BlogPaws Newbie Tips for a Better Experience – Part 1

Guest post by Jessica Rae

I attended the BlogPaws conference for the first time this year. In the weeks leading up to BlogPaws I was so excited I could hardly contain myself. I imagined meeting and talking with hundreds of my bloggy friends. I imagined being focused and learning loads and loads of things from the breakout sessions. I imagined having a carefree, fun time.

Well, that isn’t exactly how it went. I made mistakes and learned a lot of lessons.

1)    Think twice before you bring your pet

I insisted on bringing Chester and Gretel. Looking back on my experience, I might have made a different choice.

Consider your pet’s personality carefully. Chester has a high prey drive and Gretel can be anxious around strange people and dogs. They are good dogs but Chester did not do well around the ferrets or cats and Gretel pulled on the leash and barked at a lot. I spent more time managing their personalities and being distracted than focusing on the content of the sessions or meeting people.

If your pet would not sit quietly by your side surrounded by 100 monkeys then you might want to consider other options:

• Bring your dog but leave them in daycare. The staff was awesome.
• Bring a flat version of your pet. I guarantee that the flat pet people had more fun than I did – flash mobbing and getting the advantage of begin recognized by their pet without the stress.
• Wear a T-shirt printed with your logo so people will recognize you without your pet.

 2)    Pack light

You will have the opportunity to pick up a lot of treats, toys and products to try. That is part of the reason to go to the conference. I found out quickly that carrying my heavy personal bag with the kitchen sink in it AND two totally full shopping bags of swag made my arms hurt. It was a bummer to have to lug around. Bring only the MINIMUM of what you need. They give you plenty of human and pet food, snacks and water.

DO bring a notebook and two pens or pencils, your cell phone charger, a light sweater in case you get chilly and a camera (cell phone and point and shoot should be sufficient).

These two tips deal with your personal comfort. Please feel free to elaborate on either of these on the comments section below.

Come back to read Part II for more tips on meeting other bloggers, creating relationships with vendors and bringing home products to review.

Jessica lives in Seattle with her two miniature Dachshunds Chester and Gretel. She is a Social Media Marketer, avid adventurer, traveler and author of YouDidWhatWithYourWeiner.com. Like them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YouDidWhatWithYourWeiner Follow them on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/Adventureweiner

 

 

Comments

[Yvonne DiVita]

I have to share - we love having all the pets at our conferences, and most of the time it's a wonderful thing. Sharing your pet with your pet people is fun for us, but not always for the pet. As Jessica says, be fully aware of how your pet might react. We brought Olive this year and for the most part, I think she was ok. However, I did detect a bit of home-sickness in her. She missed her big dogs, whom we had left at home.

We are totally pet friendly - we will continue being pet friendly, but it's always good to remind folks that shy or easily stressed pets might find BlogPaws a bit... overwhelming! Lots of TLC can help - so be prepared!

[SUGAR: goldenwoofs]

Woof! Woof! Lots of Golden Thanks Jessica. We will sure remember these tips ... hoping to attend future BlogPaws conference. Lots of Golden ALOHA n Woofs, Sugar

[Jessica @ YouDidWhatWithYourWeiner]

Thanks Yvonne! I think Chester and Gretel did ok overall but I was so excited about bringing them I didn't even consider that there might be a different scenario.

[Colby]

There were a lot of great tips in the BLOGPAWS "NEWBIE" MEET & GREET! comment thread. That's where I first heard to bring a large suitcase and pack light so you'll have room for all the goodies you bring home. I grabbed a large suitcase and filled it less than half way. However, a second problem I ran into was on my way home my full suitcase weighed in at 59 lbs and was 9 lbs overweight. Luckily I was able to pull a couple heavy items and put them in my carry on, but if not I would have had to pay an additional fee. So make sure your bags don't get too heavy with swag or you may have to pay for it on your flight home.

[Jessica @ YouDidWhatWithYourWeiner]

Thanks Colby. I am a member of the BlogPaws community but missed any announcement about the newbie meet and greet. I am glad some of these things were already covered so you didn't have to learn on the fly like I did.

[Colby]

I just happened to get lucky and stumbled across the group and followed some of the discussion. It seemed to be a very good spot for newbies like myself to ask questions. Here's the link to the group: http://community.blogpaws.com/group/blogpaws-newbie-meet-greet.

[Jessica @ YouDidWhatWithYourWeiner]

Thanks Colby!

[Carol Bryant]

I was so glad to bring my dog, Dexter, to our fourth BlogPaws. He is a four timer and will be at each one. We drove from PA to UT and I loved every minute of it. So glad to see everyone. BlogPaws is a year round experience and we culminate with the conference, so stay tuned with us!

[Connie]

My trick for packing on a trip is to buy nesting suitcases. Put all your stuff from home in the small suitcase and put that in the larger suitcase. This leaves the larger one for swag.. :)

I do really appreciate these two posts (part 1 and 2) and I'm looking forward to my first blogpaws next year

[Caren Gittleman]

fabulous tips!! If BlogPaws is ever closer to where I live I may have to keep in mind to think about how Dakota would be with ferrets!

Great suggestions!
Loved Connie's nesting idea!

[Kolchak & Jodi]

I definitely have a BIG list of things I'll do different next year! You think "Oh, yeah, it will be this cute conference with pets" and then you get there and f you're anything like me, you're just n awe of how many pet bloggers there are and the amazing amount of pet-related talented gathered n a single space. I'll be better prepared next year for sure!

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