The BlogHer Conference made its estrogen-packed stop in San Francisco earlier this week. I attended the event with a few goals in mind. I wanted to:

1. Learn about defining one’s voice, and make the distinction between professional and personal writing

2. Learn about intellectual property rights and the terms of use associated with blogging

3. Network with other bloggers

4. Experience a onference with mostly female attendees

I accomplished all of these goals, but the 4th one left me a little taken aback. And not necessarily in a good way. Never have I been to an event where I experienced significant dilution in the quality of the educational portion of the conference due to the attendees. I know that seems a bit harsh, but I can explain.

I sat in on the ‘How We Communicate: FAQ for Beginning Bloggers’ session on Friday morning. With roughly 6 months of firsthand blogging experience under my belt, I figured that I still qualify as a beginner. Apparently not.

A woman sat down next to me and promptly started breast feeding. I was delighted. How often does that happen in a breakout session?! Turning my attention to the women at the front of the room, I realized that the ladies conducting the session weren’t yet able to begin their talk. Attendees were hollering out questions about blogging, asking tips on how to start their site and generally appeared to forget that the session’s format was not pure Q&A. Apparently a lot of these ladies were on the far end of the beginner spectrum. My favorite question that was yelled across the room was

‘I don’t use WordPress or Blogger. I have GoDaddy.com. Should I still be in this session?’

Wow. I promptly left and sat in on ‘What We Do: Taking Care of Business’ which explored terms of use, revenue models and tax liabilities associated with blogging. Definitely more interesting.

The conversations I had with my fellow BlogHers typically drifted to what our blogs were about. The majority of the women I spoke to fall under the affectionately termed category of ‘mommy bloggers’ - or mothers who write about (typically) motherhood. I met quite a few mothers who started blogging to tell their readers about their journey as a mother. It’s a great idea - blogging provides the perfect platform to reach friends and family with the latest, cutest photos and video of Suzy finger painting. Guy Kawasaki put together a great list of mommy blogs to check out.

I met very few business bloggers, and no one in tech. Most were at the event because it’s something that they love to do. Initially surprised by the dates of the event, it began to dawn on me why Blogher chose to run from Friday morning through Sunday evening. A weekend conference was easier to attend for the majority of these ladies.

It was good to get a glimpse into this world. Most of the story swapping centered around shared experiences, and using their blog as a creative outlet to document their adventure into motherhood. For most BlogHer attendees, the opportunity to chat with women who were traveling along a similar life path was both fulfilling and inspiring.

Lastly, I must comment on the attendee bag. Far and away some of the coolest tchotchkes I’ve ever received.