Let me just start by saying that you all are very lucky I just don’t write about blogging full time and the Financial Blogger Conference every day. Those two things take up about half of my brain space every day. I only force myself to write about other things because I like you and don’t want you to get too bored with me. That said, here is my first post about how truly excited I am to be going to the Financial Blogger Conference 2011!
Financial Blogger Conference 2011
If you have no idea what I am talking about, the Financial Blogger Conference (aka FINCON11) is October 1st-2nd, 2011 and is being held near Chicago, IL. I will be flying in Friday morning and cannot wait to meet a ton of my fellow bloggers!!! I am most excited about meeting all of the people I have formed relationships with over the last year or more that I still haven’t seen face-to-face!
Acording to the agenda so far, there are some welcome events on Friday and the conference officially starts Saturday with a bunch of little meetings all day long, but I am most excited about just hanging out with other personal finance geeks like me! If I just spend the whole time just talking with other bloggers and forget to attend the actual conference classes, I will not regret it at all. It’s called networking, right? 
I am already picking my outfit for the meet and greet Friday and what I will be wearing over the weekend as well. Yes, I know I hate most things to do with dressing up and picking out nice outfits, but I want to make a great first impression. Something that screams, “Yep, that must be Crystal, the energy driven, crazy blogging lady! I wonder where she’s hiding her empire…”
And yes, I know it’s just June right now, but I have to channel this energy somewhere.
I also have ordered premium business cards with my logo on them to hand out to any interested bloggers and advertisers. And I ordered a BFS tote bag to hold all of the paperwork conference are notorious for – advertising on the outside and useful on the inside too. 
Cost So Far
I will admit that this will be semi-expensive and I don’t care. Sorry to the uber-frugalites that read my blog, but yes, we pay for a biweekly housekeeper and yes, I will be spending a pretty penny to go to this conference:
Ticket – $90 (now $129)
Business cards and tote (and mousepad and pen for me) – $75
Hotel – $100 for 2 nights since I will be splitting a room, woot!
Roundtrip Airfare - $250
Taxi to and from airport – $50 total
Food – $100 should cover it all and I’ve had a few offers to buy me a drink or treat me to a meal already, hehehe! No, I will not hold anyone to post-advertiser hook up promises, lol.
Stuff – $100 in case I forget to pack something, want to buy someone else a drink or meal, or find some cool souvenirs.
So I am looking at about $775. I’m okay with that! I am budgeting for $1000 just to be on the super safe side. But I will remember to keep all receipts since this is definitely a business expense.
Waiting Stinks
So I pretty much have 3 1/2 months to just wait around at this point. Grrrr. I am so impatient. Mr. BFS would prefer if I stop talking about it incessantly as well. Double grrrr. It’s not my fault that I chatter when I’m excited…
I guess the overall point of this post was just to let you all know what is on my mind. If you are interested in going now that I made it sound like so much fun, you can still register. If any other bloggers out there are having the same impatience issues as me, let me know! Heck, I’m up for a pre-FINCON11 meetup – just let me know!
Are any of you really looking forward to this conference or some other big event? Please let me know I am not the only adult in the world that is so impatient for the fun to start…
I’m pretty excited too, but will be attending a couple of conferences before then so I haven’t even thought about this one much (except to find a great roommate:)).
I am just like Kay Lynn. I will be attending the Savvy Blogging conference in July, so that is on my mind now. Then, I will turn my energy to the conference in October. It is great for me because it is in my backyard (unlike Savvy Blogging which will cost a pretty penny to get to.)
@Kay Lynn, great roommate indeed!
@Melissa, I didn’t even know about other conferences other than this one and the BlogHer one that I’ll be at a Curling tournament during…where do you find these things? I think I’ll be at quite a few next year…
If I may offer a piece of advise, although I am not a blogger and the conferences I have attended were nothing to look forward too (engineering conferences where I had to give talks). I have learned if I pre-plan too much and get too excited ahead of time, I am almost always dissappointed in the end. My imagination can get the best of me at some time. I always thought I would be hanging out everynight with friends I hadn’t seen since last year and making great networking contacts and everyone would be wanting to have a drink with me….. that was never what happened. Usually everyone was so tired after a conference they are falling asleep at dinner and just wanted to go back to the hotel.
I don’t mean to sound like a debbie downer…just make sure you don’t let your imagination get the best of you
@Michelle, you don’t sound like a Debbie Downer – you sound realistic. No offense, I do hope you are wrong. But you have more experience than I do, so you probably aren’t. That’s okay. It may be better for my finances in the long run if conferences really are boring since I won’t go to as many of them.
