I'd be remiss to let this year's BlogHer experience (which was amazingly fabulously awesome) go by without some sort of acknowledgment, mostly because it's actually the second year I had something stolen.
In 2008, the hotel staff took a couple of items out of ridiculous boxes of swag I had packaged to ship.
And this year, somebody swiped my wallet in the Expo Hall.
When I first discovered that my wallet was missing on Friday afternoon, I thought I had lost it. I searched everywhere, sent out my requests to Twitter, and hoped that it was my extremely fried brain.
I mean, who steals wallets at BlogHer? And from someone who always had her bag on her shoulder or sitting right next to me?
Besides, just last week I tore the house apart looking for a check that had actually not yet arrived. So it wasn't too farfetched for me to think that I had somehow bent over in a such a way that my gigantic wallet would have fallen out and I wouldn't have noticed.
But then on Saturday morning, after going to Twitter yet again, a few people tweeted that their wallets had been stolen and that they had been found in the trash.
And then I found out that a bunch of BlogHer volunteers had their wallets stolen on Thursday night but were also found in the trash by a vigilant housekeeper.
It wasn't until a few more people had their wallets stolen on Saturday that it seemed like any action was taken. Security seemed confused, like they hadn't heard that about 10 + people had their wallets stolen.
And no one from BlogHer had any idea at all.
On the bright side, it was clear that the thief was only looking for cash (which I had very little of, if any in my wallet) and was tossing the wallets in the trash. And I was at a conference with generous friends and a slew of sponsors who were more than willing to help.
But on the down side, a simple announcement on Friday morning at the opening keynote, along with individual announcements in the sessions might have saved about 15 to 20 people from heartache.
How about an announcement in the Expo Hall itself?
I'm appreciative that in this case it was completely an inconvenience, especially for someone who has an out of state license and needs to go through a rigamarole just to get a new one here in Georgia (or take the written test again, which I really don't want to do).
And aside from the ridiculous questions I was asked by TSA to get on the plane, I'm happy that my entire bag wasn't taken.
But here are the lessons I have learned:
1. Report it right away! I'm guessing that someone would have been able to scour the trash and find it had I just said something to security rather than contact lost and found.
2. On that note, if you have a wallet stolen, report it - not just to security but to the conference organizers so that they can take appropriate action.
3. Separate your ID/Credit Cards out, leaving some in your hotel safe and then some with you. Fortunately, when I travel, I bring the bare minimum with me, so my wallet only had my ID and a few credit cards that were easy to stop.
4. For all the times to use social media, THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN IT. Why weren't people tweeting this out? We're so quick to jump on the backs of brands, hashtag whatever freaking Twitter party, but when a bunch of people at a blogging conference have their wallets stolen, nobody says a word.
5. Don't just assume it's you. I think that this is the most frustrating part of it all - that I spent the better part of Friday thinking that it was dumb old me who had lost my wallet. I do like to see the positive in people, but if it's something like a wallet, I'd say assume the worst and then apologize later.
The best of part of all this is that it happened at BlogHer, so while I had no credit cards and no ID, I could still gorge myself on gigantic unicorn cakes, shake my ass like there's no tomorrow, and spend time with some of my most favorite people ever.
Also a meeting planner.
We've had staff lose their laptops to theives. One even had the security lock on it but had wrapped it around the leg of a table. Took them probably .00001 seconds to remove it.
The organizers need better security/badge checkers to make sure no one gets in the hall without a badge. I would bet money it was locals who know the general uniform color scheme of the convention center employees and just made the rounds unnoticed. (That's what happened to our laptops.)
Sucks. Sorry.
Posted by: Monica | August 31, 2011 at 02:46 AM
i saw post after post about stolen wallets on twitter. that sucks!
Posted by: Cam | August 22, 2011 at 08:09 PM
Besides, just last week I tore the house apart looking for a check that had actually not yet arrived. So it wasn't too farfetched for me to think that I had somehow bent over in a such a way that my gigantic wallet would have fallen out and I wouldn't have noticed.
