Welcome to BACON

BACON is about many things—hyper-relevant sessions designed around the topic of tools, connections, and resources. Whether it’s networking, building best practices or simply learning more about BoardingArea’s processes and support, BACON is the continuing support of helping you turn your travel and topic passion into content, community and commerce.

The foundation for BACON started in 2013 in COS—home of the House of Miles (40 attendees). In 2014 we headed to the city of sin: LAS for quite the epic conference (over 70 attendees). This year the House of Miles is heading to the White House, just in time for the biggest presidential election in years and we could see nearly 100 attendees.

While the conference is first and foremost an educational and social event for the bloggers of BoardingArea, it is also open to a small number of other bloggers who we feel would use the value of this conference to inspire and improve their blogging skills—this represents our giveback to the fraternity of bloggers.

It’s our goal to ensure your stay and the conference becomes one of the most outstanding experiences you’ll enjoy during the year. And don’t forget to vote, BoardingArea for president! See you in Washington DC.
Cheers,

We’ve prepared this guide to help you navigate your BACON experience. Here you’ll find useful tips and reminders to help you prepare for your trip to Washington, D.C. Designed to be a handy tool—please use it as your go-to resource for conference planning, information, logistics, and frequently asked questions.

The House of Miles events team strives to make this conference a “best ever” experience for you.

We can’t wait to see you at (OK, near …) the White House.

…two full days of sessions, activities, social time and more—all designed to help bloggers build their skill set.
— Randy Petersen

What to Expect

Q&A
There are always a lot of frequently asked questions with attending any conference. below we’ll try to answer as many of these as possible. Still have a question? Try the BoardingArea community forum.

I’ve arrived at the hotel. Now what?
You did arrive at the right hotel, right? Marriott Marquis, 901 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20001. Depending on when you arrive, you’ll find friendly faces (aka fellow bloggers) on the 12^th floor of the hotel in the M Club Lounge. Also depending on how late you are to the start of BACON, you might want to hustle on down to Meeting Level 1 (one level below the lobby) where we will be waiting for you in meeting room Georgetown University Room.

Who can I call?
Call or text—anytime: randy/+1 719 238-8073; heather/+1 713 205-5337; mark/+1 203 823-7105; denny/+1 719 272-1652.

How do i pick up my badge? How does registration work?
The conference starts at 3:30 pm on Friday afternoon in the Georgetown University Room, Meeting Level 1 (one level below the lobby). Badges (can’t you just hear Humphrey Bogart in the classic movie “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” calling out—“Badges? We ain’t got no badges. We don’t need no badges. I don’t have to show you any stinkin’ badges!”) will be on will call at a table directly in front of the meeting room. This table will be staffed by the House of Miles starting at 2 pm and you’ll pick up a badge, a sticker for your BoardingArea luggage tags, a ‘wearable’, something signed by Ben Franklin, a finalized copy of the agenda with all the start/stop times and the latest information on the social events for Friday and Saturday evenings.

Do I need to sign up for sessions in advance?
Good question. The answer is no. All sessions are open to all bloggers all the time.

What should I wear?
Wear what makes you feel most comfortable and confident. Clothing runs the gamut so you can’t go wrong but keep in mind that the vibe of the conference is casual. It will be cool in the evening (high 40s) with perhaps some rain on Saturday so layers are always a good idea.

Can i bring my significant other/partner/friend/children along?
We’d love it if you would as it gives us a chance to sincerely thank them for sharing you with BoardingArea. We know that blogging requires time away from the many things important in life and we can’t think of anything more important than those named in this question. While not specifically asked about, you can even bring your emotional support duck (if you don’t know Daniel, you need to get out (on the Internet) more).

Hotel No Tell?
Let us guess, you forgot to book a hotel or missed the memo about the group rate. Well, the block of rooms has long been taken off the general market so you’ve got basically three choices: Airbnb; redeem your hotel points for a freebie (points and Ben Franklins do count) or head to RoomKey and search for the best loyalty rate in town either at the Marriott Marquis or nearby.
http://www.roomkey.com/

What will the weather be like in Washington DC?
For one of the Presidential candidates—dark and gloomy, though we don’t know which candidate until several days later. As for the real weather, it will be in the low 60s each day and high 40s each evening. There is a 50% chance of rain on Saturday. Galoshes, maybe not.

