As I sit here writing this towards the end of February, I’m stressing about the online marketing conferences I have missed due to an injury and the ones I’m really hoping to make it to for the rest of 2017.
The plan was to attend quite a few new ones this year as well as visit some of my favorites that I have been going to for years.
Now that I’m on the other side of the injury and on the mend, I can finally start planning my travels and the shows I plan to attend.
By the way, I love me some conferences! I’ve attended some bummers in the past, but as long as there are people to meet and vibe as brainstorm with, I’m happy as pie.
Having fun at Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas
Here is a quick list of my 2017 Blogger conference calendar and the goals for each.
Hispanicize April 3-6, 2017 – Miami, Florida
I have been wanting to attend this show since its inception. Somehow, there has always been a scheduling conflict and I miss out. I can’t let that happen again this year, so I am adding it to my calendar and going. No excuses.
First, it’s in Miami, my home town. Second, it’s a bunch of Hispanic & Latino bloggers, creators, media, celebrities and basically anyone involved in Hispanic Media.
My goals for this event are:
- Meet and network with fellow Latinos in the industry, especially several online friends and colleagues whom I have yet to meet in person.
- Meet and network with client leads to discuss working together.
- Meet with current clients and discuss future opportunities.
Travel Blog Exchange May 4, 2017 in Huntsville, AL
As I incorporate more travel coverage into my writing, I wanted to check out this conference in a place I have yet to visit. I have only ever driven through Alabama, and it’s high time I check it out with the family while attending a show. The plan is to hang around for a couple of weeks surrounding the show date.
My goals for this show are as follows:
- Network and meet with other travel bloggers.
- Learn more about the travel blogging industry in general.
- Meet and network with potential clients.
Focused Blogging Conference May 18-20, 2017 in Richmond, VA
I’ll be in and out of Virginia most of the year since my oldest son lives there, so this one is just a no-brainer. Plus, since I’m doing quite a bit of business in Virginia with other events I’m working on, I’ll be able to fit this in and will only need an hour drive to get there!
My goals for this event are:
- Meet and network with local bloggers.
- Spend time really getting to know the attendees and spit-balling ideas.
BlogHer June 22-24, 2017 in Orlando, FL
This show has been on my radar for years, but I haven’t really made an effort to go. However, since I made a pivot and decided to dedicate more time to my personal blog, I know that this is a must-attend for me.
My goals for this event are as follows:
- Meet with brands and discuss a new venture that I have been working on in the influencer space for a few months.
- Meet and network with other bloggers. This is a no brainer. I love bloggers, especially the fact that so many tend to be mompreneurs. When I tell you that I deal with about 95% men in my industry day in and day out, hanging out with other chicks is a lifeline for me.
Affiliate Summit East July 30 – Aug 1, 2017 in NYC
I have been attending Affiliate Summit for over 10 years and it’s just one of those conferences that has a place on my calendar every year. They hold 2 shows annually, and some years I go to both. This year I missed ASW (Affiliate Summit West) in Las Vegas in January, but I’ll be heading to NYC for ASE.
This show is geared toward people who are interested in or involved in the Affiliate Marketing industry. That is everyone from bloggers, to email marketing agencies, to enter more people. Basically, anyone in online advertising will find business and networking opportunities galore.
Founders Shawn and Missy have really taken this show from a small gathering to a huge phenomenon where over 5,000 online marketers convene for three days of awesomeness.
My goals for this event are as follows:
- Meet with current clients and discuss future opportunities.
- Meet with new client leads and discuss opportunities.
- Volunteer and mentor an attendee new to the industry. I try to do this for each show I attend. It’s a great way to give back a little.
Type-A Parent East October 5-7, 2017 in Alexandria, VA
Another Virginia conference is a great thing. But more importantly, I’ve been interested in Type-A for a while.
My goals for this event are as follows:
- Meet and network with other bloggers.
- Check out some of the cool sessions.
- Party with the peeps.
PubCon November 6-9, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV
This one is a maybe. It depends on my schedule in November, which usually gets pretty crazy with the holidays. Theoretically, my agency can get all of the holiday campaigns set up and launched by October. In reality, the last minute media plan and budget changes usually mean we work a lot to be able to fulfill all of those changes.
Is it annoying? Yes. Am I going to complain? No. That’s life and I am always grateful that those are my “issues”.
