Off To A Conference for Midlife Women #BAMC16

Marketing Zeus: The Purchasing Power of Women

Eating Las Vegas

Food , Food, Food, and more food. Make sure you come to Las Vegas hungry, because the selection of food you will find is truly amazing. What makes the Las Vegas food scene different from Chicago, LA, New York is the condensed strip 4.1 mile area where all the hotels and casinos, shops, restaurants, attractions can be found.

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Las Vegas has more than 330 restaurants on the world-famous strip. What used to be known as the land of buffets and diners, Las Vegas has discovered that the way to a man or woman’s cash can also be found through the taste buds. Today variety of cuisine, talent of innovative chefs, and clients looking for cuisine that’s artsy and daring.

The rise of the celebrity and world-famous chefs makes Las Vegas a go to location to launch a spot for one of their top-notch restaurants.

  • Mario Batalia
  • Wolfgang Puck
  • Bouchon by Chef Thomas Keller
  • Mesa Grill by Chef Bobby Flay
  • Mr. Chow by Restaurateur Mr. Chow
  • Giada by Giada De Laurentiis
  • Table 10 by Emeril Lagasse
  • Heritage Steak by Tom Colicchio

Go to Las Vegas where it’s easy to get into these restaurants, parking is easy, and when you walk out you have a whole world that never sleeps. When you visit LA you need to travel in a car, or limo to try a selection of food from these different chefs, in NYC you could walk,  to find the vast selection of selections and choices as you do walking up and down the Las Vegas Strip.

FullSizeRender (6)I have taken a food tour in the past and being on a guided tour is where you get the history, the great gossip, background stories, fun facts, you can meet some of the chefs,  and taste an amazing selection of food. If you have the time I suggest a food tour, and now they have many to choose from.

IMG_0707This past trip, I had limited time so I decided to sample some small bites, and big flavors in a few of my past favorite restaurants. I choose them based on the location to where I was staying, the location of where the restaurant was based on shopping, site seeing,  and going to get a good meal.

The portions are big, the cost is reasonable, and the atmosphere is outstanding so get ready to enjoy your meal, and after you’ll be perfectly placed to continue your night with friends, as well as the best people watching, lounges and late-night entertainment.

Where I ate this time

  1. MICHAEL MINA – Seafood and american cuisine. The Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, adjacent to Café Bellagio.
  2. Wolfgang Puck- CUT Las Vegas The Grand Canal Shoppes
  3. The Country Club – Wynn 19th hole
  4. The Palm –  Forum Shops at Caesar’s Palace
  5. LAVO Italian Restaurant – entry of Palazzo
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A traveling “Cirque du Soleil has constantly sought to evoke the imagination, invoke the senses and provoke the emotions of people around the world” spotted at the NADA convention in Las Vegas

Blogging even if you don’t Blog – Boomers need love too

A Blogging Conference comes to Chicago next week. Yes I said Blogging….but I hope this year the brands don’t ignore me…

Got Milk - Missed the Get

Got Milk – Missed the Get

Last summer about this time – I went to New York to attend a blogging conference “Blogher12” – What is Blogher you may ask? You may want to Google it, or even go to the website Blogher.com, check out the site, it will give you a big overview.

BlogHer Conference

BlogHer Conference

“In 2005, BlogHer Co-founders Elisa Camahort Page, Jory Des Jardins and Lisa Stone held a conference to answer the question, “where are all the women who blog?” Today, BlogHer conferences bring together thousands of these women from around the world to discuss, inspire and connect with each other.”

Last year it was in New York City, lucky for me I was able to visit with my son, and even get him to do a little (BlogHer) work for me. It was my 4th such conference, this year will be my 5th BlogHer conference, I can’t wait.

NYC - My son and Blogher Lucky Me!

NYC – My son and Blogher Lucky Me!

Although, did I mention to you yet, I have a small problem with blogging, I’m extremely dyslexic so it makes it hard to blog, write, and for you who are reading this, at this point you understand what I’m saying here…yes I see you nodding.

What I do and love is create “Micro Content”…What did I just say, “Micro content”..Um you may be thinking, what is that? Well I Tweet a lot, Facebook plenty, Instagram, Vine, Pin,  those are short form social platforms, and are considered by some to be “micro”, based on the size of the communications.