What is BoardingArea’s relationship with any sponsors?
Grateful. A few have donated their time and other items for the benefit of our bloggers and we’re only too happy to pass those items along. We don’t charge sponsors but be nice to everyone, please.

What if I have a question?
#goodquestion. There’s never a better time for a question than when it is in the moment. We encourage you to ask anything and everything when it you need answers. The House of Miles staff may not always know the answer but will know where the answer is. As for the sessions, we’ve allowed each session to include a Q/A at the end and we’d encourage you to hold those questions for each session until then so that the speakers can stay with their flow.

Will there be food?
Did we hear you correctly—will there be food? Maybe. With the start late on Friday afternoon, you are on your own earlier in the day. We’ll have a social event Friday evening which will include food and libations (we love that word, l-i-b-a-t-i-o-n-s). With the proliferation of ‘status’ among this group, we’re going to leave breakfast on your own and point you to the M Club Lounge on the 12^th floor where you can enjoy the hotel’s daily complimentary breakfast. And you ‘status’ bloggers will know that the lounge also offers snacks and non-alcoholic drinks, including Starbucks® coffee for you all 24 hours of the day. On Saturday, Marriott is graciously hosting you with a casual lunch to enjoy (hip hip hooray for Marriott) and we have another social event for Saturday evening planned again with casual food and libations (this time the signature libations has a piece of bacon as the swizzle stick—cool huh?). Sunday we’ll see you back in the M Club Lounge for breakfast (and remember, this exclusive access is reserved for Marriott Rewards® Gold and Platinum Elite members, with one guest which means you can help a blogger dine there who may be staying at a hotel elsewhere. Sunday we’ll be done at noon and since many of you will be heading to an airport, we have no intention of keeping you from your fine dining at 33,000 feet.

What if i lose something?
Diamond earrings and new iPhone 7s we keep, everything else we’ll try very hard to help you find it. Please let any of the House of Miles staff know immediately and we can all assist you. As for losing a contact lens … Randy is our resident expert to help you there.

Will Ben Franklin be there?
Yes, our good friend Ben will be making his third appearance at a BACON. As previously announced, we are so committed to helping bloggers build their skill set that we are willing to supplement your cost to attend and learn (this is only for the blogger of record for each BoardingArea blog). Upon collecting your badge at the start of the conference, you’ll be gifted with 2 Ben Franklins ($200) which you can use and enjoy any way you want—reimburse yourself for burning your miles to attend the conference, buying a fellow blogger a libation, paypal it back home because you are feeling guilty and want the family to do something nice for themselves or if your significant other is along … send them out ‘shopping’ while you are ‘working’.

Should i bring my laptop?
Yes. A laptop, notebook, iPad or any favorite device for taking notes is the best advice we can give you. Depending on the device, you may want to show us something about your blog and of course you likely have some scheduling and writing for your next post if you haven’t already done so. Given the propensity for shortage of easy power at most hotel conference rooms, we’ll try as best we can with enough local outlets but extra power—the portable kind—is typically a good idea.

What are the evening events like?
Dreamy. Actually they will be casual and informal. We have a group event on Friday evening, again nothing too fancy and designed to be a meet-and-greet among our many bloggers. Saturday evening we have decided to let you go wild under our watchful eyes. Start social and then go on your own.

Who will be there?
All the cool kids (just grins). Actually, you’ll be joining about 60 other bloggers and support staff from all around the globe and be joined by non-BoardingArea bloggers as well. Matthew of Live and Let’s Fly will be there, Gilbert of God Save the Points and all the way from Australia we’ll welcome Zac George of Points From the Pacific. Ben and Gary are there, and so are nine of the new Travel Update bloggers. We’ll have both of our German bloggers and likely a Brit or two. Oh, and Monkey Miles will be there.

What if I can’t attend or miss a session by leaving early?
First of all, we’ll miss you. We did think (and actually try before) of broadcasting but because of the length of the sessions it didn’t seem that a Facebook LIVE feed works well for this purpose. We will be posting up the presentation decks of each session and Kristin has promised to take a plethora of notes to pass along later.

