First, cue up the Sad Trombone.
BlogHer, a online community for women who blog, will not be coming to Portland…or any of the other finalists selected for the 2009 conference. As you’ll recall, the final three cities, as voted on by members of the BlogHer community as well as thousands of others across the Web, were Portland, St. Louis, and Philadelphia.
This morning, after a prolonged deliberation, the organization announced it would be holding the conference as well as its BlogHer Business Conferene in Chicago next July. The 2007 was also hosted there.
In a post on the site, some of the rationale behind the decision not to go with one of the three finalists were given:
But as we investigated the three top cities from the poll, we found that one city didn’t have a single facility big enough for us (Portland); one city had only one facility big enough that was available during either of the last two weekends in July…and it was way more expensive than we expected, and management displayed little willingness to negotiate (Philly), and the final city actually wasn’t that easy to get to and had more limited facilities for lots of tracks and lots of unique sponsor activities (St. Louis).
I’m definitely bummed that Portland wasn’t selected so we could show off our fabulous tech scene and city to others. However, I do understand their need for seeking a space large enough to house everyone. Being able to have a hotel with enough conference facilities and hotel rooms to host us all was definitely one of the best parts about the 2008 Conference held in San Francisco.
But it’s also sad as this news comes on the heels of the OSCON Conference leaving Portland in 2009.
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Someone should get this story in the hands of the MSM. These are real life examples of Portland being left behind because we dont’ have a large, first class convention hotel. I’m not saying its the city or states responsability (not saying it isnt either), just saying Portland needs it…and bad.
Thanks for reporting this….
To be honest, I knew we were a longshot once I saw the conference requirements, plus I knew attendees wouldn’t much appreciate having it on the west coast for a second year in a row.
For BlogHer’s audience, a centrally-located destination makes good sense, although I didn’t think the facilities in Chicago were that popular with attendees at the second BlogHer.
The hotel situation is complicated. I wonder if the hotels that are around the convention center had some kind of collective representation, that would help with the perception that Portland just “isn’t big enough.”
I’m going to be learning a lot about this for Open Source Bridge, so hopefully we’ll be able to share some best practices for large-ish conference organizing in Portland.
Selena, that’s a good thought re: collective representation. I’ll look forward to reading any learnings from your foray into this for the Open Source Bridge conference.
Although, it would have been the second time in a row the conference was held on the West Coast, BlogHer is based in Cali, so I think a case could have been made that it would be less costly for a PDX conference.
If cost and other criteria were leaning in Portland’s favor, but wasn’t awarded due to facilities, that is definitely something that should be raised/discussed with the City. If only to evaluate what other conferences we’ll continue to lose out on because of a lack of space. The BlogHer conference alone would have brought over 1,000 bloggers and corporate sponsors to Portland.
I think the lack of single hotel issue, should that be a major case for BlogHer saying no to PDX, is extremely shortsighted on their part. I mean, anyone with any clue about Portland would know there are dozens of available hotels within easy walk and MAX ride of the Convention Center. But I don’t think that is the issue.
1000 people at a convention is pretty small stuff, even for dinky PDX.
Believe it or not, the single facility really was a big deal to a lot of attendees in past years. And having been to BlogHer in 07 & 08, it really was a lot more fun and relaxing to be in the one facility. This conference is just as much about bonding as it is about the sessions. It’s kind of like freshman year at college. Having people spread out all over the city takes away from that experience.
Also, cost is a big deal for a lot of attendees and this means BlogHer has to negotiate for the best deals they can find. I’m going to guess they got a better deal by booking the whole shebang. And, flights to Chicago are often direct and cheaper. The main conference is not really a professional conference, in my opinion (though BlogHer Biz is, and they’re making them back-to-back). The vast majority of those 1000 attendees are writing personal blogs. They’d love to get paid, and how to do that is a big part of the conference. But blogging is a labor of love for most of them and thus they don’t have a lot of money to spend.
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