On Saturday, September 10,
150+ bloggers,
20+ speakers,
and 1 dedicated planning team,
gathered at Allina Hospitals & Clinics offices in Minneapolis
for a day of learning and connecting.
We were especially grateful to our sponsors, TopRank Online Marketing, KARE 11 and Allina. All sign design was by Beth Rubin-Gabor from Where It Blooms.
Bridget Monroe and Suzi Magill from the planning team check in the attendees (that’s Dave Folkens above).
Josh Braaten from the planning team, assuming the official blogger position (coffee in one hand, smart phone in the other).
The large wall in the lobby had three projectors we used for the day. Thanks to Josh for capturing mastheads from attendees to rotate throughout the day. It was pretty cool!
Arik Hanson and I welcomed the group. Keynote speaker, Lee Odden, shared his story, “Blogs to Riches.” It was fabulous!
This is half the room during the opening remarks (it was a large sea of bloggers!). Yes, I took a picture from the podium. 
There were many, many great sessions and I only snapped pics in a few of them. Here’s one of the community panel – Jen Emmert (Prior Fat Girl), Meghan Wilker (Geek Girls Guide), Stephanie Meyer (Fresh Tart Steph) and Ian Schwartz ( @ids07) and led by (right) Kate O’Reilly (Clever Kate).
Lunch was another highlight- taco bar – courtesy of our sponsors. I thought it was fabulous and I heard many people raving!
Our featured charity this year was Read Indeed. Minnesota Bloggers donated more than 100 childrens and teen books!
…and Mandy from Glimpses of Soul Photography donated her time and talent to provide headshots for attendees, raising $300+ for Read Indeed. (Mandy was also one of our presenters, speaking on using photography in your blog).
Big thanks to the planning team for their amazing time, talent and dedication to helping build the Minnesota blogging community. (That’s Beth, me, Bridget, Josh & Arik – Suzi had already left). And a giant thanks to my co-founder and partner, Arik. We make a great team and it’s an honor to work with you on this event.
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21 Responses to “Minnesota Blogger Conference 2011 Recap”
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Marketing Mama® features articles on parenting as a working mom, health, family activities, cool products, my two adorable children and sometimes I even talk about marketing.
Thanks for the recap and for co-founding this great event! I am glad I was able to attend this year.
Thanks Stacy! It was great to see you! Especially appreciated your help connecting us with the featured charity this year!
The conference was GREAT thanks so much for all your hard work! Can’t wait till next year!
Aww, thanks Jamie! Already thinking about next year, eh?
Never too late to start!
Thanks for organizing. It was my first time attending and I had a great time. I learned a lot! Looking forward to next year’s.
Thanks Hanaa! Glad you enjoyed it and learned a lot!
I had such a great time. I was so wiped at the end of the day I didn’t think I’d make it the 2 mile drive home, so much information, so many great people. I finally got together a post- I’m sure I will have another one because this is just the tip of the iceberg: http://www.theslackermom.com/2011/09/13/mnblogcon/
Thanks for all of your hard work!
Hey Erin, Thanks so much for the note! Glad you were able to attend and had such a great time!
I had so much fun!! Thanks to you and your team for such a great event!
Ah Thanks Deb! I had a great time, too – so glad you were there! Thanks for the note!
Great event! Thanks again for all you do drawing our Minnesota blogging community together! ~Chris Ann
Hey Chris Ann, it was great to see you there – wish we could have spent more time together… hopefully things will calm down soon and I can respond to the e-mail you two sent me!
xo
I love the images in the recap! Instagram makes everything seem so epic, but I’d say in this case, it’s true. The day was a blur, but your and Arik’s vision came together once again. It was an honor to be a part of it.
I agree – EPIC.
Couldn’t have done it without you. Hope you felt the upgrade from coffee & sign holding this year. 
[...] Minnesota Blogger Conference 2011 Recap – Marketing Mama (Planning Team) [...]
Just found your blog and so bummed I missed out on this conference. Hopefully I can attend next year!
Hi Ange, thanks for the note – glad you found out about it now, though, so you can be first on the list to register for next year!
We also may have another mini-con between now and then, so watch closely! Have you found the conference page on facebook and the twitter account (@mnblogcon) – those are great ways to stay on top of news. I also give updates here when I have them. Nice to meet you! 
Thanks for all the work you did to organize this, Missy! It was a great day. And thanks for taking a photo of the panel I was on – it’s my only proof that I was really there.
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