies. Pre-booking available?)

Next I want to tell you about the amazing sponsors (in addition to Land's End, mentioned in the post below). It's a long-ish list, consider yourself warned. PS... There's more after this list...

Now, I have a love/hate relationship with my local Walmart. And I really think it's an individual store thing because I have been in some really great stores and I've been in some really bad stores. Fortunately Walmart sent their social media guru John Andrews (@Katadhin) who was very open to hearing any compliments or complaints. I must say, Walmart "gets" social media.

Disney provided us not only with a private screening of the new Yanni Voices (I was not a fan of Yanni but add vocals and WOW!) but also brought two of the amazing vocalists - Nathan Pacheco and Ender Thomas- right to us. Hmmm... is it telling that they brought two handsome men into a room filled with women?

Little Debbie hadboxes and boxes of their new 100 Calorie Packs. Everything I had was yummy... The treats were tiny, but not minuscule. These are perfect treats for my kiddos. OK, and for me. The Snow Puffs are divine and my girls adored the Yellow Cakes & Marshmallow Treats.


The talented Chris Mann performed for us at the end of day 2. I got it all on video... Yes, I'll share it. Hopefully tomorrow. And be sure to check out MANNblog Monday next week-his "mom-licious" report from Blissdom.

With 250+ bloggers in attendance there had to be some sort of support... Enter the Geek Squad. Being from the Twin Cities I remember the Geek Squad when they had only one location in a not-so-great part of Minneapolis- before the uber cute VW Beetle was their car of choice. In addition to their geekspertise they had a Wii set up with RockBand.


Real Girls Media brings together social media and professional publishing. It's definitely something I will be delving into more in the coming weeks.

Who knew that Crocs made cute shoes? I didn't. I thought they consisted of those plastic thingies with holes in them. But after seeing some really cute shoes on feet at Blissdom I may become a convert. I adore their Cape Cod ballet flat...



A site offering the best CARE for your children, special needs, tutoring, senior care, pet care & housekeeping. You can search for caregivers or post jobs and have people find you.


Lijit is a search and stats engine. I'm intrigued by it and will definitely be testing it out soon.





Shall I say more about Chris Mann? I'm guessing Victor Records is a part of the Sony group.




Blue House Blogs is your Wordpress headquarters. Check out the new Worthington Wire to see what Daisy can do.





And finally, Wind Up Records who supplied us all with music (and tickets to see Thriving Ivory for free. Of course they aren't anywhere near me. I have 2 tickets for their tour through March 09. Email me if you're interested.)


OK, so you made it through the sponsors. Pretty cool, huh? Now, about the conference. First off, I have to say that everyone was so nice. I met amazing women that I bloggy worshiped from afar and made new friends who I plan to introduce you to soon. And I learned a lot!

The main thrust of the conference, though, seemed to be "find your voice". You can't be all things to all people, so don't try. Not everyone is always going to like what you have to say.

Of course I can't even begin to share all I learned. If you were following me on Twitter (@iatraveler) while I was away you saw a lot of info roll through. Luckily you can get all that info in one place! BlissDom was transcripted and you can get the entire conference of just the pieces you want.

I'll try to share bits and pieces after I get settled in Boston (and we get internet- which won't be until the 19th!!!). Until then I suggest you get on to Twitter and search #blissdom09 to find links to some great posts.