This week, #BWEchat‘s topic was kids at conferences in a town hall type of setting with no special guest. I personally don’t have kids, but I’ve definitely been to conferences and conventions where kids were welcome  – and have had both good and bad experiences. Some of the questions posed this week included:

• Does a con’s child policy affect your decision to attend? More or less likely to attend if kids are allowed?
• Under what circumstances do you think professional conferences should allow kids?
• Does it affect your business networking having your child with you?
• As an attendee, are you concerned about kids disrupting conference sessions? What about as a speaker?
• Does the age range of the children allowed at a conference matter?

The topic at hand definitely sparked some great conversation from parents and non-parents alike. Here were some of my personal favorite tweets from the night:

• @karonwarren: I don’t think it matters who the conference is for; it’s a professional environment & should be conducted as such.

• @LindsayDianne: Any conference that I go to, I’m trying to learn. For me, it’s more likely to be effective without having to parent.

• @nlowell: I’m more concerned abt ‘entitled adults’ highjacking the panel than kids

• @theresesquared: Kids can keep the audience and speaker on their toes. That’s for sure. If they’re bored you’ll know it.

• @2xKnight: Clear guidelines for what to do with disruptive children would help. No matter the kid’s age.

• @BlackCanseco: Kids can disrupt a conference but so can really annoying adults.

• @AngEngland: I think that part of the responsibility of being a mother going to conferences is to have back-up plans in place.

• @SherylLoch: The tip is start teaching your kids to sit & be quiet LONG before the conference. Start at like…birth.

• @OneBrownGirl: I think that the rules for blogging are still being invented. What works at one conference might not work at another..vice versa

Thanks to everyone who came out for a great discussion on this topic! Next week, we’ll be talking about how to ad humor to your blog with special guest Jordan Cooper (@notaproblog), so I hope to see you all there. Remember, #BWEchat takes place every Wednesday at 9 PM EST, hosted from @blogworldexpo, so mark us on your calendar!