#ChicagonistaLive Gals

#ChicagonistaLive Gals

I also co-host a webcast, podcast, and produce large events for bloggers to attend. I have been very fortunate over the past 5 years to have found a way to market my skills. I enjoy being able to consult with brands on how to build relationships with their target market, something I have been doing for the past 25 years, it’s just cooler now.

I enjoy using these digital platforms I love. It has been so nice meeting other gals who like to do things that I like to do, for example, take photos of all their food, their friends food, and  even if it looks cool “strangers” food. Then these same group of gals will use our mobil devices and start to Tweet it, Instagram it, Pin it, and then eat it. Sometimes the food is even still hot, after we post all of the photos.

There are many reasons for me to be attending Blogher13 this summer.

 

Cottonelle Blogher12

Cottonelle Blogher12

#1.  It’s in Chicago

#2.  This year I was asked to also help out and lead a session on Podcasting.

#3. I get to connect IRL (in real life) with so many online friends these “Bloggers”. These folks are kinda all in this same world as me, and it’s fun to share stories, hints, tips, apps, and much more. Did I mention, we all stop and take photos of our food, photos of street signs, photos of the skyline, photos of everything and then we will Tweets, tag, share, well you get the picture. (Pun intended)

Yes I did

Yes I did

You may be thinking. Why do we do this, and why do Brands like to sponsor and attend Blogher?  For me the reason is simple I like to create fun content, I enjoy sharing the stories of places I have been, products I like, people I meet. The brands like it when we share, it’s much better if a user, and or consumer of a product tries it and likes it, we then may tell a friend and so it goes the wonderful, trusted, word of mouth. If MR. BRANDX tells you how wonderful his product is – how much do we care, of course he loves his own product and he wants you to buy it.

Chuck C Cheese - Me being cheesy

Chuck C Cheese – Me being cheesy

Many  brands come to this conference. These brands set up in a super huge expo area,  brands like Coca-Cola, Best Buy, Walgreens, and many more. Of course small companies come to show their products. The trick is these brands are spending a lot to be at this conference. What a chance to mix and mingle with the brands target market, but more than that it’s a whole conference filled with people that will create content the brand can use on it’s own social platforms, such as Facebook, or Twitter.  It’s a good thing that the brands are at the expo area. It means our voices matter, our opinions’ matter, and our pocketbooks matter. It means that these companies want to have an opportunity to meet us in person, see what moves us, and if things work out, will build a relationship with us. We are the “Bloggers, Vloggers, and Content Creators”. They love to see us whip out our iPhone, take a video, create content. We create content we can share with our audiences, and social channels, and it the brands content to share.

Next week I will see many of the brands that we all are familiar with, use, and if these brands plan it right, we might try a new one at some point. These brands come to meet, mix, and get to know the “bloggers”. Many brands would like to start relationships with bloggers for different reasons.

Maybe a blogger will try the product like it enough to write about it, and that becomes word of mouth marketing, advertising, for the brand.

Example if  I try a product, I like it, I blog about it, and then my readers read it, they may think – “Hey if old Beth, thinks this new xyz (skincare line) is good and useful, maybe I will try it”  When I create content around it, and my readers then try it, the brand is happy.

At Blogher 12 Kate Gosselin

At Blogher 12
Kate Gosselin

Last year I had so much fun in the expo hall, I took a lot of silly photos, created content that I thought my readers would find interesting, useful, helpful, relevant, and I did try to talk to the brands. I shared many of these photos and stories with my non-blogger friends, many of my IRL (in real life) friends who don’t blog, but they do buy.

I got a kick from Kikkoman

I got a kick from Kikkoman

I just want to say to the “Brands” the ones I may see next week, don’t ignore us, the boomers or the small number gals, the rebranders, and the newbie’s.

Also “Brands” I get it I know you’re interested in either finding the most influential bloggers, bloggers who have a big reach, names that the brands were told to look out for.  I did not have one of the brands that I took these fun photos with last year follow up with me. Some of the products I likes and others not so much, remember it’s a two way street, let’s make sure we all take the time to respect each other and see past the number. Also age is just a number. I may be a boomer, but I have young nieces and nephews, my own kids work with kids. I’m excited to meet you let’s try this again.