BlogHer: Multiple Identities and Energies

A conference that attracts thousands of women content creators and thousands more individuals employed by vendors and publishers that work with, or in support of,  those women creates a massive vortex, for lack of a better word, of women’s energy.  This exists beyond the corporate entities that control, coordinate, and sponsor the media sites and conference.

This is akin to what I think of as the difference between 1) the thing and 2) the concept of the thing.   As an anthropologist I am interested in culture.  Women’s culture is, obviously, an aspect of human culture.  I like to think of this as a distinct level of information that exists as part of our living system.
All the relationships that are initiated at a conference, the knowledge that is created and shared, and the way these are incorporated into people interacting at the talks, and on the show floor, and at the coffee shops and bistros, meals, and parties can have a huge influence far beyond the time and place of the conference.

At the Bloggers at Midlife Conference, which I attended this April, in many ways is progeny of BlogHer.  Over the years at BlogHer there were “birds of a feather” luncheons with tables for mid-lifers and baby-boomers, and “rooms of one’s own” for those same groups.  Virginia Debolt facilitated the first of these sessions I can remember attending.  Judi K. Freeman coordinated a second.  Patricia A. Patton was a coordinator in the last one of these type of sessions I attended in 2014. Then Bloggers at Midlife, a conference with no commercial or corporate connections to BlogHer, began in 2015.
I will soon see how BlogHer has settled into its new role as a brand within another corporate entity. Will there will still be a place for all women of all ages and reproductive statuses at the conference?  This is one of the aspects of the conference about which I will report back.  It is a big conference and I will not be able to evaluate every track, as I have my own agenda and tasks for the conference, but I will do my best to provide an overview from the over 50 perspective.
From what I have seen thus far the vendors and sponsors contain corporations and partnering organizations who work with our demographic although not solely with us.  There are no tracks that speak directly and only to us, but there are as many divergent interests and approaches to bloggers of a certain age as there are in younger and more child-centered groups.
Lifestyle bloggers, business bloggers, and bloggers with a cause have much in common across age ranges.  This cross-section of ages is one of the most promising and perhaps least utilized offerings of BlogHer.  Elder experience combined with youthful energy and excitement could change the world.  Women working together toward shared vision can change everything.
In the next post I will get down to the brass tacks about how the BlogHer of today is distinct from the BlogHer of yesterday.