Heading to BlogHer11 – With My Windows Phone to Help Me Do it All!

Posted by Danelle Ice at 3:42 pm

Aug 032011

This week marks a whirlwind of preparation, travel and networking for bloggers across the North American continent. The occasion is BlogHer 2011, one of the largest blogging conferences in the world! I’ll be flying to San Diego for BlogHer11 tomorrow morning and you’ll be able to keep up to speed on the speakers, tips, parties, and brands through my updates on twitter and on HomeEverAfter.com.

I’m also excited to scale down my technology for this trip to smaller and more powerful pieces to lighten my load. 1 of the items I’m taking to BlogHer which will enable me to get it all done is my Windows Phone. Did I mention I’ll be giving away a Windows Phone to a lucky reader when I get back from BlogHer? Keep reading to find out more!

My Long Road to Windows Phone

Being a somewhat-early adopter for new technologies and gadgets, it is surprising to even me that I went so long without a smart phone. Would you believe that I only purchased my Windows Phone a few months ago? Before that, the only cell phones I owned were strictly for talking (not even texting)! When I traveled I would take my husband’s cell phone (a BlackBerry at the time) along so that I could use email and twitter while I was away from home.

I finally realized how ridiculous it was for me to be borrowing my husband’s phone and was ready to commit to having a smart phone of my own. However, the next problem was that I just couldn’t give up the use of my Windows products (particularly Office) on my phone. That made up my decision pretty quickly about what kind of phone I’d be getting: I’d be waiting for the “new” Windows Phones to come out!

That brings us to present day. Even though I have my Windows Phone now, I’m so busy that I’ve not had time to explore its features and set it up with all the apps which would turn it into my custom tech power tool. That is, until now.

I’ve teamed up with Microsoft to bring my Windows Phone with me to BlogHer11 in San Diego this week! I’ll be testing it’s capabilities and pushing them to the max to see if such a small gadget as the Windows Phone can really be the centralized powerhouse I need for managing my personal and professional life. Can I run our publishing network (IS World Media) from mobile with my Windows Phone? I’m ready to find out!

Windows Phone – My New Virtual Assistant for BlogHer

Other bloggers heading to BlogHer know how busy and fast-paced everything is a blog conferences. There are so many things we want to do in such a short period of time, and most of them are happening in different places. Let’s not forget about all the online friends and professional contacts we want to meet up with in person. Throw in the fact that we’re also exploring a new city with its own destinations and site-seeing attractions, and the logistics of doing it all at BlogHer might seem unrealistic.

What we all need for BlogHer is a virtual assistant: someone to manage our schedules, meet up with other bloggers at the conference, live-blog the tracks we’re attending, and send updates to readers on Facebook and followers on Twitter. What if the virtual assistant didn’t have to be a person? What if the most perfect virtual assistant to manage your business and personal life at BlogHer was small enough to fit in your pocket and never took the day off?

That’s right, I’m going to use the Windows Phone to be my BlogHer virtual assistant for a weekend and see if it’s up to the job. Do you want to read along and find out how I do?

What Can Windows Phone Do for Me?

When I plan to test something out, I push it to the limit. Can I record videos and upload them directly to YouTube from Windows Phone? I’ll find out. Can I find tons of free apps for Windows Phone? I’ll find out. Here’s what I’m intending to take care of at BlogHer, all from the comfort of my little Windows Phone.

1. Take quick pictures and video: I love that my Windows Phone has a camera button on the side so that, no matter what else I’m doing, I can hold in the button and quickly bring up the camera or video camera. This also gets me out of carrying a separate video camera and regular camera with me to BlogHer.

2. Post updates to Facebook: I want to keep readers up-to-date with what’s going on at the conference without getting bogged down to have to get to my laptop every time I need to share.

3. Send tweets on Twitter: I’m used to using TweetDeck as my social media console and I’m already missing its presence on Windows Phone. Maybe I’ll find the Twitter app just as useful.

4. Manage my calendar: I have a detailed schedule and my itinerary puts me in 2-3 places at the same time. Having my calendar and schedule on the Windows Phone will help me to stay focused and not miss appointments.

5. Manage my email inbox without being “out of office”: Nobody wants to come home from a conference (or vacation) to thousands of unread emails. I’ll be able to read, delete, and respond to emails from my Windows Phone while I’m out of the office.

6. Find my people! I love the People hub and the fact that you can track down friends / coworkers at huge events like BlogHer by reading their updates and messaging them from one place.

7. Search Bing for restaurants and local attractions: I’m told that Bing is smart with phone searches… I wonder if it can look up which restaurants are in my section of the airport while I’m traveling?

8. Check the weather before I leave my hotel room: I installed the free app Weather & Clock. This should be able to tell me what to where before I venture out.

9. Check in for my flights from my mobile phone.

10. Carry pics of my sweet babies: I usually carry a wallet-sized photo album with me when I travel to keep photos of my family near. Now I can upload them to my Windows Phone and leave the photo album at home!

11. Check in with Foursquare: Yes, the Windows Phone Foursquare app is free!

12. Get directions to private parties at nearby hotels and restaurants.

13. Most importantly: BLOG!

I can’t wait to get going and have a fantastically (busy) weekend at BlogHer! Make sure you follow along with my updates throughout the conference and stay tuned to read how you can win a Windows Phone of your own after the conference is over!

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Disclaimer: In compliance with the FTC Guides, updated 10/5/09, this article has material connections. IS World Media (ISWM) received fees for the writing or publication. This article is an informative public relations post about Microsoft’s Windows Phone. Danelle Ice has a compensated relationship with Microsoft. Windows Phone logos were used with permission by Microsoft.