What if get a lot of swag?
We were worried that you’d be worried so we have scaled that back this year. No worries. Our good friends at Aimia have donated 25,000 Aeroplan miles to a lucky draw winner (that’s Star Alliance stuff we’re talking about) and there may be some other smaller items but nothing to call Atlas Van Lines about. We can let you know that you will have a “wearable” to take back with you. Something much more than the typically souvenir “A blogger went to BACON and all they got was this lousy t-shirt”.

Have you decided on the time spent for topics just for the BoardingArea bloggers?
Actually we have—about 4 hours together in private workshops on Saturday late afternoon and Sunday morning and as well countless minutes at social events and ”just around”. Some of topics that might come up are being covered by the cadre of experts we have speaking. Beyond the technical and topics like SEO, etc. part of the BoardingArea time is being carved out in a one-on-one with Randy—where is BoardingArea now, where has it been and where is it going.

Recommendations from a local.
While BACON is only a two-day event (OK, almost three days) we think you’ll still have time to explore this capital city. While there are hundreds and thousands of books and blogs about DC, here are some recommendations within a 2-3-block radius of the hotel.

See.
Close to the hotel – The Spy Museum, one of the few museums that isn’t free, has some really cool exhibits, particularly the spy tools exhibit. The American Art Museum is free and always has interesting traveling exhibits. If you’re looking to venture a little further from the hotel, check out the Capital Wheel in National Harbor, a Ferris Wwheel just across the water in Maryland. From the top, you can see the D.C. skyline. The Air and Space Museum in Dulles is great place if you want take a tour and see the airplanes.
— Jeanne/Le Chic Geek

Drink.
The Dignitary >> American cuisine, drinks get great reviews online.
City Tap House D.C. >> very cool atmosphere, American cuisine, Bar, Gluten Free Options.
Fado >> Irish Pub – where Jeanne likes to drink.
Ping Pong Dim Sum >> it’s fun as long as you pretend it doesn’t have dim sum in its name. It’s dim-sum fusion. They have a good happy hour (for the DC area–happy hour prices here are normal prices elsewhere) with some creative drinks on the happy hour, including an alcoholic bubble tea.
— Jeanne/Le Chic Geek

Eat.
Kinship Restaurant – gets excellent reviews online but is definitely for a more upscale dinner.
There are a lot of Jose Andres restaurants near the hotel, which are either clever and quirky or try too hard depending on who you ask. But they also tend to have interesting happy hours either way. They include China Chilcano, Jaleo, Zaytinya.
— Jeanne/Le Chic Geek

Happy to help …[trent], happy to assist …[ed], anything I can help with …[maxim], more than willing to help …[jeanne], Let me know if I can help …[derek], Happy to help plan …[andrew], Happy to help plan … [gary], Let me know how I can contribute…[dominik], Always happy to volunteer…[scott], I’ll volunteer…[angelina], I’d volunteer…[rene], happy to participate…[greg].

this is why we easily describe us as a community of BoardingArea bloggers.

Sessions-at-a-Glance

Friday, Nov 4

3:30pm
WELCOME
Randy Petersen

4:00pm / 4:55pm
SESSION ONE
MARRIOTT REWARDS: Past, Present, Future
> Thom Kozik (Marriott, Vice President of Global Loyalty) and David Flueck (Senior Vice President of Starwood Preferred Guest)
>> Marriott’s recent acquisition of Starwood has resulted in exciting new opportunities for the 87 million members of Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and SPG. The early results have been very positive for members. Be up close and personal with the two architects leading the charge in creating a new loyalty program.

