BarkWorld Expo is a social “petworking” conference covering all
facets of social media, pet lifestyle & business education for pet lovers. The
2011 event was held from September 29 to October 1 in Atlanta, GA.
I arrived in Atlanta on Thursday afternoon in time for the
welcome reception. The pet friendly event was held at the Hotel Indigo, and I
met lots of “old” friends from last year’s event and also many new friends.
Friday morning began with a keynote presentation by Ted
Rheingold, Founder of Dogster, Inc. Ted talked about the development of
Dogster.com and how the company eventually grew to include Catster.com,
Snuzzy.com, The Vet Blog and more.
The first session I attended was “Poop There It Is!” In this session, Stephanie Miles of WebMD and
Melissa Halliburton of BringFido.com discussed the types of information that
pet owners are looking for online.
Next was a panel discussion featuring pet brands and
pet bloggers. Diane Silver of To Dog With Love, Rachel Phelps of Preston Speaks, Seth Anderson of Greenies, and Bev VanZant of Iams discussed how pet
bloggers can pitch their blog to companies for product reviews and sponsorship.
After the panel discussion, Victoria Stilwell, star of Animal
Planet’s It’s Me or the Dog, gave a keynote presentation. She discussed her own
passion for positive dog training and also gave tips on how animal lovers can
leverage social media tools to promote their brands and causes they believe in.
By this time, I was missing my cats so I went to “How to
Keep Your Kitty Cat Audience Purring for More”. This session was presented by Lisa Illman of
Kritters That Twitter, who discussed topics for engaging your community, using
videos in your blog, and developing your reputation in the cat blogging
community. Although there were no live kitties in the room, I did manage to pet
a few flat cats!
The final session I attended that day was “Creating Pawsome
Content for Online” presented by Jelena Woehr of Yahoo! Contributor Network.
Jelena walked the group through how to create online content that engages the
reader using the Yahoo! Style Guide. It was a great presentation, but I will
admit my favorite part was holding my pal Niqqi while her mom was in the front
of the room with Jelena.
The day ended with closing remarks and raffle giveaways.
Unfortunately, I made the mistake of going up to my room and missed the
opportunity to see my very first flash mob! I guess that’s what I get for
working in my room instead of staying until the very end.
In the evening, we visited Uptown Pups, a new pet boutique in Atlantic Station. It’s a great little shop with lots of products for
dogs and dog lovers, and I was happy because I got to meet lots of new canine friends!
Photo of Niqqi and Bev VanZant (image via Niqqi)
You are totally on it Vicki! Thanks or the recap, there were a few you mentioned that I didn't have a chance to make. As always, it was great to see you. You are a real gem in the community. xoxoxo
ReplyDeleteLisa, Madison and Abigail
Thanks so much for the great recap. I feel almost like I've been there. Isn't Niqqi great. M had a chance to meet her a week ago at an anipal meet up. She is so very very cute.
ReplyDeleteOMIDOG!! That Niqqi is so CUTE!! Bunny you are totally my most favorite of bunnys!! It was pawsome to see you!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had a whole lot of fun! Those sound like really good panels and sessions.
ReplyDeleteWow, sounds like you are having a great time and learning a lot. Isn't it fun to put faces to our online pals? And Niqqi is absolutely the cutest doggie around, she looks like a stuffed toy (in a good way) :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for reporting on Barkworld for us. Purrrrrrrrrrrrrrs.
Thanks for the compliment! I loved holding Niqqi too, don't mind being upstaged by her at all :) She was the sweetest little fluffball!
ReplyDeleteGreat re-cap, Vicki! It sounds like a great conference and one that I'm going to look into attending next year!
ReplyDeleteSo jealous Vicki! Agree with Amy. Nice recap!
ReplyDeleteI would have loved to have seen Victoria Stilwell. Lisa Illman and I connected early on when I started my pet sitting business. She had just started working on her Kritter Kondo and was looking for input on her Kondo idea. I loved it. I have to say that she has really taken her company far. I would have loved to have sat in on her session. She's really impressed me with all that she has done.
I wouldn't have minded learning more about pitching your blog to companies. It sounds like BarkWorld Expo is well worth attending. Wow.
We had SUCH a good time at BarkWorld too!! So glad you were able to come out! My favorite part of day 1 was Victoria Stillwell too!! It was just awesome!! :D
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