Thank you to everyone who came up to me after I read to hug me, tell me their own stories and reach out to me just to let me know they heard me.
–Julia Roberts of Kidneys and Eyes
In 2011, Elisa Camahort Page (BlogHer co-founder), Deb Rox and I conceptualized a space at BlogHer where writers could read their work. In addition to the high profile and highly-selective Voices of The Year keynote event, we consciously created a new space at the BlogHer annual conference to provide even more reading opportunities. Our goal included providing an alternative to the party scene–a smaller, quieter, less socially-focused space, where people who might never otherwise consider it could throw their name in the hat and read their work before an audience. The Open Mic Salon was born, and attendees flocked to the space to listen to the incredible talent of their fellow bloggers at the podium, and some with hopes of sharing their own work.
Last Friday night in NYC, Listen To Your Mother teamed up again with our national media sponsor BlogHer to bring another Open Mic Salon to BlogHer12. The conference keeps growing–this year boasted nearly 5000 attendees and keynote speakers such as Katie Couric, Martha Stewart, and…President Barak Obama live via internet video (yes, really).
The Open Mic Salon keeps growing too, providing a lovely cafe-like setting for hundreds of BlogHer attendees to gather in celebration of the written and spoken word.
LTYM:NYC 2012 Director Amy Wilson kicked off the evening, reading her hilarious post about Buckyballs from her site When Did I Get Like This. Dozens of others followed suit, putting their name in the hat in hopes of reading.
The following lucky bloggers got chosen at random to read:
Randi Chapnik Myers – momfaze.com read “Hey Who You Checking Out, Perv?”
Karen Gilmour – wornoffnovelties.squarespace.com read “The Hourglass”
Nancy Davis Kho – midlifemixtape.com read “The Drunk Diet”
Misty – mistyslaws.wordpress.com read “Dinner time is my Vietnam”
Arnebya Herndon – whatnowandwhy.com read “You’re Welcome”
Jen – portlandiamom.blogspot.com read “Kids are Assholes (I mean people) too”
Rebecca Keenan – playgroundconfidential.com read “Ten Years Today”
Annie – PhD in Parenting read “I don’t know”
Ellie DeLano – singlemomtism.com read “Equality”
Stephanie McCratic – evolvedmommy.com read “Happy Joyous & Free”
Kate Rehill – careandfeedingofyourmilennialmonster.com read “A Boy Making a Man’s Decision”
Laurie McDermott – thelifeexpert.com read “Surprise”
Jessica Bern – bernthis.com read “The Cockblocker”
Jana Anthoine – janasthinkingplace.com read “From a Pecan to a Majestic Magnolia”
Kristen McClusky – motherloadblog.com read “Stocking Up”
Julia Roberts – kidneysandeyes.com read “On This Day of Suicide Prevention.”
And our fabulous LTYM:Austin director Wendi Aarons sent us off with a reading of the internet sensation–her Always maxipad letter.
Thank you so much to all of the attendees who chose to spend their precious NYC/BlogHer Friday night with us
The salon readers made us laugh and cry (and laugh until we cried), and the salon audience acknowledged not just their words–but the writer within each of them.
As with every LTYM event, we chose a non-profit cause to donate to. Thanks to the generosity of this year’s Open Mic Salon attendees, we raised $140 for Violence Unsilenced. Thank you to Renee Ross (Vice President of VU’s Board of Director) for sharing her personal story, and to VU’s founder and Executive Director Maggie Ginsberg-Schutz, for raising awareness around not only Violence Unsilenced and its mission but also about domestic abuse, sexual abuse, and violence in general. Renee’s introduction prompted another one of our salon readers to self-identify as a survivor, which gave voice and meaning to the issue and the statistics in real time at our event.
Special appreciation for LTYM local director/producers who helped run the Open Mic Salon: Holly Rosen Fink, Kate Coveny Hood, Lisa Page Rosenberg, and Melisa Wells (who also provided the photos.)
Thank you again to BlogHer and their staff who helped create the Open Mic Salon again in 2012. Hope to see you next year in Chicago at BlogHer ’13!
If you’d like to link up a post you read in the salon, hoped to read at the salon, or would’ve loved to read had you attended–please link up below:
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So glad to be involved in every little teeny tiny bit of this.
LTYM Open Mic is my new favorite BlogHer tradition. Love the anticipation of seeing who will get to read. Love getting to hear the voices of the storytellers. Love the chance to be involved. Love the Ann Imig. Now who wants a hug?
I’d really been hoping to read that night, but the luck of the draw was not in my favor. Maybe it was good in a way, because I was so overwhelmed by the talent in the readers who did get up there, and I might have felt inadequate. :-)
Thank you so much for this wonderful event! It was amazing to hear everyone read their posts. I am honored you (randomly) chose my name. It was one of the most amazing 5 minutes of my life! Bring LTYM to Atlanta!
Ann, thank you again for giving us the opportunity to share VU with all the people that already know and love LTYM. It was such an honor to sit there in that magical space and witness people speaking out and sharing their stories. There is so much symmetry in what we do. I love you, my friend. I’m so proud of what you have created.
Ann, thank you for this outstanding event that showcased so many unique and wonderful women and their voices. It was such an honor to read, and I had a wonderful time sharing and listening.
Sharing that story was so much more emotional at Open Mic than it was at our local Northwest Arkansas event.
Also, I’m glad I didn’t have to follow the gastro-intestinal story. That was some funny sh*t.
I LOVED the open mic! Hearing writers read their own blogs brings it all to a whole new level!
Open Mic is always a highlight of BlogHer for me – I end up scribbling down name after name of bloggers I’m going to visit afterward for more…and thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for allowing me to spread the important word about a diet book to condones, nay encourages, both heavy drinking and spandex zebra pants. Looking forward to 2013!
Thanks, Ann & BlogHer, for creating this after party link-up. None of us wanted the party to end anyway so this is a good way to keep it going.
I’m going to get some wine so I can enjoy these as much as last time! :)
Love the concept of this…wish I could’ve been there. There are so many talented writers above. Can’t wait to take a look!
Great idea! Thank you so much for setting up the link up. I’ll be sure to retweet.
Heading around to read some of these. :) So glad we can link them together to share post-conference.
I am SOOOO coming prepared next year. I didn’t have it on paper & was afraid I wouldn’t have been able to see it off my phone very well.
NEXT YEAR :)
Thanks for the link up! Open Mic Night was so fun. Hope to get to read next year!
I am so sad that I missed this. Thanks for putting this together so those of us that missed it can pretend like we were there!
It was quite an evening. If I had been picked, I would have added yet another tribute to a dead loved one. Maybe next time I’ll stick to comedy!
Because this was my first BlogHer, I didn’t know what LTYM was until hearing it would be a time for people to read their work. LTYM reminds me so much of why we all love blogging. It’s not like VOTY (which is of course totally amazing), where you are nominated and chosen, and your work is validated by someone else as “worth it.” This? It’s a lot like working hard on your own work and not having to wait for someone else to tell you it’s good. That your work is worth being heard. You don’t have to wait for the outside validation. Instead, your work rules because YOU are couragous enough to share it. That alone is big. And beautiful. And so much a part of why we’re all here.
So thank you for creating this space.
I wasn’t ready to share anything this year, but did link up to the piece I shared with my roommates late at night after LTYM when we were all inspired to share our work with each other.
I loved the open mike. I could have listened for hours. I laughed, I cried, I howled. One of the best parts of Blogher!
Okay next year I am actually putting my name in, I almost did but chickened out. The support in the room is like no other.
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