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.

Related Posts

• August 7, 2008 -- Will BlogHer ‘09 happen in PDX? (1)
• November 18, 2008 -- At least someone loves us! (0)
• October 21, 2008 -- Showing off the Portland Tech Scene (0)
• March 20, 2010 -- Falling in Love With the Bean (0)
• January 22, 2010 -- A Portland Flyer’s Lament (8)

8/7/2008 Update: BlogHer has closed the poll after receiving thousands of votes. The top three contenders are Portland, St. Louis, and Philadelphia. BlogHer’s conference organizers will now begin the task of locating a venue, hotels, ensuring the space fits the conference’s needs, and so on.

Original post: Last month, I traveled to San Francisco to attend the 2008 BlogHer Conference. It was one of the best conferences I’ve attended to date where I was able to meet people from across the U.S. and from different countries who write on every topic under the sun.

BlogHer is an online community for women who blog (there are also male members of the community called BlogHims). The 2008 conference was a sold-out event and welcomed about 1,000 bloggers to SF for three days of sessions on a variety of topics, opportunities to meet with the authors of your favorite blogs, and lots of fun social activities.

And now, that could possibly come to Portland. BlogHer is currently running a poll on their site to see where the conference should be held next year and Portland is one of the locations up for vote. While there may be a definite push for the conference to be held on the East Coast next year, I would love to show off Portland to the conference attendees. It would also be an excellent way for the extensive group of Portland-based blogs and our local tech community to host welcome event(s) in conjunction with the conference. Oh, the possibilities.

The organization hopes to make the decision on the location by the end of the month.

Related Posts

• November 10, 2008 -- BlogHer’s not coming to PDX in 2009 (8)
• November 18, 2008 -- At least someone loves us! (0)
• October 21, 2008 -- Showing off the Portland Tech Scene (0)
• March 20, 2010 -- Falling in Love With the Bean (0)
• January 22, 2010 -- A Portland Flyer’s Lament (8)