5:00pm / 5:55pm
SESSION TWO
Blogger Meet Brand, Brand Meet Blogger
> Marriott, Lyft, Southwest Airlines, Amtrak
>> Working with brands is not just about the free stuff, it’s also about taking your blogging responsibly. Whether still getting started or considering yourself a seasoned blogger, this session takes a look at both sides of the story, from the blogger to the brand. How best do you introduce yourself to brands? What are the acceptable boundaries of interaction? We’ll hear from brands, social media teams and others on how best to build bridges to brands.

takeaways
— Bloggers interaction with programs/brands is accelerating
— Transparency (disclosure of accepting goods/services) is from other sets of eyes as well
— Influencers and advocates are not the same

6:00pm
RECAP AND THE DAY BEHIND
Randy Petersen

7:00pm / 10:00pm
SOCIAL EVENT
We’ve got plans for you and they include your significant other if along for this conference. What we eat and where we dine remain a top secret. Just know that the night belongs to us … shared with you. OK, we’re busted. We’re treating you to beer (bloggers and beer just seem to go together) and food at RFD, declared by WASHINGTON CITY PAPER as having the “Best Draft Beer Selection” in all of DC. 30 beers on tap, over 300 different bottled beers. Prost! Speaking of beer, did you know that the Glycemic index of beer is listed as 0? For that reason and that reason only, we’re also offering wine and liquor. #huh

As for food, we missed Octoberfest so it’s pretzels (and sliders) to start with. Don’t worry, you won’t starve.
http://lovethebeer.com/

Saturday, Nov 5

9:00am
RECAP AND THE DAY AHEAD
Randy Petersen

9:15am / 10:30am
SESSION THREE
> SEO For the Blogger
>> Grant Simmons
Why does Google hate me? And other answers to your SEO questions.

Pigeon, Panda, Penguin, Phantom… there’s a language to SEO that wants to confuse and confound the average blogger. But you’re not average, are you? In this lively session industry veteran and aspiring retiree, Grant Simmons answers the questions you dare not ask and in language you’re sure to understand. Take a trip to discover destinations of traffic, page views and SEO triumph, as he steps you through the core challenges, key opportunities and potential future of SEO, and how to get there! From mobile to markup, video to virality, Grant will provide answers worthy of the Google answer box, and a beer after his presentation.

takeaways
— How to research, understand and publish what Google is looking to rank (hint: answers)
— Why Google’s latest update means ‘mobile-first’ is a mandate (hint: Google says so)
— What user and social signals are most important to your site’s success (hint: engagement)

10:30am / 11:45pm
SESSION FOUR
> Copyright, Credit and Etiquette
>> Sara Hawkins
One of the most common ethical issues you’ll face as a blogger is the appropriate way to use and properly credit another’s content, image or photo. Attorney Sara Hawkins will discuss these most perplexing issues, including the definition of “adapted” or “inspired by,” when you need permission to post an image and what defines plagiarism, particularly if you have named the author and linked to their content or website. Is it enough to make minor tweaks to published content and is the common ‘HT’ acceptable enough? What, exactly, is copyrightable, and how do you do it? Bonus: Sara is going to address issues with promotional giveaways and lucky draws. Sweepstakes and giveaways can generate more problems than positive rapport with your readers and Sara’s going to set you straight.

takeaways
— What is the proper way to give photo attribution
— The legal use of memes and meme generators
— Creative Commons is not a license to do anything

11:45am
SPIRIT | Darren Booth Memorial Award

12:00pm / 1:00pm
LUNCH / BREAK

1:00pm / 2:15pm
SESSION FIVE
> Showing Up: How To Create a Sustainable Blogging Practice
>> Cindy Reed
Starting a blog is the easy part. The hard part? Continuing to find inspiration as the weeks and months go by and writing becomes a slog. But if you continue to show up and write regularly, your ideas will flow. Create good writing habits and you’ll ensure that your blog sticks around for the long haul. In this presentation, you’ll learn how to create a regular writing practice that works for you:

takeaways
— Motivate yourself to write even when it’s the last thing you want to do
— Employ tech tools to track and meet your writing goals
— Create an editorial calendar you can live with

2:15pm / 3:30pm
SESSION SIX
> Revenue: Affiliate Programs
>> Jessica Woodbury, Hunter Capobianco
Learn more about monetizing your blog using affiliate marketing, without compromising integrity or crippling traffic. Some of the topics covered include: how affiliate marketing works, when to monetize your blog, understanding affiliate agreements, the best way to integrate affiliate links in your blog that convert and much more.

