Feedback From The Financial Bloggers Conference 2011 In Chicago | Bloggers Lair | Yakezie Forums

@sam  Yeah it was a random, throw your business card into the cage and hope you win, sort of drawing.  Guess I got lucky!  Loving it though. 

@tom  I think there were at least 5-10 that I missed as well.  It was incredible meeting the ones I did meet though. 

Sounds like it was a blast. 

Hawaii would be awesome but then again it's not frugal, both from the standpoint of how expensive it is plus anybody who is dating/married will have their cost automatically double.  Think about it :)

Dr Dean said:

My only concern is with the post FINCON excitement-next years event will probably be super-crowded and will be difficult to meet people and really have a conversation.

Well if they cap the number of tickets sold next year like they did this year, then that probably won't be too big of a problem. Those interested in attending will just have to sign up all that much sooner!

There were about 7 people from Denver (and South Wyoming) at the conference. That seemed like one of the biggest metro areas and we are way cheaper than NYC/Chicago/California. I am lobbying for Denver 2012!

I am finally home from Chicago.  #FINCON11 was better than I could have ever imagined.  I'll try to keep this recap short:

PRO's:

Location – I love Chicago.  It is a city I can drive to (from Ohio) and it has plenty to do to keep just about anyone amused.  And while I am talking about Chicago, I want to put a plug in for Davenport's Piano Bar's 'Nitz and Howe Experience' where I enjoyed one of the funnest entertainment experiences I have had in a long time. 

The People – Meeting 'the people behind the blogs' was single-handedly the best part about attending the conference… I am only sorry that I didn't get to meet every Yakezie member who attended.  The warmth I felt from you all was simply amazing. 

The Knowledge – The ticket paid for itself in probably the first 15 minutes of sessions!  I was especially interested in what Baker and Donna Freedman had to say and they certainly didn't disappoint! 

CON:

There was just simply not enough time.  Too often I felt I had to choose between attending a session or networking. 

My costs (approx.) for the conference:

Conference Ticket – $89

Hotel – $180

Gas – $90 (plus a $25 free gas card I had)

Tolls – $25 (half my tolls were free – woot – I'll be writing about this on my site soon)

Food (during conference time of the trip) – $20

Of course, since I tacked a vacation on to this I had plenty of other expenses.  :)

All in all, it was one of the best conferences I've attended.  I'm already excited about next year's event!

FrugalBeautiful: I think a session on taxes and blogging income is a great idea!

My take on the conference:

Absolutely awesome. Period.

Meeting people I previously only knew through their blog/twitter/Yakezie was both wonderful and weird! We all had fun giggling over how we thought someone was going to look like and how they surprised us! I think I got from several people that they thought I would be tall (for the record I am 5'3" and a quarter…the quarter makes all the difference:)).

As Sam has discussed previously as well as Sandy in this thread, meeting people in person is so much more valuable, effective, and lucrative than just meeting someone through email. Ofcourse I love email, but being able to sit down with my tech/graphics guy (Jesse Michelson), potential advertisers, and other websites has moved things forward much more quickly. I feel like I have built some great relationships.

Some key takeaways from the presentations:

• Connect with your readers on a personal and emotional level; share your life so that your readers feel apart of you, your blog, and your success
• Don't let the gazillion day to day blogging details stop you from thinking big and thinking into the future–your blog needs direction, needs to target an audience, and series are a great thing (even though it takes a lot of thought and planning to undertake a series)
• To the big bloggers (Pat Flynn, JD Roth, Ramit, Adam Baker, etc.), things like adsense and sponsored posts are peanuts compared to their own personal products they sell (courses, ebooks, video courses, etc.)
• Do something really different and you will get a lot of notice both from readers and from other bloggers (examples: Adam Baker and selling all of his belongings and moving to get out of debt, Ramit and his firing readers who he doesn't want on his blog, Pat Flynn and his transparency, etc.)
• There is a lot of misconception out there about networks of bloggers including the Yakezie; the Yakezie was not personally attacked, but two large speakers said that you are wasting your time with forums/networks and you could make a lot more impact and money elsewhere (I ofcourse do not believe this–I LOVE Yakezie:))
• If you get a bunch of bloggers together who you are sure will be 80% introverts (because they are bloggers, after all), they will, infact, socialize and have a great time!

Jason@LiveRealNow said:

Kay Lynn Akers said:

One of the best moments was a Yakezie get together sharing pizza and talking about anything and everything (including body piercings, Star Trek and maybe a little bit about blogging).

Agreed.  

Totally agree here too!

I spent $250 for airfare, $90 on registration I think, $95 for the hotel, $75 for business cards and branding, $25 on food, and $35 on the taxis…so $535 total.  SO WORTH IT.

My favorite part was meeting everyone.  The second was the pizza party in our room (Kay Lynn and I were roomies).  The third was having lunch with JD Roth, Jesse Michelsen, Suba, and Mr. Suba on Friday.  The fourth was the free drinks and hanging out at Happy Hour Saturday night.  :-)

Only con:  No free wifi in the rooms.

Here was my take and it has a couple of pics:

http://www.budgetinginthefunst…..ence-2011/