Friday night we were joined by Portland blogging babes Kathryn Martini and Melissa Lion who spent the end of last week in Chicago at BlogHer 09. Being the opportunists that we are, we asked them if they’d join us on the couch to give us a rundown on their BlogHer experience. They did so – and more, listen in to find out what they thought of their trip and learn about some fun plans Melissa has for the future on this week’s Tech Edition.

SLL Episode 119: BlogHer Recap with Kathryn & Melissa

Watch the Tech Edition

Then it was onto afterhours with Kathryn. We did chat a bit more about BlogHer but then it was straight onto talk about Roller Derby and the Rose City Rollers (you can find their facebook fanpage here and from there, should be able to find pages for all the teams). If you listen long enough you’ll here talk of a bout tweetup in August. I’ll be sure to let you know more information as we start to arrange things with Kathryn.

SLL Episode 120: Afterhours with Kathryn Martini

Watch Afterhours

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Next Friday we’ll be talking with the man, the myth, the legend…. Rick Turoczy. Alright, okay, so he’s just a man but you can’t blame me for hyping this show. After all the nice things he says about Strange Love Live it’s our turn to show him we care as we sit down with him to celebrate the Silicon Florist’s second birthday! Join us at 10 pm on Friday August 7th to celebrate and find out what’s next for the Silicon Florist blog and the man behind it.

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• July 20, 2009 -- SLL: Global Mobile With Jason Grigsby (0)
• May 17, 2009 -- SLL: Once Upon a Storybook Site (0)

In a few days, I will be in the land of Pitchfork Media, hot dogs with day-glo colored relish, and the extremely scary skydeck attached to the Sears Tower — Chicago — to attend the 2009 BlogHer Conference. Last month, I met up with a group of women at Posies Cafe to put faces to usernames with those who were also attending the conference.

I’m looking forward to the panels and hearing from other Portland-based bloggers, including the awesome Melissa Lion, who will be speaking on a panel entitled, “Bloggers are Pioneers in a Post-“Employee” World” and the Recovering Straight Girl, who will be part of a group discussing bloggers who are LGBTQ.

This year, I will be participating on a panel discussing travelblogging and placeblogging, where I’ll join other bloggers who either write about their travels and/or what’s happening in the places they call home. It will feel somewhat out of place to talk about Portland to a group of what I assume will be filled with non-Portlanders, but there it is.

That said, at the very least, I hope I can do this blog and my fellow authors proud in sharing why we are so passionate about Portland that we want to write about it and shout to the world that we love where we live.

With nearly 1,500 attendees this year, I’m hoping to catch up with the other PDX bloggers who will be attending the conference to perhaps say how much we miss Stumptown coffee, bummed that we’re missing out on PDX Pop Now, or to simply talk to someone we have the possibility of running into around town.

Okay, perhaps none of that will happen, but I do know that when I return to town Sunday morning, I will be happy to be back in the place I call home.

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• February 21, 2010 -- 30 Years of Loving Portland (3)
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• March 20, 2010 -- Falling in Love With the Bean (0)

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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• 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)

Looking for an opportunity to present in front of an audience of bloggers?

The 2009 BlogHer Conference, which will be held next July, has put out a call for ideas. All the details are here. It would rock to have some Portland representation at the session-level.

There’s still a chance Portland-based presenters won’t have to travel far. The venue contracts are being finalized and it looks as if they’re aiming to announce the location by the end of the month. The final three cities in the running are St. Louis, Philadelphia, and Portland. Right now, only the BlogHer Conference Divas know for sure. Here’s hoping that contract is for a place in PDX!

*fingers and toes crossed*

Stay tuned…

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• August 2, 2009 -- SLL: When the Bloggers Come Home (0)
• July 25, 2009 -- SLL: Dude, Where’s My Newspaper? (3)
• June 1, 2009 -- SLL: Open Source Bridge with Audrey & Selena (0)
• November 10, 2008 -- BlogHer’s not coming to PDX in 2009 (8)
• August 7, 2008 -- Will BlogHer ‘09 happen in PDX? (1)

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)