3:30pm / 3:45pm
BREAK

3:45pm / 5:00pm
SESSION SEVEN
The Best Practices of Rock Star Bloggers
> Ben Schlappig (One Mile At a Time), Gary Leff (View From the Wing), Matthew Klint (Live and Let’s Fly), Adam Morvitz (Point Me to the Plane), Stefan Krasowski (Rapid Travel Chai)
The purpose of this session is to learn from successful bloggers, be empowered with actionable blogging tips and get motivated to keep blogging.

5:00pm
RECAP AND THE DAY BEHIND
Randy Petersen

7:00pm / 10:00pm
SOCIAL EVENT
Worn out yet? By now you’ve heard a lot, learned a lot and yawned a lot. Tonight we’re going to make it easy for you. We’re hosting our social at Bar Deco which is an easy walk from the hotel. Here we’ll ply you with libations and finger food and hang out with you for a few hours, but also allowing you to slip away in small groups to do some things on your own. It’s a pleasant city so enjoy.
http://www.bardecodc.com/

Sunday, Nov 6

8:30am
SESSION EIGHT
> BoardingArea: Our State of Union
>> Randy Petersen + entire support staff

9:25am
RECAP AND THE MORNING AHEAD
Randy Petersen

9:30am / 10:30am
SESSION NINE
> Open Lab
Open labs to give you hands-on access to experts who’ll answer your questions and help you sharpen your skills.

— Geek Lab / Josh and Denny
— Social Lab / Bari Rosenstein + Jellyfish
— Travel Update Lab / Heather Miller
— WordPress Images Lab / Marcel Wladasch
— Photo Lab/ Andy Luten
— Posting & Analytics / Jeanne Hoffman

10:30am / 12:00pm
SESSION TEN
> THE BIG TOPIC MASHUP
>> All Bloggers
The most interactive session of the conference—a total mashup of topics, experiences and best practices by no other than the best road warrior/frequent flyer bloggers on the planet. We’ll take turns around the room asking each other questions of how and why we blog, reply to comments, build traffic, create guest blog posts, manage our time and stay inspired … and that’s just the first ten minutes. This is what community among bloggers is all about and you’ll all go home better for it.

12:00pm
CLOSE
Randy Petersen

Speakers

Grant Simmons > SEO For the Blogger
Grant leads the Consumer Marketing team at Homes.com, helping drive brand awareness and traffic to one of the nation’s top real estate sites. He has over 22 years of agency & brand experience serving industry-leading organizations such as; Paramount Studios, Red Bull, M&M/Mars, Disney, Napster, Warner Bros., UPS, Move.com, YPO, GE, Amgen & Fox Sports.
A popular speaker at search & real estate industry events worldwide, including; SMX, SES, SIS, UCLA Anderson School of Business, eMarCom, Multifamily Brainstorming, DMA, and has been quoted in Forbes, Fox Business, Media Post & other national publications.
Described as an online marketing strategist, motivator, ideator, entrepreneur, & ‘proud American with a funny accent’, he prefers; father, sailor & expat Brit – though not necessarily in that order when there’s a fair wind.

Sara Hawkins > Copyright, Credit and Etiquette
Sara is a leading business and intellectual property attorney for businesses of all sizes, entrepreneurs, content creators, online professionals, and bloggers.
She’s been a private practice attorney for nearly 20 years, working with startups, entrepreneurs, marketing and advertising agencies, as well as major corporations where she regularly counsels clients on all aspects of federal and state marketing, advertising, sweepstakes and contests; international promotions; social media and internet law; copyright, trademark, and digital rights; as well as general business matters. With a background in consumer product marketing compliance, Sara has worked with clients to create policies and procedures for engagement with agencies, celebrities, and influencers. Sara frequently speaks on legal topics related to influencer marketing; sweepstakes and contest promotions; as well as a host of digital, native, and mobile advertising and marketing topics. Since 1998, Sara has maintained her own firm in Phoenix, Arizona.

