I was asked this question a few times so I thought I’d make it into a blog post. There are so many differences I’m not even sure where to start. Mainly the question came up on Twitter because She Speaks was held the weekend after BlogHer.
First let me share a little bit about BlogHer. Honestly, if you are reading my blog because of She Speaks, you may not have ever heard of BlogHer. BlogHer is “the community for women who blog.” That’s there tag line. In 2007, the co-founders of the online community decided to put on an IRL (in real life) conference. They had people either volunteer to lead sessions or they asked some of the “big name” bloggers to present. They setup sessions for everything from the interests people blog about (crafts, food, etc.) to the business side of blogging. They had sessions on the techie stuff, branding, writing, and building communities online. Stories about the kind of gifts (swag) that were available at the first conferences just grew. Many big businesses saw this as an opportunity to market to women, and setup a booth on the exhibit floor. I’m not sure how many people attended the first BlogHer, but I did hear that around 1,500 women descended upon Chicago this year.
If you go to the BlogHer website, you will see many women bloggers post there about everything from home life to politics. These posts are in addition to the posts that the ladies post on their own blogs. To be quite honest, I never “got” BlogHer. I had enough trouble of my own posting to my own blog, why would I want to post there too? Looking around the website though I realized that there are many, many different women that are a part of that community — many, many people with different lifestyles and different views from me. That’s not bad — I just didn’t see anyone there even remotely close to “like” me. I didn’t feel like I would fit in there at all. And, I’ve never had a desire to go to the BlogHer conferences. Seriously? With all the talk of parties — exclusive most of them — where ladies are getting drunk off their booties — that just doesn’t entice me to go. Not. At. All.
Now, please don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to badmouth BlogHer, and I have never been so I don’t know first-hand how things are — just what I’ve heard from other bloggers. I also know several Christian women who attended BlogHer this year — I just know they were in the very small minority there.
She Speaks is very different. She Speaks was started by the Proverbs 31 Ministries ladies as a professional conference for Christian writers, speakers and women’s ministry leaders. From the day the last conference ended, the next conference is covered in prayer. This year there were around 600 ladies (200 more on the waiting list I heard) in attendance. There are main general sessions where ladies teach from the Bible a message that is relevant to all of us. There are breakout sessions on different tracks. The speaking track has sessions like Tailoring Your Message to Fit Each Event, Fear Not!, and The Power of a Story. The writing track has sessions like The Pathway to Publication, Magazine Writing 101, How to Write a Book, and Writing Book Proposals that Get Noticed.
In addition to these sessions, this year they added some blogging sessions. It was more of another track that I hope they will change so that more people can come. Whether you are a writer, speaker or women’s ministry leader, you will want to learn about blogging. Because they added this blogging track and most of us bloggers there tweet, we brought some exposure to She Speaks that wasn’t there before.
If you are just starting out, the sessions are wonderful to get you on your way. If you are a little more seasoned, you have the opportunity to schedule meetings with different publishers that are there as well. This provides an awesome opportunity for you to get your writings noticed, or just get feedback from a writer’s critique group. The speakers have critique groups as well if you are ready for that. Hmmm, maybe next year they should have a bloggers critique group 
A word of warning about She Speaks, it is expensive — more so than other blogging conferences I’ve seen put on. But it’s so totally worth it. God has a way of making a way if this is where you should be for sure.
God is at She Speaks — in a big way! He’s everywhere. I’m sure there may have been issues between ladies there, but I didn’t see any of it. Everyone seem to have an encouraging spirit about them. It’s not about competition. It was about learning to be better at what you felt God has called you to do whether that’s writing, speaking or just blogging.
i get that feeling about blogher too that i would not fit in at all. i don’t drink and don’t much hang out with folks who do.
she speaks sounds awesome. but i’m a big scaredy cat when it comes to meeting new people.
Hi Lisa,
I saw your comment on a friend’s blog and thought I’d pop by to say “Hi.” It’s been a while since I’ve visited you, but it was nice to catch up by reading some of your recent posts. It certainly seems like She Speaks was an awesome experience for you this year. Praise God!
