I spent Saturday at Day 2 of BlogHer, an impressively large gathering of women that blog, podcast, vlog, code and pretty much kick ass all over the internet. Everyone is doing their own thing, whether a mommie blogger or blog entrepreneur, they are doing it with passion and zeal because it’s become very meaningful for them.

Being surrounded by so many creative expressive people is always inspirational to me so I really wanted to be there, and it was right up there with Vloggercon in terms of deep immersion among real world web enthusiasts. The fact that there are over 40,000 members keeping diaries on Dogster and Catster, most of whom are women, meant it was a day very well spent all around.

I wish I could say here are the top ten most important things learned at the event, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be processing exactly how the world is changing on this front for weeks and months to come. Was it the teenage math and science girls doing a group podcast from around the country. Was it the mommie bloggers that got an 18-wheeler full of supplies to New Orleans before FEMA arrived. Was it Millie, an 80 year old blogger? Was it the blog-trepreneurs quitting their jobs because their blog businesses were paying the bills? Was it the founder of a mommie blogger group, that is now seeking the courage to start a mommie rage blog? Yes to all of the above.

Last year, apparently, one of the questions was where are the women bloggers. This year a question could be where aren’t the women bloggers. I keep thinking back to an attendee speaking to the whole group that said blogging was a gateway technology, which got a loud clap of agreement, and I thought was really powerful reality. Inspiration was all around and I was thrilled to soak it all in.

Sadly the big closing panel with Arriana Huffington, Chris Nolan, Mena Trott, and Caroline Little (CEO, WashingtonPost.com and Newsweek Interactive) was dreadfully boring. Question after question about coping with motherhood and marriage as if this was a Learning Annex seminar for new mothers. Of course that is an interesting important topic, but I bet every mother and wife in the room was just as qualified as the panelists to speak on such topics. Worse was Mena, President of Six Apart blogging systems, speaking of their new product Vox when asked what she’s sees as the future of blogging. That’s pretty insulting considering Six Apart was a paid sponsor and Vox is just a new presentation of their LiveJournal property which has been in existence for 5 years. Vox is swell, but not the future.

I think BlogHer could benefit nicely from following the Gnomedex model of not giving main-stage time to event sponsors. Let the sponsors presence be enough and save the pitches for separate time slots. Or even better don’t let the sponsor’s marketing people pitch their products at all. The BlogHer people could explain in their own words why the attendees could benefit from the sponsors products which I’m sure would lead to higher adoption rates and have a much greater ROI for the sponsors. Molly had a bunch to say on this topic.

I’m sorry to end this entry on a sour note. The gathering was as inspirational and as illuminating as any conference day I’ve had this year. What Jory, Elise and Lisa have created with BlogHer is much more than just a conference gathering, it’s a force that is really gaining momentum. It’s a first hand look how the world is changing and it’s a powerful train made for anyone to hop aboard. I look forward to going back next year.