Cindy Reed > Showing Up : How to Create a Sustainable Blogging Practice
Cindy Reed is an award-winning writer, speaker, and writing coach. Her work has appeared on Brain Child, The Huffington Post, the Erma Bombeck Writer’s Workshop, In the Powder Room, and WhatToExpect.com. She is a four-time recipient of BlogHer’s Voices of the Year award and the nonfiction editor for yeah write, a weekly blogging challenge. Cindy frequently speaks on the craft of writing and teaches the popular 30-day online creative nonfiction boot camp “What’s Your Story” through her site cindyreed.me. She lives with her daughters in Asheville, North Carolina. Twitter:@Reedster2

Hunter Capobianco > Revenue: Affiliate Programs
Formerly a member of CJ’s Emerging Media team, Hunter spent the majority of his time at CJ Affiliate focusing on on-boarding new, unique websites and growing them within the affiliate space. Today Hunter is a Publisher Development Manager focused specifically on the Travel vertical. Working with high profile travel brands and overseeing his own portfolio of travel related sites, he offers strategy and guidance so that they can continue to grow within the affiliate space through new revenue generating opportunities.

Jessica Woodbury > Revenue: Affiliate Programs
Jessica hails from Boston and is a former lawyer. She’s been blogging since 2001 and is a contributor to Book Riot and the Huffington Post. Jessica is currently the Business Development Manager for CJ Affiliate where she works regularly with bloggers. She’s also a much-in-demand speaker on affiliate marketing at blog conferences such at Affiliate Summit, BlogHer and TBEX.

Thomas Alford > Blogger Meet Brand, Brand Meet Blogger
Prior to joining Lyft as Marketing Lead, Thomas Alford created deep, credible and authentic connections with consumers and brands. He has a proven track record in sports marketing, lifestyle apparel and mobile-facing health and fitness applications. His entrepreneurial experience adds value where assessment, identification and evaluation of projects is needed. Thomas previously held the position of Marketing Director for a venture-backed health tech startup and co-founded an e-commerce startup that he successfully scaled and exited.
Thomas is a graduate of the University of Maryland, where he played lacrosse and received a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science. He holds an MA from the University of Southern California and is an MBA Candidate at Johns Hopkins University.

Julia Quinn > Blogger Meet Brand, Brand Meet Blogger
Julia is a marketing and communications professional with extensive experience developing and executing innovative social and digital strategies for brands such as Amtrak, Kimberly­Clark brands, Nestle and the Special Olympics. Her expertise is grounded in managing business ­to ­consumer relationships in order to drive sales, improve brand awareness, consumer engagement and crisis management.

Curtis Midkiff > Blogger Meet Brand, Brand Meet Blogger
Over 10 years of experience in social media as an entrepreneur and social media leader in three organizations. Serves as Advisor for Social Business at Southwest Airlines – working closely to integrate social innovations into the daily operations of the business including Influencer Engagement. Prior to coming to Southwest Airlines, Curtis served as Director of Social Engagement for the American Red Cross, and Director of Social Engagement for the Society for Human Resource Management
He also serves as Nighttime Story Reader and Chief Diaper Replacement Technician for his 1 year-old daughter Carinne.

Bari Rosenstein / Jellyfish > Social Lab
Bari is a Social Media and Outreach Associate at Jellyfish, a global, digital marketing agency. During her career in social media, Bari has worked across all different sectors including automotive, healthcare, non-profits and foodservice. Taking her passion for creating imaginative concepts and turning them into practical strategy, Bari works within Jellyfish’s social media team to meet client goals and objectives. Additionally, Bari implements a variety of tactics including community management, paid social, and influencer marketing to build brand awareness, engagement, and drive traffic. As a blogger herself, Bari understands the importance of brands building the right relationships with the right influencers. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @basicallybari.

Jellyfish (www.Jellyfish.net) is a global digital marketing agency with more than 300 employees world-wide in offices across the U.S., U.K., and South Africa. The agency provides a full suite of award-winning talent and technology to deliver paid search, SEO, social media, display, email, analytics, optimization, creative, and development solutions. A proven industry leader, Jellyfish understands how the convergence of marketing channels, platforms and devices can be used effectively to create an overall winning strategy. Jellyfish is everything you’d expect from a smaller agency; accountable, autonomous, flexible and personable. Yet the truth is, they deliver scale and reach for a number of global brands.

FAQs