Posted by: nfl jerseys | August 21, 2011 at 10:27 PM
I'm so sorry--what a shame that this happened at BlogHer.
Posted by: Asianmommy | August 21, 2011 at 02:03 PM
What a bummer!! One thing that I've read related to this topic:
Make copies of the front and backs of all cards you keep in your wallet and store those copies at home. That way, in case your wallet is ever stolen or lost, you at least have easy access to the account numbers and contact phone numbers to call and cancel the cards.
Of course, have I done this yet? No. Sigh.
Posted by: Angela | August 18, 2011 at 02:47 PM
UGH!
This was a downer to hear that this happened to you. I do appreciate the heads up from you when I was in the Expo Hall and like you, I was admonishing people to zip up their bags and hold tight to them. I saw little on the twitter stream as well and was sorely surprised. Once again, I am sorry that this happened to you and anyone else at the conference.
Posted by: laura | August 18, 2011 at 01:13 AM
As a meeting and event planner I have to say that one of the biggest issues with this scenario is what you didn't do-report it right away. I certainly understand why but likely people spoke about it to EACHOTHER but forgot to tell anyone of consequence until it was out of control. Also, any of these conferences are prime targets for thieves (International shows are worse, and don't get me started on Vegas)b/c people know that attendees often have their guards down.
Hopefully the show organizers are now savvy enough to keep an eye on all Twitter hash tags...somehow that's always how I seem to find out my juiciest details. And perhaps bump up the security in future years.
Posted by: Allison | August 17, 2011 at 09:00 PM
Such a bummer to have your wallet stolen, but at least you could still eat and manage to get home. How does that work with security?
I often assume that I'm the one at fault in these situations too. It's probably very good advice to assume stolen first in a large convention setting.
Glad you still had a good time!
Posted by: The Mommy Therapy | August 17, 2011 at 09:01 AM
I only take two cards with me on trips. Ones with low limits. Because I've had my card numbers swiped with cell phone cameras before.
But? I use almost exclusively cash. (I separate it into different places.) Which now that I'm reading this, may not be the best idea.
I'm sorry you never got your wallet back.
Posted by: Issa | August 16, 2011 at 06:52 PM
The not taking everything and divying up what you do have is excellent. Friends too ;)
Posted by: Amanda | August 16, 2011 at 05:40 PM
ironic that the Cool Mom Picks ad link follows this post...
sorry. Sorry!
sucks about the wallet. everything is fixable but damn what a pain in the ass.
Posted by: Greg | August 16, 2011 at 12:23 PM
In my past travel life, the trade shows/conferences were always where we had problems with stolen purses, wallets, etc. And sadly in my experience at more han one event, its been the show contractors - cleaning crews, etc. that are walking through the show booths changing out the trash cans seemingly inconspicuous and trusted that ended up being the culprits - we actually caught one in a closed meeting room rifling through bags in Vegas one year.
Great advice to share with the expo people so they can take action and share with the entire floor.
Posted by: Sarah (Sterling Creek) | August 16, 2011 at 10:49 AM
People were having their phones stolen too. I know because I gave a few away to those unlucky souls. I've never heard of so much theft at a conference before and something tells me it probably wasn't a regular attendee. But then again, who knows.
Posted by: Liz | August 16, 2011 at 10:46 AM
That totally sucks! I was at BlogHer & had no idea any wallets were stolen until I got home & saw mentions on twitter. Unfortunately, I think many of us would have responded the same way you did.....by blaming ourselves. It's just so easy to do b/c we've all been there.
Posted by: Merry120 | August 16, 2011 at 10:40 AM
Excellent advice and I'm glad you didn't let your stolen wallet ruin the good time for you.
Posted by: Emsxiety | August 16, 2011 at 10:39 AM