I am queen of the convention circuit this year. Whether for fun (Emerald City ComiCon, Power-Con), work (Tribal Habitat Conference), enhancing my craft (Wild Mountain Memoir Retreat), or a blend of market-strategizing and craft-enhancing (PNWA).
Next up is the social petworking conference BarkWorld! Sadly, Mia and Leo will not be joining us, but based on the realization in my last post, perhaps that’s for the best. They need to guard the house anyway. Still, I know I’ll miss them all weekend as I watch other attendees accompanied by their furry friends.
Meanwhile, I’ll be passing out business cards and Bark and Lunge stickers, and I even have a couple of Advance Readers Copies of my book to seduce potential endorsers.
We planned to wear our various Dog is Good T-shirts. Rob’s got “I like big mutts and I cannot lie” and the “Hundhaus Hefeweizen” version of “Never Drink Alone.” I’ve got the aforementioned “Promise to my Dog” shirt, along with “Never Walk Alone” and “Dog is patient, dog is kind…”
In today’s inbox, I had a message from BarkWorld telling me, among other things, that the attire is “business casual.”
Now, I may have a somewhat skewed idea of appropriate attire, having lived in the Pacific Northwest for 10 years, but I really thought our doggie T-shirts would fit right in. Then I watched a video of last year’s BarkWorld, and indeed, there are a lot of men in button-down white shirts. Plus, I’ve been warned that the conference rooms will be heavily air-conditioned. So now I’m tasked with accessorizing my Dog is Good shirts with a little cardigan or something that will dress me up to at least business casual.
Kari Neumeyer 
I went to BlogPaws and I think the dress attire is similar. I’d save the Dog is Good tees (which I love, my favorite is Dog. Codependant.) for your downtime and take a few things that look a little nicer, but are no fuss. I took a few things from Ann Taylor Loft, a few t-shirt material shirts that are made a little dressier and a few cardigans (I was a dork and was SO excited to find a dalmation print one just before I left) and wore them with capri pants.
I think you’ll be glad you don’t have Mia and Leo with you, to be honest. Bunny would handle going to an event like that just fine, and my bet is that Mia would, too, but there are a lot of dogs that frankly, should not attend, but their owners are clueless. I saw several dogs go after others at the last BlogPaws and one of the incidents was really scary. When you have a bigger dog like a Shepherd, a lot of times people have the tendency to assume that its their fault whether it was or not. It’s not a great time for a dog, though! With all the people to talk to and make contacts with, it’s easier not to have to be responsible for anybody but yourself. My guess is that you will have a great time! I have really been wishing that I could attend this one, but it’s not in the cards for me this year.
Thank you for the tips. That’s great advice! I had a feeling it was one of those things, like last weekend, where it would be more fun for me than the dogs. I toyed with the idea of driving to Atlanta with the dogs, but thought better of it. They’ll have more fun staying home with Grandma and Grandpa. Maybe I’ll see you at BlogPaws in the spring?
Oh my god, sweetie – look at your book! Gorgeous! I love seeing your actual book in your hands.
Thanks! I can’t wait to hold yours, too! 🙂