I returned home from the lovely Snap! Creativity at Your Fingertips Conference in Utah yesterday. To say it was a smorgasbord of color, creativity and learning is an understatement. Blogger panels, photography workshops, crafter’s marketplace & workshops plus an endless stream of happy faces pretty much sums up Snap!

But what is a blog conference and why should you go? How do you know if you are ready to spend money on a seemingly indulgent trip?

Here are my five reasons why you should think about it….

Good blogging is in the details. Most people start a blog to share an idea, their life, inspiration or to promote their business. It doesn’t matter why you start one but if you do, you will attract some readers. Your readers will encourage and request things from you. You begin to realize that you like this community and you want to pursue it further. Blog conferences can help you understand how small changes can build what you like about your blog: How to optimize your traffic, how to make a bit of money, how to write engaging posts so you can really help/inspire/motivate your readers, etc.

Get better at what you do. Everyone can improve in some areas. Maybe you are curious how to use photoshop elements to enhance your pictures or maybe you want to learn how to use your new DSLR camera. Conferences usually offer these creative technical sessions that you can attend to hone your skills without signing up for a lengthy class.

Realize you are not alone. I don’t think I have one real-life friend who has visited my site more than once. They simply do not know or care about blogging. That’s okay because there are thousands of other women who are as passionate and obsessed as you are! That’s why I went to Snap! To meet other creative bloggers. To talk about the techniques for writing an engaging post, the struggles with setting up a self-hosted WordPress blog and the sheer joy of building a community in your niche.

Make business connections. Ever wanted to guest post on someone’s blog? Or perhaps you want to break into media or connect with a brand? Conference often have brands, super-bloggers, media connections for you to mingle and collaborate with. You can gauge whether you are ready for these types of collaborations by attending these types of sessions. Check out this recap post from Snap!

To rejuvenate. All of the above reasons are important but for me, one of the biggest benefits of going to a blog conference is to fill up your creative well. If you are struggling for inspiration, there is a good chance your well is dry. Listening to other women share their blogging stories, talk about their failures and how they climbed out of the hole they were in, is nothing less than inspirational. Sometimes all we need to hear is that someone else is in a similar situation.

What I loved…

My new camera strap from Knitty Bitties, learning how to make a fabric rosette pin with the lovely ladies from Riley Blake Designs, the hundreds of colorful business cards from creative women bloggers, receiving Marie LeBaron’s Make and Takes for Kids book, Cheryl’s inspiring story of how she came to publish her first book and my two fantastic roomies: Anna from Take the Side Street and Marcie from Celebrating Moments.

Thank you to all the Snap! team members who worked really hard to pull off a well-organized event!

Here are some creative conferences to consider:

Snap! Creativity at Your Fingertips

Bloggy Boot Camp

The Creative Connection

Blogher

Have you ever attended a conference for blogging? Please share your favorite ones…