Calling all Dallas/Ft. Worth bloggers: there is a BI mini-meetup happening in your area SOON! Don’t live in DFW, but know someone who does? Make sure to let them know that we’re having a local meet and greet over some tasty Texas BBQ.
Hello you beautiful bloggers. It has certainly been a hot minute since our last post recapping the events of BI13, and rightfully so. After all of the success of BI13, we needed some time to relax, reminisce, and basically recharge our bloggerific batteries before jumping in to the organization of BI14.
Triple this goodness in 2014!
One of the goals we set for future BI activities was to engage and involve more bloggers in more places. We want it to be easier (and cheaper!) for everyone to join in on the real life fun. We decided that the best way to do so was to reach out to bloggers in other regions to develop BI mini-meetups. This will be in addition to the main BI event (official details about the main event for 2014 are coming soon — hint — we already have a location nailed down). We think this will help open up more opportunities for involvement, and grow BI into something even more unstoppable.
Here is your chance to get involved as a BI Ambassador. If you are interested in hosting or helping to organize a mini meet up in your area, please contact us immediately. We are so pumped about this, and already have a few BI Ambassadors on board around the US that are helping us get the ball rolling. And speaking of mini meet ups, Becca has organized a mini meet up surprise right back in the city that it all began…
That’s right, Austin! Following are the details to join us for the Mini Meet Up at South by Southwest in Austin, TX:
When: the week of March11th-14th, 2014 any time until 6:00pm each day.
Where: Jellify Offices
708 South Lamar, Suite
Austin, TX 78704
(Jellifi is an event planning marketplace where Director Chesley Roberts has invited a group of our bloggers to use their offices as our official hangout spot during this weekend, free drinks and all)
Who: ALL bloggers. There is only one condition. Attendees must write a post SXSW post on his/her blog that gives mention to Jellifi as our mini meet up sponsor and host. They do for us, we do for them.
Why: Because it’s awesome, immediate, and includes chances for free passes to SXSW Interactive (check out the incredible SXSW schedule for the weekend of the 7th, and don’t forget that some sessions are free to attend)
To RSVP to the mini meet up and coordinate with other attendees, please visit the new Mini Meet Up tab on our menu bar and select Austin, TX – March 11th-14th.
We’ve been pretty quiet since the event ended, but that’s just because we’ve been basking in the afterglow of our wild weekend in Austin, Texas. Whatever expectations we had for the event were blown out of the water by what actually took place in the Lone Star State. To say we had a good time is a serious understatement.
We heard the weather had been miserable in the weeks leading up to Blogger Interactive, but Austin must have known we were coming because it was absolutely gorgeous when we got there. The sun was shining, the smell of barbecue was wafting through the air, and music was blaring from every corner. It could not have been a more perfect weekend for our inaugural event.
During the planning of BI, we had wondered aloud how it would be when everyone got together. Would it be awkward? Would people find they had nothing to say to one another? Would we be unable to take our online relationships offline? Continue reading
Blogger Interactive is next week. Let that soak in for a second. This event, which we’ve been talking about for nearly a year, is next week. To say that we’re excited to finally launch this event is a serious understatement.
We thought we’d put up a pre-conference post so that all attendees can see everything they need to know at a glance.
Itinerary & Getting Around
A full schedule of events, along with a map of the locations, can be found in this post.
The wonderful people (and sponsors of Blogger Interactive!) at the Austin Convention & Visitor’s Bureau were kind enough to provide us with links to help attendees explore Austin. This digital visitors guide will help you find things to do while this online map will help you get there.
Social Media
One of our goals going into this was to make BI the social event of the season. It only makes sense that we’ve created a handful of social media accounts to keep everyone connected before, during and after the event.
When posting to your own account, please make sure to tag us (either on Facebook, or using our Twitter/Instragam handle) and use the official event hashtag of #BI13. This will allow everyone to find status updates and pictures from the event.
Sponsors
All swag bags will be handed out during the Featured Guest Speaker Sessions on Saturday morning. We want to invite everyone to check out the Sponsors Page because some sponsors made their offerings available to anyone.
Anything not covered in this post can be addressed by e-mailing us at BloggerInteractive@gmail.com, or through our social media channels. We will be connected during the event, and will respond promptly.
We look forward to meeting everyone next week!
As if our outstanding group of current sponsors wasn’t enough, we have added FIVE new sponsors to the bunch, each bringing incredible support and exciting goodies to the event. Let’s give them a warm welcome!
The Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau has generously offered to provide our attendees with visitor guides, City of Austin press kit flash drives, and an Austin Volume 12 CD card download. The Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau is a destination marketing organization that provides insight for visitors. Their site is for visitors and locals asking tourism-related questions. All you need to know about the great city of Austin is right their on their website. In addition, they have provided us all with links to visitor maps here, and a digital guide as well.
Follow Visit Austin on Twitter and Facebook!
Not only is Leigh-Erin a close friend of Becca’s since as early as elementary school, but she is a young entrepreneur and phenomenal photographer. We are all passionate about our creativity, and Leigh-Erin Scott is no exception. She will be attending the event in Austin snapping photos of us in action to be shared with the world. After all, what would an event be without tons of pictures to post to your Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tumbler, and Blog to make all of your friends jealous? On top of the photos she will be capturing of us bloggers in the wild, she will also get an official group photo following our speaker session outside of the library that will be available for purchase after the event!
Follow Leigh Erin on Twitter and Facebook!
Speaking of photos, we will be launching an Instagram group closer to the event where you can share your photos from the weekend in real time. There will also be an official BI hashtag for official tweeting purposes! #Selfies encouraged.
Blog Engage is a blogging community where all bloggers submit their latest blog articles for exposure, backlinks and traffic. All articles submitted are sent to the upcoming page where users read and vote on the submissions. BlogEngage allows bloggers the opportunity to expand their audience while making valuable connections, which is exactly the kind of thing that Blogger Interactive is down with. It’s part of our own mission! Naturally we were stoked to hear that BlogEngage will be giving all BI attendees free membership to the site (normally 19.99) as well as a discount on advertising packages.
Follow Blog Engage on Twitter and Facebook!
Brother Jon is not just a LDS convert and blogging veteran, but he will be gracing us with his presence, and presents at BI this year! The guy can tell a story and is unquestionably “the most incredibly humble Mormon in the entire universe”. If you don’t believe us, just check out his blog here. We have a ton of great swag to bestow upon you all, but it came to us that we didn’t have anything to carry it all in. That’s where BroJo stepped in like a blogging super hero and offered to sponsor us and provide us with the perfect swag bags. Thanks Jon! We can’t wait to meet you.
Follow BroJo on Twitter and Facebook!
Bearsley & Bumski Boutique creates Mush Babushka Jewelry, Lar Photography and Prints, and all kinds of neat and affordable broad cards & notebooks. The official Sips of Jen and Tonic notepads you will all be receiving at the event were created by Dee, the woman and artist behind Bearsley & Bumski. We are delighted to support her Etsy shop (check out the About page here). She has also been wonderful enough to offer everyone (not just BI attendees) 13% off in her store. Coupons will be added to the BI swag bags, but we encourage you to share the coupon code with non attendees as well! The code will be blogint13, and it expires 2/28/14.
Follow Bearsley & Bumski on Twitter!
We can’t believe how many people have rallied behind this event. All of our sponsors have gone above and beyond to do so, and we extend an extra special thank you to them all. Please be sure to give them some love, and again, don’t forget to RSVP to be a part of the beginning of the best blogging conference evar. We are officially less than a month away from getting our real life encounters on!
Check out who is featured on yesterday’s post from The Daily Post! (Hint: It’s us)
As bloggers, we bathe in the glow of our computer screens as we snatch moments to post between work, school, kids, the gym, the grocery store, the dry cleaners’, soccer practice, dinner with friends, doing the dishes, sleep…
When we find ourselves in a hotel ballroom with a thousand other bloggers — otherwise known as “being at a blogging conference” — it can be overwhelming. With a little preparation, a basic game plan, and a few tools, you can get a lot more from your conferences than a free tote bag: new friends, new readers, new ideas, and new skills (AND the tote bag).
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Can you believe that Blogger Interactive is only 5 weeks away? We’ve been so focused on putting the finishing touches on it that we didn’t realize how quickly it was sneaking up on us. We’re really excited to meet everyone, and leave our stamp on the Lone Star State.
Word on the street is that some of you would love to go, but aren’t sure if you can afford it. We don’t want that to prevent any of you from going to the Greatest Conference on Earth™. This is why we’ve put together the following list of sites for traveling on the cheap. We want to change all of you maybes to yeses.
Airfare & Hotel
Southwest Airlines – They always have specials, and your bags fly for free!
Kayak – Search hundred of travel sites and book flights, hotels, vacations and rental cars
Booking Buddy – Similar to Kayak, Booking Buddy lets you price comparison shop
Hotwire – One of the original discount travel sites
Booking.com – Killer deals on hotels that are unpublished anywhere else
Yahoo! Travel – Searches multiple airlines, and often offers competitive rates
Airbnb – Vacation rentals, often times for much less than what you’d pay at a hotel.