My goals for this event are as follows:
- Meet with clients and discuss opportunities.
- Meet with colleagues and friends in the industry and network.
- Attend a couple of the sessions.
- Check out what’s new and up and coming with tools, products, etc.
I still have a few more conferences to look into for the year, but this is the current list. There is a Snapchat conference in the works, but nothing is solidified I would love to do one each week, but that is just not feasible with running a business and a family. Gotta make those choices!
Have you been to any of these or other conferences? If you’ve been, which is your favorite? If you haven’t, which would you love to attend?
Also, am I missing any good ones I should check out?
Lastly, if you haven’t already gleaned this from my writing style, I’m pretty outgoing and have zero issues with introducing myself to complete strangers. So if you happen to be attending any of these events and would like an intro buddy or just want to connect, hit me up. I love meeting new people and connecting them with others.
Noticias Newswire 
103 Responses
Your blogger conference calendar is full. I don’t have any on mine but I’d love to check into attending some. Especially BlogHer.
These all look so great!! Should be a great year for you!
Brand new to blogging <2 months. This was a great resource for me since I didn't even know there were blogging conferences. Such a newbie! 😉 (Gonna check out BlogHer!)
Goals are so important. I love that you have specify domes for each event. I really need to start checking out conferences.
I wish the UK would sit up and take notice because there is barely any conferences here and I would really like there to be. It would help me a lot!
Anna, I’m not sure if you know about these, but here are some UK conferences I’ve been noticing.
http://blognix.co.uk/
http://blogtacular.com
An there’s Kate over at BlogTea who has a whole breakdown of UK conferences. Let me know if any of these are a fit for you. I’d love to hear about your conference experiences 🙂
http://www.darktea.co.uk/blog/uk-blog-conferences
I am thinking of attending Blogher this year. I went in 2015 and loved it.
i loved your goal list…it’s good to keep some goals as a list. thanx for sharing 🙂
hey !! what happens in Vegas , stays in Vegas lol 😀
This is nice one. Everything organized. Wish you all the best for all the upcoming events.
I so wish I could do blogger conferences! Maybe one day when my kids are older. Right now I’d have no one to watch them and get them to school since my husband works a crazy schedule.
I hope you have a blast at the conferences!
You just put some to does on my list. If we leave Korea in time, I hope to say hi in Huntsville or Richmond.
I would love to be able to go to one of these blogger conferences. They sound like a blast and can meet so many others with great ideas. I’ve searched in my area and so far nothing close to me. But keeping my hopes up that there will be one soon.
This conference lineup definitely seems like a diverse list. I have heard some great things about BlogHer, but since I am a Las Vegas local, PubCon may be a wiser decision.
It is nice to know that you have a lot of conferences to attend for this year for your own personal development. Showing up in this kind of seminars can motivate and inspire you a lot to be a better person that could encourage you to do the things that you will be learning in those events. Good luck and Godspeed.
I’d love one of these for Europe!
I’ve never been to a blogger conference. I’m sure it’s really fun and quite a learning experience as well. I love that you get to meet a lot of people from fellow bloggers to affiliates! Looks like you’re booked!
This is great! Going to as much conferences as you can will definitely help you establish a good blogging network. Looks like you’re fully booked!
Wow, you have a super busy year planned! I couldn’t imagine being able to make all those!
This is a great list of conference and it’s a perfect inspiration for me! Thank you for sharing your plan, it helped me discover some interesting events to attend!
very nice i wish i could attend travel blogger conference!!
First off, THANK YOU for this list! I can’t tell you how many times I have missed or just plain didn’t know about conferences (fairly new blogger here;). The one I have made and will be attending again this year is Bloggy Conference in Ohio (Cedar Point). It’s all about social media which I think is just awesome for newbies:) You can check it out here https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bloggy-conference-2017-tickets-29648227647?aff=BloggyCon17&afu=179121477401 I’d be very interested to hear your thoughts on this one!
Thanks for the link Jessica, I’ll check it out.
Wow! Huntsville is in my neck of the woods. I wished I could attend a lot of these.
Wow very cool, I hope to attend a summit one day
Thanks for sharing! I haven’t heard of any of these conferences, and now I want to go to all of them haha. I live on the east coast so I’m definitely going to try and attend the VA conferences!