It sounds like you’re embarking on some cool new adventures. Good luck and God bless. You go, girl!
Blessings,
Kelli
I think your assessment was pretty right on. SheSpeaks is not *really* a blogging conference, but Christian Writing and Speaking *Ministry* conference, which has a blogging component. I definitely hope to go next year.
BlogHer is completely secular, and a lot of the BlogHer organizers are more secular in their writing and in life, and the conference focuses more on the business side. But I met and spent quality time with other Christians there, and BlogHer is just different. I feel like my ministry is not *primarily* to Christians (although that’s a part of it) and I feel comfortable around people with different lifestyles than I have. Some people feel led to a ministry of building up other Christians, and that is important as well.
So I had no problem being at the parties, and keeping my faith intact. Actually, I didn’t see a lot of Drunken Cavorting, I just saw lots of different women having fun together. Maybe I just stayed at the right parties where that wasn’t happening. But there were great times, such as Amy Lupold Bair’s Game Night Party in the lobby where tons of people gathered around playing board games. Great opportunities to engage people in conversation and earn the right to speak into their lives.
I actually hope more Christian women will come to conferences that are on the secular side. If we don’t go to the “world,” who will?
That being said, going to a safe, spiritually enriching environment and being taught is immensely valuable, too! I think we need both.
I love you Lisa! And I love your heart for Jesus! Sorry for writing a book!
I am a proud Christian and will say so anytime of the day. I would have loved to went to She Speaks, but didn’t even hear about it until it was like a month before.
I did go to BlogHer this year. I honestly don’t believe I was in a minority there. I really believe you get what you put in. I had a great time socializing and meeting different PR companies. I did not see any drama unfold, but I wasn’t looking for drama either. I always try to see the positive in things.
God wants us to to be testimonials of his word. I love that I can do that wherever I am. If it should be at BlogHer, My girl’s schools, our church, grocery store etc. I will not act any different at any of these places. I’m real
where-ever I go. I did not see any drunks at BlogHer, so maybe it was just me??? Not sure.
As a Christian, I can really say what a wonderful time I had at BlogHer. I was telling Sarah today, I hate to see all the negativity out there about BlogHer, because I only feel like that is one side of the story.
Just my take on BlogHer
As a pregnant Christian who attended BlogHer this year, I had a fantastic time and did not at all feel like I was a minority whatsoever.
Since BlogHer is so big, you have to find the crowd of friends that you fit in with, and just go with it. I appreciated that we were all women, but lead/wrote about such different lives.
I never felt that my faith was compromised, and in fact had some very meaningful conversations with women of other faiths, and women of the Christian faith.
Thanks for everyone’s input…I’ve looked at both of them. I’ll just have to pray and see what God wants for me.
I attended She Speaks for the first time this year and had an awesome time. I did the Writer’s Track and took the Bloggy Photography session too.
A pair of Facebook friends, both Christian, both travel writers, attended BlogHer and one of them presented. I’ve lurked about the BlogHer site and was intrigued by the various blogs there.
I attend a number of writing conferences throughout the year, most are secular. Had great conversations with both Christians and non-Christians at them. I want–and hope–to go to the BlogHer Conference next year, to continue learning more about blogging.
Oh my word! No wonder you haven’t replied to me. I’ve been replying to your comments but they are going to no-reply@blogger.com. Good grief.
Email me when you get a chance!
I attended BlogHer ’09 and She Speaks this year. You would be hard pressed to find two more different conferences. That being said, as Real Life Sarah pointed out, they have very different missions and cater to very different audiences.
I learned more about blogging at She Speaks though- you are a fabulous tutor =) I felt like BlogHer was more about the commercialized aspects of blogging than the “how-to’s”, however that could have just been because of the sessions I attended (there were a bazillion to choose from).
Which was the better investment? For me, She Speaks by far. I walked away from there with my cup filled and more knowledge about writing/blogging which I hope I will be able to translate into reaching people for Jesus online.
JMHO =)