Couchsurfing– Feeling adventurous? Stay on a stranger’s couch!
Airport Transportation
You don’t even need a car! Austin Metro picks people up at the airport, and has stops all over the downtown area. The best part? It’s ony $1! Check it out: Austin Public Transit.
Sightseeing
There are a myriad of free and cheap things to do in Austin:
Good ‘ol Groupon and LivingSocial
Still unsure if you want to make it out? Why not join our Facebook Group and familiarize yourself with some of the attendees. Stop by, introduce yourself, and then RSVP ‘yes’ here.
We look forward to seeing you in a few weeks!
Hello Bloggers!
Today we would like to introduce a final venue for first annual BI convention. As you likely know by now, we will be having our speaker sessions on Saturday, October 26th at the downtown Austin Library at 11:00 am. However, it dawned on us that most of our posse is going to be in desperate need of a very important fix before that happens. We need coffee.
Because coffee is such an important part of some of our lives, we will be having an OPTIONAL meet up at Halcyon on 4th street just four blocks from the library. Anyone who would like to meet for coffee and/or brunch at Halcyon on Saturday morning is welcome to join us between 9am and 10am before the speaker sessions.
Halcyon is a coffeehouse by day, and a bar & lounge by night where you can always relax and find your own personal “halcyon” – meaning peaceful, carefree, untroubled, prosperous.
At Halcyon, we believe that the best way to pursue happiness is to take some time out of the hustle to enjoy life. So come relax on our couches for a bit and enjoy yourself! Have you tried the Baked Brie En Croute? – melt in your mouth brie cheese surrounded by a light, fluff y pastry and served with crackers. A delicious way to start your evening. Pairs perfectly with one of our summer wines. Need something to give a lift to the doldrums of summer? Try the Chijito – a refreshing drink with muddled mint, cucumber, lemon and honey topped with Grey Goose Citron and ginger beer. This is an afternoon on-the-porch favorite. See you on the patio!
Please be sure to check out Halcyon on Facebook and give them a thumbs up for welcoming us to Austin! You can see more pictures and read their menu here to help you decide if you want to wake up and come sip some java with us.
On a final note, please make it a point to hit the RSVP button if you haven’t already, so we can be fully prepared for all of your chipper faces. Also feel free to join the BI Forum on Facebook to get to know everyone and for discussing everything from travel plans and hotel rates to what color socks you plan on wearing.
If you were to ask us to pick a favorite sponsor, we couldn’t do it. From sticker manufacturers to small publishers, our sponsor pool runs the gamut. Today we’re excited to announce that Moo.com is offering FREE* networking cards for those who attend Blogger Interactive.
What are networking cards and why should I care?
Networking cards are similar to business cards, but they’re used exclusively for networking purposes. You can include things like your name, blog address, and social media handles so that those who meet you at Blogger Interactive will know how to contact you afterwards. One of the greatest things about events like Blogger Interactive is the ability to meet like-minded people to collaborate with in the future. Networking cards allow you to exchange your contact information more easily.
How many will I get, and is it really free?
You will receive 50 cards, and the cards themselves are free. There will be a nominal $4.00 USD processing fee. (Note: Add-ons such as nicer/glossier stock may result in additional fees.) Continue reading
Today we have some exciting news! Blogger Interactive has been growing. As more people get involved and spread the word, more attendees are hitting that RSVP button. Because of this, our original venue for the Friday night welcome mixer could not accommodate a group of our size. We do, however thank Swift’s Attic for being so open to working with us.
So where are we all going to meet for the first time? We are thrilled to announce that 508 Tequila Bar in downtown Austin will be welcoming us with open arms!
Located on 8th & Red River, the site of 508 Tequila Bar and Pelon’s Tex Mex carries a rich history in the great city of Austin as it was formerly Jaime’s Spanish Village for over 40 years. 508 Tequila Bar specializes in unique craft Tequila cocktails, and it is the perfect place to taste a range of Mexican tequilas. With a casual atmosphere and outdoor seating, 508 is the perfect place for us to all hug it out when we arrive in Austin. They also have a street parking lot for those of you driving, and authentic Tex Mex eats at Pelon’s should you chose to grub while you mingle!
Be sure to check out 508 on Facebook for more photos and directions. Give them a thumbs up with the Like button for supporting Blogger Interactive and welcoming our bunch! And don’t worry if you can’t make it by 8 o’clock on Friday. We will have just as much fun getting to know one another on Saturday night as well at The Hangar Lounge.
Is everyone as excited as we are?
Blogger Interactive 