This is my second year covering one of the most inspiring conventions I attend, the Women’s Conference in Long Beach, CA. Maria Shriver has used her time as First Lady to create an event that not only makes an impact on individuals, but has made an impact economically and socially. As part of the Women’s Conference, Maria Shriver has created the WE (describe We program briefly) and the Minverva awards, recognizing women that have (explanation) . The event is a two-day event with an added Day of Transformation this year.

The Day of Transformation is a full day conference to help women learn skills to be a business leader in their community. The night event, Night at the Village, has speakers covering the following topics, cooking, mind, body & soul, and author interviews. The floor has various businesses reaching out to women. Everything from (wine company) who sells bottles of wine to raise money to purchase wigs for chemotherapy-treated women to Wii Fit Plus. That’s right, Nintendo is back for their second year at the Women’s Conference. Instead of showcasing all their holiday titles, Nintendo brought over Wii Fit Plus. It was great and entertaining to see women attempt the new exercises, having fun with their girlfriends trying out a new game.

The talks I did see at the Night at the Village event were Kate Gosselin, from Jon & Kate plus 8, and Cheryl Saban, Ph.D., writer of What’s your Self Worth. Kate did not allow anyone to take pictures as she spoke about her latest book, which is a scrapbook with scripture that she made for her kids. She did state that she has a cookbook in the works as well as a sequel to Multiple Blessings.

Cheryl Saban, PH.D., seemed to not have alot of time to talk. Her friend, Arianna Huffington moderated the post but spoke so much that Cheryl could hardly get a word in. One of the things Cheryl did point out was that women tend to think if we do good enough than we’ll get rewards. But she was quick to point out that we need to be negotiators and go after those rewards ourselves. I will have a review of Cheryl Saban’s book, “What is self-worth?”, up later this week.

I was disappointed in two things that night. The first was that the one author I stood in line to get an autograph from (I just bought her book at the event) never showed. Claire Shipman author of Womenomics, left 10 of us waiting for over thirty minutes before we got word that she wasn’t going to show.

The other disappointment was the lack of technology or addressing technology at the event. Not a single showcased author had a focus on tech or the web. All that was available was the stereotypical self-esteem, makeup and cooking. Like that’s all women are expected to enjoy. I was sorely disappointed to see a lack of any booths from tech companies. Momology was the only website. Windows could have had a Windows 7 or Bing booth. Last year Apple attended but did not renew that support this year.

The second day of the Women’s Conference got off to an early start! 5am to be exact. Media was told to check in by 7am, in order to guarantee press spots for interviews. By 8am the Women’s Conference was kicking off with the National Anthem and Paula Zahn speaking. I missed most of that because I was on the purple carpet, getting interviews. The interview system was new to me this year and I have to say that it was the best part of the event. The next article will showcase the interviews but they were all good and insightful. I loved that the staff was very helpful, letting us know when someone was about to arrive and I think overall they did a great job. Unfortunately, toward the end of the day people just stopped coming by and it seemed that the people in charge had little they could do. Maria Shriver was rumored to come down the purple carpet three times and in the end never showed up. Much of the news media left by 5pm due to the slowdown in interviews. Again, I don’t believe this was the convention organizer’s fault, but hopefully that will be improved on for next year.

Unfortunately for us, media did not get to attend the breakout sessions. Two of the sessions would have been specifically useful to us: Changing the World through the Web and Women in Power: What happens when Women run things. Both of those sounded astounding and had a great lineup. But instead we watched on stream two other sessions: Women who use their Voices to change the World and Once-in-a-Lifetime Conversation (with Dr. Jane Goodall). Both of which were actually pretty good. Just not ones I would have attended.

Here is a quick abstract of things said that are inspiring and useful.

Robin Roberts – “Our path our journey is a series of decisions that we make for ourselves. The more you use it, the stronger you become. Make a decision! Get in the habit of making those choices. “

Sir Richard Branson brought up the idea that companies need to be more flexible to people’s lives and when asked for advice for women wanting to start their own business said, “You’ve got to screw it and just do it. “

Madeline Albright: “Women provide a great deal of the wealth and economic well being. People depend on women power. society is better off if women are economically and politically powered. ”

Katie Curic: “I love the smell of estrogen in the afternoon.”

Maria Shriver did mention one more year of the Women’s Conference. 25,000 women gather together for an incredibly two day event which showcased some of the most amazing women of today. I would recommend watching the Women’s Conference website for when tickets for next year go on sale. This is an event no woman should miss.

Here are pictures I took at the event: