Diane Hayman is the Editor and co-founder of PowderRoomGraffiti.com an online women’s community that brings honest, irreverent insights to a global audience. She writes this article as a guest editor for The NextWomen.

Attending a BlogHer conference is all about the chance to meet and talk face to face with some of the most interesting and lively women you can find online – or in real life.

It’s 1 a.m. and I am collapsing into one of New York City’s famous yellow cabs wearing a tutu and carrying a giant tote bag filled with cookies, skin cream and business cards. I’m hoarse, exhausted, and my feet are killing me. But this is only Day 1 of the 6th Annual BlogHer Conference - I’ve got more of the same coming up tomorrow.

‘Where are all the women bloggers?’
In 2005 when Lisa Stone, Jory Des Jardins and Elisa Camahort Page the founders of BlogHer organised a conference to answer the question: ‘Where are all the women bloggers?’ They managed to attract 300 women to San José, California. Their mission was to ‘create opportunities for women who blog to gain exposure, education, community and economic empowerment.’ Their success in accomplishing this is evident, as this year’s conference attracted 2400 participants and sold out months ago.

This is my 2nd BlogHer conference - I am no longer a 'newbie.’ I know that like any other conference there will be keynote speeches, content sessions, and break-out groups. But I also know that, unlike most conferences, there will be groups of women hugging and squealing, several people in costumes and tiaras, and a Lactation Lounge.

The emphasis within the conference is all about ‘the community.’

In fact, as the number of women online increases and becomes more vocal, so do the number of interest groups or tribes within that community.

This year there are conference sessions devoted to (among others) Latinas in social media, Fashion bloggers, Autism bloggers and Sex bloggers. In addition, the ‘Birds of a Feather’ lunchtime tables encourage bloggers who write about specific topics to congregate together and chat informally while they eat their lunch.

Stories of greedy Swag Hags
BlogHer is not the only women’s blogging conference, but it is the biggest. It attracts a list of over 80 high profile sponsors (including Pepsico, P&G, Walmart, GM, McDonald’s) whose dollars subsidise the ticket cost, keeping the price at $99 per day - the same as it was in 2005. As a result, a prominent feature of the conference is the ‘swag’ - the freebies provided by sponsors who are keen to get their brand names and products in front of these influential tastemakers.

The BlogHer swag is always extensive - many people ship their goodies back home as there is usually too much to carry. It is frequently controversial - dark stories of greedy ‘Swag hags’ abound. And it is surprisingly varied - examples include sex toys, video cameras and Mr. Potato Head. The swag has become such a hot button topic for the BlogHer organizers that they now organize a ‘swag recycling’ room where delegates can take their unwanted items and either hand them back, or swap them for something more appropriate to their life.

Learn, Eat, Party and get Blogging Tips
So there are many reasons that people travel great distances to attend the BlogHer conferences. There’s the opportunity to talk about developments in the world of online writing, to learn technical blogging tips in the ‘Geek Lab’ sessions, to accumulate bags of free gifts, to consume a huge variety of food and drink, and to party like demons.

But for me, attending a BlogHer conference is all about the chance to meet and talk face to face with some of the most interesting and lively women you can find online – or in real life.

And as a woman in her forties, I can’t think of many places where I would feel quite so comfortable wearing a tutu.