So, this weekend, my awesome graphic designer friend Jennifer and I went to the BlogIndiana conference at the IUPUI Campus Center. It was a 2-day conference about blogging. I figured that my blog was neglected and for $50, it would be worth it to meet some people, get a little inspiration, and maybe even learn something.  And on all three fronts, I was successful!

After a short welcome and a couple short greetings from sponsors (seriously- I don’t know that I’ve ever been somewhere a sponsor was given a mic and they actually kept it short and didn’t push their crap on you), we were off to the first panel.  Basically, the schedule for each day was 2 panels in the morning, lunch (provided), a topical panel with multiple bloggers, and 2 more panels in the afternoon. On Saturday there was a networking event where we ran into some chick who was pushing some multi-level marketing product. 

I won’t get into gory details, but one of the panels sucked because the guy who was doing it was basically pushing his product.  Most of the other presentations were really good.  The conference itself was well-organized and I felt like the guys organizing it (Noah Coffey and Shawn Plew) were really quick to respond and adapt to different situations and make everything go smoothly.  Like how after the first session, the presenter (Andrew Paradies from Photrade) handed out some paper evaluation surveys and everyone’s reaction was like, “We have to fill these out after each session? Paper surveys at a technology oriented conference?” Well, Noah and Sean heard everyone and by lunch- no more surveys and plans for an online one instead. 

I did have the epiphany during the last session (Blog Review & Critique) that I actually know more about designing a blog and using certain plug-ins than I thought I did.  Granted I’m not one of those people making moolah from my blog, but I’m not really trying to either.  And frankly, I do know that in order to be making any money from your blog, you need to be consistent about it- which I definitely am not.

Anyway, the best part of BlogIndiana was just the interaction with other bloggers.  So, I will now give you a small modified blogroll of people I met and blogs you may be interested in reading (and obviously click the links in the text above to see the blogs of people I mentioned there):

Jeannette Fulda- pastaqueen.com In addition to this site, she also wrote a book based on her weight-loss journey called Half-Assed. The girl lost 200 pounds!  She is super nice and super smart, and I joked she’d be my new best friend.  And she’s cool enough she could be.

Casey- mooshinindy.com Casey is a “mommyblogger”- a term even she hates- who takes GORGEOUS photos and went to the State Fair 5 times this year. 

Hope Baugh- Indy Theatre Habit Hope really wants people to go to the theatre.  So she started a blog talking about everything coming up in Indianapolis Theatre. At some point in the next couple months, Jennifer and I are going to try and help her snazz up her site a little, but her writing is great and I think she’s blogging for a nice cause too!

Tedra Richter- Tedra on Twitter Tedra right now does most of her blogging on Livejournal and it’s marked as friends-only, so I posted a link to her Twitter so you can watch her micro-blog. 

Renee Wilmeth- Feed Me/Drink Me I really don’t know how I first found Renee’s blog.  But as I read it, I saw that she knew her stuff and I take her recommendations seriously.  It’s because of her that I found out HOW AWESOME brownies from Circle City Sweets are.  She’s a little more gourmet and foodie than I am and definitely has a more sophisticated palate than I do, but she’s in the know when it comes to food stuff in Central Indiana.

Kirsten- Middle West Meals I actually know Kirsten through my old roommate (and saintly friend who helps me organize), Mary.  They used to work together at Borders and I happen to run into her once or twice a year.  I had no idea she had a blog!  She likes to cook and share recipes, so it is definitely worth checking out.

Anyway, it was mostly dudes there, so I think a lot of the women gravitated towards each other.  There are actually a ton of other blogs I encountered, but I haven’t had time to check them out yet. This post is already bordering on TLDR, so you can check out the entire BlogIndiana Blogroll yourself. 

Anyway, thanks to BlogIndiana, you’ll probably see more from me here, and that’s a good thing, right?