BlogPaws 2014 Conference Round-up

Michael and I attended the BlogPaws conference for the first time this past weekend, and we had a blast!

The BlogPaws conference is one of the top pet blog conference in the world, bringing together pet bloggers from all over for a weekend of networking, education, and fun. It's where pet bloggers go to learn how make their blogs better, and since we started the EntirelyPets Blog last year, we were excited to attend this year to learn from the pros!

The conference this year was held at the gorgeous (and I do mean GORGEOUS) Westin Lake Las Vegas Hotel. Here's what the view looks like:

Lake Las Vegas was just breathtaking, and the hotel also had two pools and a water slide. Suffice it to say we found it hard not to get too distracted.

We arrived on Friday, and proceeded to take some of the great workshops being offered. We attended the great "Be an Instagram Star" workshop offered by the team from Manny the Frenchie, which was super useful since we're just starting to build our Instagram profile (follow us!). Afterward, we even got a great photo-op with Manny himself!

Posing with Manny the Frenchie!

Afterwards, we were treated to a delicious lunch which instantly put us into a food coma. We were able to stay awake long enough to have dessert with some of the other attendees, before we had to retire to our rooms for a quick nap.

Too much food!

After a refreshing snooze, we attended a couple more workshops, including the "SEO Basics" workshop by Matt Beswick and a workshop on "Blogging about Parasite Protection" which was super useful since we recently came out with infographics on the Most Dangerous Pet Parasites and Top External Pet Parasites.

One of the slides from Matt's helpful workshop

Properly educated, we headed next to the Exhibit Area for the "Happy Meow-ur", sipping on wine while meeting with the many vendors at the event, and picking up some free schwag. It was nice to see some of our own suppliers, such as Seresto and Natural Balance, as well as companies we'd never heard before. Some of the highlights included pawTree, which makes customized dog food (they even put your dog's face on the bag!) and CritterZone, which makes a fancy air purifier which kept our room refreshed all weekend! We also got to check our Finding Rover, a smart phone app that allows you to identify lost dogs with the snap of a photo.

Signing up for a pawTree account

Once our bags were filled to the brim with free dog treats and dog toys, we dropped our stuff off in the room, then checked out the "Pawject Runway" fashion show before grabbing dinner and checking out the sights at lake Las Vegas.

The Westin Lake Las Vegas in the evening

Saturday morning kicked off with some free breakfast, after which we took a quick break by the pool to relax and take in the sights. Michael even tried paddle boarding for the first time!

Michael gives paddle boarding a try!

Afterwards, it was back to work for us, with another full day of workshops, lunches, and happy hours. Our favorite part of the day was the Red Carpet Yappy Hour where we got to meet a lot of bloggers who we've only interacted with over Twitter and Facebook, and we also got to take a lot of photos with cute pets!

Loving the tutu!

The conference came to a close with the BlogPaws Nose-to-Nose Awards, which recognizes the top pet bloggers out there for their excellence. The awards ceremony was emceed by Michael Cavanaugh, the CEO of AAHA, who bears a certain resemblance to a famous TV celebrity:

Is Michael Cavanaugh the Most Interesting Emcee in the World?

The big winner of the night was Debbie Glovatsky, a.k.a. Glogirly, who walked away with not one, but TWO awards! We were also sitting at the table with Christina from Deaf Dogs Rock, who won the Best Micro Blog category. Congratulations to all the winners!

Posing with the CHAMP!

Overall, we had a great time at the BlgoPaws conference, meeting new people and making new friends, and taking in the sights from Lake Las Vegas. We are looking forward to the event next year in Nashville!

You can find more photos we took at the event on Twitter and Instagram.