BlogHer '11 Better Than Comic-Con 2011

I have been going to Comic-Con  for fourteen years.  This weekend I went to the BlogHer '11 convention and I walked away very impressed.  BlogHer '11 is doing something really good that people need to check out and that Comic-Con needs to notice and learn from.  BlogHer '11 was a much better convention than Comic-Con.



People ask me what Comic-Con is like and I describe it as an Artist's Convention.  The media focuses on all the people in costumes and the Hollywood stars that fly into town who are there to promote a comic related movie or TV show.  I try to focus on the fact that Comic-Con has always really been about the content creators behind the comic book world.  The media wants a thirty second visually interesting story that will keep people from leaving their TV sets and going to the kitchen for a snack so they focus on the stars and costumes.  Comic-Con has been over run by crowds looking for that excitement.  Faded into the background are the things I used to see being the focus of Comic-Con. 

Comic-Con has always had an area where people could bring their artwork to be judged and critiqued by professionals in the comic book publishing business.  There has always been an area of the convention floor where artists and professionals sit at tables and show their work and network with their peers.  There have always been panels moderated and filled with professionals talking and giving advice to people in the audience who are either professionals themselves or aspiring professionals.  Comic-Con at its core is an Artist's Convention where professionals promote their work and network while giving new aspiring artists advice and mentoring which is so important.  It was also a place where fans could show their support and maybe become inspired to try to become a professional.  I think most dedicated fans are also aspiring professionals at some level.  Comic-Con used to a place were fans and new hopefuls supported the working professionals and  the working professionals supported, listened and appreciated the fans and mentored upcoming talent. Unfortunately the appearances made by celebrities from movies and television have completely pushed that original part of the convention to a very small corner of the San Diego Convention Center. 

Last Monday by chance I came across BlogHer '11.  I was looking for tutorials and reviews on YouTube about a program called Snagit that is a computer screen capture program.  I came across a video by Adria Richards about Snagit,  that led me to her YouTube channel , which led me to her website But You're a Girl, which then led me to an advertisement about BogHer '11 where she was a guest speaker.  I saw that BlogHer was in San Diego and since it was about blogging and right here in town I decided to go.  I only had a one day pass for Saturday because I didn't want to take time off from work on such short notice right after taking time off for Comic-Con two weeks earlier.  The only regret I have about going to BlogHer was that I didn't go for all three days!




Intel was at BlogHer and not at Comic-Con this year!

BlogHer is a convention that does it the right way for content creators.  It also is an event that seems to be attracting a lot of attention. I was very impressed with the quality of vendors at this event.  What really struck me was Intel's showing at BlogHer.  Last year Intel showed up at Comic-Con to promote their Atom processor that was being embedded in televisions to support Google TV.  This year Intel didn't come back to Comic-Con.  This year Intel came to BlogHer.  Intel made a marketing decision to skip a convention like Comic-Con that has over one hundred and twenty thousand attendees for a convention like BlogHer that had over three thousand. Intel came to to Bloger to promote a green campaign related to technology as opposed to promote technology related to a product.  Intel's decision for skipping one convention for another could all be coincidence but I think it shows how powerful a convention BlogHer is.  A major corporation stood up and noticed BlogHer.  The attention from the media was also of a better quality.  I remember watching the local news (KUSI) and seeing some really thoughtful coverage.  No one asked about celebrities or costumes but about blogging and bloggers.  The focus of the coverage stayed on the content creators.  The press wasn't distracted by something shiny but stayed on topic.  In today's world that is a major accomplishment.  While attending Blogher I also felt like the vendors and discussion panels were geared to helping content creators at becoming better and more successful.

There were a lot of things that I observed in my one day at BlogHer but I came away with one big impression.  BlogHer is doing it right and was a much better convention than Comic-Con this year.  I think Comic-Con could learn a lot from BlogHer or should I say, RELEARN.  Comic-Con had a lot of those qualities in the past and could get them back again.  Because there were a lot of things that I saw I plan to do several more posts about BlogHer.  BlohHer was a convention that inspired me and taught me a lot.  When a convention can do that for people who go to it then it is a success.