Make me Over, Please!

One of my favorite shows is What Not to Wear.  Fortunately my family has assured me that even though my pants legs are a little too short, and I wear some styles a little too long, I am in no danger of Stacy and Clinton and their cameras ambushing me.     I have issues, but I do not wear copious tie-dye, fairy wings, or all black.  (Well,  a lot of black, but not all.  And navy) .  


After twenty some years in a big company, I am now working in my own business.   I can handle what to wear to interviews, and very uptight meetings.   But the whole casual chic thing is a mystery to me.  My style rules were formed when bell-bottoms and hig-huggers were in the last time, and I am not talking about this century.     I want to look attractive, but age-appropriate.   I don't want to look like I am wearing a sack, a tablecloth, or my grandmother's curtains.   Or my grandmother's clothes, even though they probably fit. 


I've given up on make-up.   I know I'm not supposed to use blue eye-shadow, and thick black eyeliner,  but I don't know what to do instead.  My face gets red in strange places (between the eye brows) and blush doesn't seem to be in the right place.    

So a make-over is what I need to join the new decade.   Being only two years behind instead of twenty should be a massive improvement.   And - it should improve my track record in the job market.    My kids tell me I still look beautiful, but the compliments come with a side order of requests for computer time, allowance advances, and time with friends.   (My kids practice the fine art of well-timed flattery.) 

Spoiler alert:   In writing this post, I’m entering the Microsoft Windows Style Makeover Sweepstakes for a chance to win a head to toe makeover!  My style problems, however, are real and not invented for the purposes of the contest.  Furthermore,  there will be no before pictures until I can find a good angle that does not  involve photography from space.

Getting Gorgeous Gets It Right for a Blogher Party Invite

One in a series of posts about Blogher 12 in New York City




In a previous post I advocated a couple of distribution  systems for the Blogher limited attendance events.  I will have to give Getting Gorgeous credit for a distribution system that really did reach out to a wide cross-section of bloggers.

They issued invites for 2/3  of the slots, and had 200 slots open for the general blogger population.   Inviting 600 bloggers to your sessions - so impressive.   Opening it up with warning, so bloggers did not have to put life on hold to get in - also classy.


Of course I still didn't get in.    I had already wasted too much time Twitter-stalking and had turned Twitter off.    When this extremely humane system was announced I was focused on getting my real life in order so I could attend Blogher.    I am a Coldwater Creek One Creek customer and half my wardrobe is CC, so I was sad to miss out.

On the other hand, my opinion of the Getting Gorgeous crew is extremely positive.  I actually enjoy reading their tweets.    They're still on my list of bloggers I want to meet, greet, and learn from.  So t@verasweeney and @gettingorgeous please tweet me @momisageek.    I am turning the Twitter stream back on for conference week.

Blogher 12 - Sorority bidding for party invites

One in a series of posts about Blogher 12 in New York City
After my rant about Twitter-stalking for party invites, several of my blogger friends pointed out I venting and not offering a solution.  How unlike me!   Normally you have to bind and gag me to keep me from telling you how I would solve your problem.

 It seems from the outside that the same 200 bloggers are at all the "exclusive" parties and the  other 2800 are not.   The popular bloggers will be party-hopping, zig-zagging across midtown Manhattan to grab their swag, and run to the next event .  There are so many parties they don't have time to attend sessions, or even stay to the end of the event they are attending.   And there is a massive amount of no-shows when something better comes along.

How about a party bidding system like a sorority rush?   Sponsors would identify bloggers of interest based on a profile provided by the Blogher.      Bloggers would identify parties/events of interest from a list provided by Blogher.      Sponsors would find out about bloggers they may have not known about who are interested in them, and bloggers find out about parties and products they may not know about.    Bloggers would have to indicate their top choices,  and so would the sponsors

Or maybe a party auction?    You have 100 party points.    You could spread them out, and put all 100 on one party.   Sponsors know how much you value them based on how much you bid.   Sponsors could compete to get people to bid on their parties.       If you are out of points, you must give up a party bid to re-bid your points.

Maybe separate the brand bloggers to several pre-conference days, like the Health minder and Path-finder conferences?    That way invite-only parties don't detract from the official Blogher events.

Of course Blogher has no control over the invite-only.  Maybe by offering information about the bloggers, they can encourage the sponsors to look at a wider range of bloggers, and buy into this system.

Blogher 12 Invites - If you have to ask, you're not cool enough to attend

One in a series of posts about attending Blogher 12 in NYC
Blogher is a great conference, but the whole "unofficial" party thing is starting to make me a little nuts.   The official conference parties used to be by ticket.   Once a party was announced it was a race to Eventbrite to get a ticket.    Thankfully those have become open to all conference attendees, so you can get a free drink and some appetizers from 7PM-1AM every evening.   The music is great, there are often massages,I've made some great friends there, and there is no pressure.  


Then there are the "invite-only" parties.  Supposedly if you are the "right" kind of person, the sponsors will know about you and you will get an invite.    All anyone talks about in their blogs is how amazing these are. According to what I read from other bloggers, being the right kind of person involves hanging out on Twitter constantly and watching the feed for Blogher 12 party discussion.    Some parties are announced for a sign-up and in less than a minute, are full.   


I had a few parties I wanted to get invited to. (past tense)   After two months of stalking the Twitter and Facebook feeds, and not getting my request in until 90 seconds after the party opened, I gave up.  Really, sponsors, I have a life and I need to live without my smartphone constantly in hand.    I have family responsibilities and work responsibilities and my effectiveness in both arenas is compromised by too much party stalking.     My life provides the interesting content that sometimes appears in my blog that occasionally discusses a product and how it makes my life and my family's life better.   My work provides the income to buy your products.     


Is the only thing about me that interests you is that I constantly tweet and surf the Twitter stream and monitor my Facebook feed?     Quite frankly, I un-follow the feeds that are constantly blathering on product after product without any content like a social media infomercial.  


There must be a better way, because all the fun people I am meeting at the official parties who are not at the invite-only are the ones I end up following after the conference.