The Men of Blogher - Applause All Around

I did not attend Blogher with the intention of paying the men any mind. I'm one of those gals who revels in the whole Blogher thing - you know, this large group of women connecting to talk girl-talk, both business and personal. Certain conversations on the net, cited here and here, are discussing the male-female thing, and whether or not men should be part of the Blogher philosophy, or whether or not women are cheating both themselves and the men by being focused on girls.

Well, without getting into the deeper psychological meaning, I will put my two cents in and say, "It's a conference for gosh sakes! That's all! A conference of women, for women, by women. We don't discriminate against men...we don't exclude men...we don't dislike men. We just want to be with our sisters."

Now, that said - I was pleasantly surprised by some of the men in attendance this year. I did not see nor meet all of the men, but I did get to converse with a few of them and I'd like to honor them here - cause - it's my blog and I can do what I want.

First of all, on Friday night I saw - from across the room - THE Robert Scoble. I wonder if he gets tired of that; you know, folks making a big deal of him? After all, he's just a regular guy! I know this because I high-tailed it over to his side and stuck out my hand in introduction. I pretended I was doing so for my significant other, Tom, who couldn't be there. And Robert smiled, shook my hand, and proceeded to talk to me like I was...important.

I overheard, later on, that he was uncomfortable with the fact that his wife, Maryam (didn't meet her, dang!) was the object of interest, moreso than himself. But, I don't believe it. Robert was personable, likable, friendly, funny, and he looked like he was really enjoying himself. I know that he wrote about my book on his blog - for which I send him a big hug! (I wonder if I should link to his blog...)

Next up is my good friend Jim Turner at Genuine. I say 'good friend' even though I had never met this great guy, until Blogher. I shower profuse thanks on him for coming up to me during our un-panel session and introducing himself. If I'd gotten all the way home and found out he was there, and I didn't get to hug him - I would have cried! That's right, cried! This is one fantastic Dad and one great guy, in my opinion. The blogosphere shines a bit brighter because he writes in it. Thanks for the intro, Jim. Keep in touch! See his Lip-sticking interview here.

Third up on my short list of great Blogher guys is Josh Hallet. I met Josh at WOMMA, in Florida, way back in January. Toby introduced us. Josh is a really funny guy. Funny in a humorous way, but also funny in a girl-ie way. That's not an insult, Josh. In fact, it's a compliment. Josh is a man through and through, but he fits in with the girls, wherever he goes. In fact, we had dinner with Josh and his entourage on Saturday night. Several girls from Edleman's had glommed on to Josh - good looking girls. Josh writes a great social media blog. He also took a really horrible picture of me! But, then... that wasn't his fault. I'm just not photogenic. Ummm...Josh...I don't see Lip-sticking on your blogroll? (I'm putting you on mine, right now! I thought you were already there!)

Moving right along in our list of men at Blogher - is Stowe Boyd. Despite the fact that Stowe forgot who I was - okay, we met awhile back, at Ad:Tech NY, over dinner with Jeremy Wright (gosh I love name dropping) and...Stowe was concentrating on how to get home, so...he's forgiven for not remembering me. I bet he would have remembered Tom. Anyway, Stowe is always so soft-spoken and quiet, I never know what to make of him. It's those strong, silent types - like James Dean - that make you wonder, know what I mean? Stowe's blog is too intense for me to read it all the time. I wonder what he's like when he lets his hair down (or takes off his hat). Meanwhile, I think he made some valid comments about Blogher, though Jory seemed to bristle at them. When I was reading his post, it sounded like musing - not a review. I wish he had stayed for Day Two. I think he would have been a good addition to the Un-panel.

Now, on to Jeremy Pepper. Thanks for the intro, Susan. Jeremy is a character. You know, like on the cable TV commercials - where they have this thing going on where you can be on TV if you're a 'character.' Read: if you do something outrageous or astonishing, or if you have three eyes. Well, Jeremy isn't astonishing (but he's good looking), he isn't outrageous (but he'd like to be, I think), and he doesn't have 3 eyes - but, all in all, saying he's a character is the best I can do to describe him. Check out his take on the conference.

I can't believe I missed Guy Kawasaki, but I did. I can't believe I got interviewed on camera, but have no idea where the interview is - or whether it posted. I can't believe the weekend went by so fast! I'm eager for Blogher NYC. See you there!

Comments

[steven e. streight aka vaspers the grate]

I agree that just because a class of humans gets together, it's not necessarily biased against other classes of humans.

For women to have a female only Blogher conference is a nice idea. I often wonder how many black bloggers are out there.

It's nice to meet bloggers in the flesh and to share stories and insight.

[Clair]

I am soooo envious that you have BlogHer there. But it's also just fine with me because I have read your blog entry about it :D

[Wendy Maynard]

Hi Yvonne,

Glad the conference was fun! Check out the buzz of comments about Kathy Sierra's post "I am not a "woman blogger." http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/
2006/08/i_am_not_a_woma.html#comment-20898574

You might want in on this one! Hope all is well.

Best, Wendy Maynard

[Josh Hallett]

Mutual glomming...perhaps a new trend :-)

Yvonne, thanks for the kind words. It was a great event and I enjoyed my time with the 'sisters'. You're on the blogroll (even though you've been in my RSS reader since WOMMA).

[Susan Getgood]

Great post Yvonne!! I am SO glad you went to BlogHer.

No matter what, you just seem to give it the proper perspective.

[Leah]

Ha! The Girls of Edelman. Josh was fun to hang out with, but I would say he glommed onto us. Or it was a mutual glomming. Or we glommed onto you.

Mainly, I want to use the word glom.