Blog Indiana: Ever Good & Always Better!

Mamacita says: I go to a lot of conferences, and each one serves a different purpose. The big conferences are a whirlwind of cool, from parties to swag to meetups to packed sessions to celebrities to tears to laughter to screaming meltdowns when we catch sight of bloggers long loved online and now within touching distance. . . . There’s just nothing like a huge conference.

However.

There’s just nothing like a smaller conference, either.

My favorite smaller conference is, by far, no holds barred, Blog Indiana.

I’ve been to all but one Blog Indiana conference, and each year it just gets better and better. The first year was good, and each year since it’s still good but even better. A little bigger, and a lot better.

This is saying a lot, because each Blog Indiana has been so good, I’ve left thinking, “This was perfection and couldn’t possibly be improved upon.” And I was wrong each year, because the next year was good, too, and better than the year before. Ditto for each successive year. Good. Great, even. How could it be better than it is this year? And every year, it is.

The two founders of Blog Indiana, Shawn Plew (@hoosierplew) and Noah Coffey (@noahcoffey) do a splendid job. I have nothing but praise for them. Nothing but praise. Praise. Awesome job, guys, and my students will tell you that I do not banter the word “awesome” about unless I really mean it.

I really mean it.

At Blog Indiana, the sessions are relevant, the speakers are interesting, and the information the attendees come away with is useful. I learn more at this conference than at any other conference. It’s better than grad school. The food was great, there was Diet Pepsi in every room, and those cookies were to die for.

I’m diabetic and I ate my share of cookies, so cross your fingers that I don’t die for them. Or from them. Prepositions. . . .

I am a pro at cookie rationalizing: if you drink diet soda with your cookies, the sugar/calorie count is halved, so you can eat more cookies. Or something.

Shawn and Noah honored me this year by allowing me to be a presenter. I think it went well; nobody stalked out, even when I said “shit.” Like, maybe, eight times. There was no porn, though; that was just a rumor.

For trusting me with a session, Shawn and Noah, I thank you profusely. Please trust me with a session again next year, maybe? Please?

Also? For a conference about the internet, there were a lot of people using those super old-school notebooks during the sessions. Nothing will ever replace the surge of creativity that flows from the brain, down the arm, and out the fingertips.

It’s too late to make a long story short, so let me finish with this: Make a note RIGHT NOW to reserve August 8 & 9, 2013 – you don’t want to miss Blog Indiana. Seriously, you don’t.