This is an awesome list of conferences. I’m going to BlogHer 17 as well. Just like you it’s been on my radar but I always put it offf. Thankfully it’s in Florida this year, I’m only two hours away so I’ll drive there do the Disney thing and make it a mini vacation for me and my daughter.
Kwame, hit me up if you’re going. Would love to say hi 🙂
Wow I did not know there were so many conferences for bloggers! I have to check some of them out!!
I didn’t know BlogHer had a conference! I’m going to check it out now, thanks.
Great information about blogging conferences. I am new and starting out and would love to network. Will check out the tips, thanks for sharing 🙂
It looks like you will be attending some great conferences. I have just added a small travel section to my blog, but am not ready for a blogging conference about it yet. I will be going to SNAP in Salt Lake this year for the first time. I’m excited to meet other creative bloggers and hopefully connect with some of my favorite brands that are going to be there!
Thanks sooooo much for this – I’ve been wondering which ones to attend and which ones aren’t worth the time and you’ve done all the hard work for me – off to check them out now!
Sounds like you’ve got it all planned perfectly! It’s always great to be able to meet up with folks with similar interest.
How cool that you can go to so many conferences!! I haven’t heard of some of these, so I’ll definitely be checking them out :). I have a hard time meeting new people, but once I’m comfortable, I’m much more friendly. I’m inspired by your excitement to meet new people!
Wow these are a lot of great conferences I haven’t heard of. So cool you get to attend some of them!
This looks like a lot of good fun. I love conferences.
I love love love! Blogger conferences not only does it create a sense of belonging it’s amazing
Agreed!
This is such a great list. I wish I could attend one of the blogger conference someday. I don’t mind going to the travel blog exchange to learn more about the industry. It must be fun for you to be going to so many.
It’s fun Sharon, but still loads of work to prepare and then to follow up on all the connections and business leads. But I love it 🙂
That is interesting that you attending so many conference. Do you really see a ROI? What is the biggest takeaway from each? Thanks for sharing.
That’s a great question Melissa. It depends on what your KPIs, key performance indicators are (ie what you are measuring). I have several ways of measuring, and of course the bottom line (revenue) is the most important one. Most conferences come at a cost between $500 to $2500 when you factor in travel costs, tickets, accommodations etc. As long as I can generate one good client, then I make that back tenfold. As for other KPIs, many of the connections I have made through the years (15+) of going to conferences have become great friends, colleagues, clients, resources, etc. So the relationship factor is also huge for me. The key is to have your goals set as well as a very strong follow-up strategy. You would be shocked at how many people have zero follow-up strategy or a very lacking one. Then again, that leaves more opportunity for me 😉
Looks like you are so busy! I want to be more organized like you I want to planned all my works. Glad that you share this awesome information
Not sure I have plans to do any blog conferences this year. If I do, it’s only to meet people! 🙂
I have never been to a blogging conference and it was cool to read your list and see how many different ones there are!! Have fun!
It is a goal of mine to get to a conference next year!!
Sounds that you are really a busy person, You planned everything and able to meet and attend to the Conference, I wish I could be more organized just like you
How cool! I wish I could go too, it would be a great way to do some networking but, unfortunately, I live in Portugal and there’s not much attention to bloggers here.
I hope you enjoy the conferences 😀
i even didn’t know there are blogger conferences. this is new to me. actually i am new at blogging.
Those are great conferences for bloggers. I’ve been to a couple of them myself.
I think a blogger conference would be so fun to go to! I probably won’t be able to make a 2017 one, but I think 2018 I will try to make it to one.
Seems funny and interesting,good for you planning all!
Enjoy this experience!
We are going to our 1st ever travel blogger conventions…First there is one here in New Orleans, Louisiana called Women Travel Fest March 3-5, 2017 that you missed which is apparently a big one.
Also, we are heading at the end of April to London for Traverse 17 for our first international travel convention.
That’s awesome Eric! Yes I was looking at Travel Fest but I just couldn’t swing it with my current travel schedule. Would love to hear how Traverse goes for you! I’ll look out for your post about it.
That’s so cool. I need to check whether there is something close by here as well 🙂
I have heard of several of these conferences and I would LOVE to go to one! It’s exciting to read about them, even if I probably won’t be able to go for awhile. Thank you for sharing!