This weekend the much anticipated 5th annual Blissdom Conference is being held in Nashville. Many excited bloggers are headed to Tennessee for the famed event. The buzz is palpable. But there are even more influencers who are not going to be on hand for the festivities for one reason or another, (not the least of which is it’s sold out). I won’t be at the celebration either, but I have no intention of missing out on the Bliss. And neither should you for that matter. You too can create a blissful experience from the comfort of your own computer. Just follow a few simple steps for this, or any of the other conferences coming down the pike, and  you will be able to learn, mingle and grow in absentia.

1. First, go to the conference website and acquaint yourself with the organizers of the event. Why? Well, who would have the best info about the conference other than the organizers? You want to make sure you are following them on twitter, that you have liked the conference Facebook page as well as their individual FB brand pages, and that you have signed up for any available conference updates. You also want to make note of the conference hashtag. It’s imperative to know the official hashtag so that you can stay on top of all of the important conference details that organizers want you to know about. Knowledge is the pathway to greater opportunity for connectivity.
2. Next step, if you don’t already have a  twitter dashboard like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite, GET ONE! Following a conference twitter conversation, let alone participating in one, can be an overwhelming task. If you can’t isolate conversations you will go mad. (Mad I tell you. MAD!) Once you have your aggregator in place immediately establish a dedicated column for the official conference hashtag. (But leave room for more hashtags to come.)
3. Now that you have your Cape Canaveral set up it’s time to get involved. Early on, before a conference even starts, people will create lists of speakers and attendees that you can follow with a single click of a button. It’s always a good idea to follow speakers whose sessions you would have attended if you were present. So checkout the conference website. Peruse the conference agenda, and plan your online attendance just as you would if you were on the ground. Determine which sessions you want to listen in on, and make note of any extra hashtags associated with the session. That way when you tweet you will be heard by those in the room. Speaker twitter ids will most likely be included in their bios, there may even be a direct link. FOLLOW THEM!
4. Following the conference hashtag you will see influencers in your twitter stream that you know, but more than likely you will see many that you don’t know. It’s time to introduce yourself. I find it is a good idea to RT someone you are interested in meeting before you follow them. Get on their radar, and then follow them; on Twitter, facebook brand pages, youtube, pinterest, foursquare and so on. You can ‘t know what is going on at the conference if you don’t follow the people on the ground who are active participants. But don’t just retweet, converse. Ask questions. Especially ask questions of the speakers before their sessions. If your engaged enough, show genuine interest and a palpable desire to learn, they may even answer your questions during their session. You never will know unless you tweet.
5. This is one time when it’s okay to be a  Twitter Stalker. In 2010 during the first Blogalicious conference I was participating so whole heartedly in the twitter conversation under the conference hashtag that people thought I was at the conference myself. They actually started reported sightings. Turns out it was Kim Coles they were mistaking me for. It made a difference though because influencers respected my dedicated interest in the conference subject matter, and brands responded favorably towards my ability to disseminate information even from afar.
6. Don’t just stalk on Twitter. You can find relevant information all over the social media community. You may even be able to tap into live streams of conference festivities. I know some of my fellow broadcasters from Mingle Media TV and other sites have done live broadcasts of their regular programs from the floors of many a conference. Some events like BlogWorld even offer a live stream ticket. For a fraction of the conference cost you can tap into the stream of the conference in real time and after the fact. But so many people will post video posts to youtube and the new site Tout during the events. that you can engage with practically in real time. You will hardly miss a beat as long as you keep your eyes ears and computer open.

Let’s face it, most of the time the single thing that prevents any of us from attending a conference we are interested in is money. I know I can’t afford to attend the conferences I do without sponsorship. You may not be able to go to Blissdom this year, but you need to start laying the groundwork to make yourself more inviting to potential sponsors for next year, right now. If you can increase your following, generate buzz with your tweets, and get yourself sufficiently retweeted or even engaged with from the comfort of your own home, well, that demonstrates the kind of positive effect you could have live and in person at conference representing a sponsor’s interests. In other words, it paints you as a solid investment with ROI to be counted on.

So what are you waiting for? We have a conference to attend. Get to tweeting!

SMILE On!

ML

Miss Lori can be found Musing from her Minivan at MissLori.TV , Wearetherealdeal.com , YoungChicagonista ,ChicagoMomsBlog , and ChicagoMoms.com. You can also see her Activating to Be Great at Miss Lori’s CAMPUS on Youtube, Facebook, Twitter , TOUT and LinkedIn