My article the other day about the fact the we are not attending BlogPaws this year has some people confused about what we think about the pet conference. I just want to make it clear that I do think BlogPaws is worth attending and I do believe it will benefit a lot of attendees that go this year.
I have recommended BlogPaws to some people that have asked and honestly it is an extremely reasonably priced conference if you check pricing for other blog conferences. I believe tickets this year for a pet blogger paying their own way is $169 which includes breakfast and lunch on 2 days. (At least this was the case for BlogPaws when we attended last year.) Some conferences have different pricing structures and only allow you to sit in on a few talks. Often meals are not included and you will have to buy them all yourself. Most blog conferences base price usually starts around $500 and goes up from there. Conferences can get pricey quickly.
Still like any web conference when you add in airfare (well that's probably pretty cheap since it's Las Vegas) and hotel costs it still is a good amount of money for most people to go. Currently I'm working on figuring out other conferences and conventions related to children's literature and publishing to attend as well as looking into ways to get a pet agent for the Singing Dogs. (This might sound kind of ridiculous, but hey, you got to shoot for the moon.)
I just don't feel I am going to accomplish much by going this year. Whether someone else gets benefit and value out of the pet conference is entirely up to them and their personal goals with their website. For our current goals I don't believe it makes sense to go. I've already done quite a lot of networking within the pet community and at other pet conferences, like BarkWorld, and we are no further along with our goals.