Whrrl takes over BlogWorld Expo 2009

Last week, Whrrl headed to Las Vegas to meet up with some of the best new media and blogging peeps this side of the Mississippi (gathered this side, at least) at BlogWorld Expo. Our team – Jeff Holden, John Kim Heather Meeker, Shafiq Shariff and I – landed in Vegas ready to start a weekend of mingling, networking and Whrrling, which began literally the minute we walked into airport and ran into Maya Bisineer, Paolo Mottola and Paolo Tosolini!

Left: Shafiq on his iPhone. Center: @thinkmaya from MemeTales.com on her iPhone. Right:
@paolojr and @tosolini discuss what it’s like to be named Paolo and watch a bunch of crazy
social media people on their iPhones.

This year’s show was held at the Las Vegas Convention Center and most attendees stayed at the Hilton (next to the convention center), home of the infamous Barry Manilow show. Although the expo hall didn’t open until Friday, we were able to mix and mingle at the Convention Center with great bloggers such as Jen Fowler and Deb Ng. We also discussed our exciting Collective Bias/Whrrl partnership with Jay Thornton, Creative Director at Collective Bias, before it was announced Friday morning.

Left: Barry Manilow on the side of the Hilton. Center Left: BWE sign outside the Convention Center.
Center Right: The lovely @JennFowler and @DebNg. Right: Me and @JayThornton000
at the conference. Find the Whrrl story from the first day of the conference here.

As with most conferences, there are parties, events and mixers just about every night. The place to be on Thursday was the TechSet party hosted by influencers Brian Solis and Stephanie Agresta at the Bank in Bellagio. Word has it we caught a certain mommy blogger (who will remain nameless) pole dancing. (Jeff snapped a picture, but apparently what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas when you’re taking pics on an iPhone). The party networking then continued as everyone followed Brian to Caramel in Bellagio where the VIPs were in attendance. It was a great kick-off to the conference!

Left: Name the Mommy Blogger! Center: Just some of the peeps at Caramel – @shafishariff,
@tedmurphy, @technosailor, @heathermeeker, @chrisheuer, @zaneology,
@brett, @adamjackson, @natasha and @marshacollier.  Right: @trixiepixe,
@brett, @briansolis, @marshacollier and Heather! (cc) Kenneth Yeung – thelettertwo.com.
Find the Whrrl story of the TechSet party here .

The next day, we were up bright and early for a full day of panels and networking at the conference. We spent time with some of the most lovely bloggers (Katja, Alli, Jyl, Lucretia, Zane, Amanda, Lindsay, Stephanie and SO many more, it’s hard to name everyone) and chatted with some of our favorite online personalities: Guy Kawasaki (Heather made a deal that if Guy wore a Whrrl t-shirt, she’d wear an Alltop t-shirt), Chris Brogan (John got a copy of Trust Agents signed) and Mark Horvath from InvisiblePeople.tv.

Find the Whrrl story from BlogWorld Expo Day 2 here.

Friday night, we attended the SITScation cocktail party. What does SITS stand for you ask? “Secrets in the Sauce” – a site dedicated to helping new bloggers get exposure and feel part of a community. I couldn’t believe the numbers of fabulous ladies in attendance. We were able to dance and laugh all evening with amazing women such as @CarissaRogers, @BabyBlooze, @theyearofhope, @houseofprince @katjapresnal and more! We even caught Shafiq in a pink boa! Now THAT’s something to be documented!

Left: Me, Heather and Shafiq on the red carpet before the Sitscation party. Center Left: Me and @redsolediaryjen. Center: Shafiq working the party. Center Right: Heather and the lovely
Katja. Right: Me teaching @CarissaRogers and @babyblooze how to use Whrrl on the
Blackberry! You can find all SITScation stories on Whrrl here.

We wrapped up the conference on Saturday with an awesome blogger and brands speed dating event sponsored by Collective Bias that included us along with ELF Cosmetics, Soyjoy, Catalina Marketing, Healthy Choice, Crocs and Genesis Today. Just like speed dating, we had a set amount of time to chat with bloggers such as @HighImpactMom, @sahans, @buckdaddy and @wandertot about their blogs and ways we could partner together. It was one of our favorite events of the show.

Left: Blogger + brands speed dating! Center Left: John sitting down with Amanda (@highimpactmom)
during speed dating. Center Right: Stephanie, @sahans with #blogdog and Joanie, @keepingupwmom.
Right: The fabulous @Bizziemommy! Find the Whrrl story on BlogWorld Expo Day 3 here.

We kicked off the last night with a farewell Blogworld pool party at the Hilton, set outside on a lovely and warm Vegas evening.  Jyl Johnson Pattee from MomitForward.com, Ben Parr from Mashable.com and Krista Perry from Park City Mountain Resort, all decided to do an impromptu cannonball into the pool for charity, which ended up raising  $2,000 in less than one half hour for Shoes 4 Africa. Let’s hear it for Jyl, Krista and Ben!

Left: The pool at Hilton-so shiny and irresistible. Center Left: @jylmomIF and @krista_parry
cannonballed into the pool for charity. Center Right: Krista and Jyl with @benparr. Right: John and
Danielle Elliott Smith (@ExtraordMommy) hanging out at the pool party. (Thanks to SugarJones
for the pics!) Find the Whrrl pool party story here and cannonball story here.

And what would Vegas be without one last hurrah? TechKaraoke, hosted by Brett Petersel from Mashable.com, was held in the Hilton casino- conveniently located on your way back from the pool party. Heather started out the evening taking the stage for a rendition of Love on the Rocks by Neil Diamond (brave girl). Other notables of the evening include George G. Smith Jr. for the awesome dancing, Wayne Sutton for the rap, Amanda Coolong for the BEST rendition of Black Velvet we’ve ever heard, and a whole lot of mommy bloggers for rocking the tambourines and plastic guitars!

Sadly, we did have to eventually say goodbye to Vegas, baby, but what happens in Vegas doesn’t stay there- now you have all the dirt! On behalf of the entire team, we really enjoyed meeting new friends and seeing old ones too! Don’t miss out on all the fantastic Whrrl stories created at BlogWorld Expo! Till next time!