Wow crystal – it’s great that you’re this excited for the conference. Unfortunately, It’s only semi on my radar (for other reasons) but I still do think about it once in a while. I’ve got at least 5 trips (possibly more) between now and then between work and weddings, bachelor parties, etc.
Not only that, Ill be in alaska the day the conference starts, so I’d like to get that trip finished first. I dont even get to go back to wyoming after alaska and before this trip – I have to stay at the airport most of the day and wait for my flight.
I’d love to be able to go, but it’s a little too far to travel
I’m so jealous! Wish I could go… but that won’t fit into my budget this year (I’m sure the financial bloggers will understand this reasoning)
Crystal, I’m SO excited too. I’m trying to add a few nice touches here and there to make it a special weekend for all of us. By the way, you might be able to reduce that cab fare if you share. I’m sure someone will throw up an arrival time spreadsheet for us to coordinate shared cab rides to and from the hotel. Anyway, mainly wanted to stop by and say thanks for sharing info about the conference. I’ll be sure to include you in the next roundup of mentions!
I’m looking forward to the conference as well. Will be good to meet so many folks I’ve interacted with through blogging, and learn some things as well. Glad to see you’re enthused, that’s cool.
I’m going as well, and am looking forward to it more every day. Hey, any event is what you make it – and given the list of interesting people I’ve seem attending and the speakers scheduled, well, it’s hard to set expectations anywhere but high!
I’m definitely looking forward to the conference and meeting people like you Crystal!
I’ll also be heading to Affiliate Summit East in August. That one is a lot cheaper for me since I’m just outside NYC. I know already it won’t be as fun as FinCon.
Crystal, you are REALLY making me want to go. I am just not sure if I can afford it – since we are moving, and I’ll have to buy office furniture next month!
I’m totally looking forward to Finblogcon too. Already have my t-shirt! it’s gonna be great fun to finally meet all these bloggers that I’ve been chatting with for over 3 years now. No matter what – I’m sure we’ll all have a blast, in sessions and in social hour!
I think you’re going to have a great time Crystal. I didn’t even know that financial bloggers had conferences, but there’s going to be a big difference (I think) between this conference, and other professional conferences. The attendees at this conference will all likely be really excited to be there. But if this was a regular professional conference, the attendees would be there because their jobs depended on it. And that’s not as much fun!
You sound like you’re bouncing off the walls! That’s awesome, hope you have a great time. Will you be writing about your adventures? Hope so, can’t wait to read about it!
I was going to miss out because I thought I was going to go to Hawaii this year, but that vacation plan has been postponed. So I might be going too! I think it sounds like it’s going to be awesome!!!
Hope to see you there (I better buy ticket soon before they are all gone)!
looking forward to meeting everyone -
@Jeff, you are going to be tired! I am so sorry, but I bet Alaska is going to kick butt!!!
@Laura, lol, yep that would be a long trip…
@Ann, it is good to know what you can and can’t afford to do without hurting your goals! Maybe next year!
@Philip, good point on sharing that cab – I probably will! Thanks for including me in that next roundup!
@Squirrelers, you sound so much calmer about it than me, lol.
On a completely different note (and crazy one), a squirrel attacked my tomato plants and I am out for blood. Your name brought up the tomato gnawer in my head, so I had to vent, sorry.
@Travis, woot for high expectations! If it does let us down, we high expectation people should make a pact to have a hell of a time anyway!
@Glen, I can’t wait to meet you!
@Khaleef, don’t expect me to be the voice of reason, sorry. I have this prioritized over pretty much everything but a death in the family…
@Peter, woot for social hour(s)!!! I bought a tote bag with my logo on it to be loud and proud even in class, hehehe.
@Andrew, the best part is that I most probably will have quit by the time the conference starts or will be quitting in one of the following weeks, so I will be ready to PARTY! For me, this means talking and laughing until the wee hours of the morning since I am not a big drinker, but it is still going to be so much fun!!!
@Buck, bouncing off the walls is a very good description! I will totally write about it when I get back!
@Money Reasons, YAY!!! It will be so cool to meet you!!! Buy your ticket dude!
@Sunil, me too!
I’m not having much luck with conferences. We have plans for the weekend of the Savvy Blogging conference (U2 concert) and my grandmother’s 80th birthday party is October 2, so I’ll be missing this one too. I’ll have to live vicariously through twitter feeds.
Have fun!
I am going to be tied to my twitter to read the updates since I can’t go
@Kristia, no luck at all!
@Evan,
I’ll try to remember to Tweet all the main points and when I meet the big hitters. I will definitely be posting about it when I get back.
I’m excited too! I still need to get my ticket & hotel (when finances permit) but I can’t wait to go!
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