Sunday 24 June 2012

My Britmums Live Diary

After months of planning and excitement Britmums Live weekend finally arrived.  Armed with my phone, my notebook and my galaxy tab, I set about to record my experience of the parenting blogging community in all their glory


Friday 11.30am
 I am sat on the train wondering whether this was really a good idea.  Only twenty minutes into the journey and I am already missing the little dude, his geeky smile and those four little teeth.  I wish I could explain to him that I will be back soon and that I love him and miss him.  Guilt about leaving him has taken over the excitement and nerves.  The man sitting opposite started eagerly chatting but as soon as I mentioned that I was going to a conference for parent bloggers he went very quiet!


Friday 12.40
 The nerves have arrived in full force.  It isn't like I have not been to events before but I usually have Dylan alongside me to hide behind -an icebreaker.  Suddenly I am all on my own!
life and times of the working mum, britmums live
Checked into the hotel and it is very basic but completely adequate as somewhere to rest my head after a long day. They do have some strange ideas about what people like to put in their coffee though as the tray came complete with a tin of petit pois! Waiting for laura aka thelifeandtimesoftheworkingmum to arrive so we can be nervous together




Friday 3.10pm
name tag, britmums live badges
We are here!  Mummyadventure is in the building and the nerves have become adrenaline.
 I watch in awe as bloggers I recognise from their pictures, facebook pages and twitter avatars swan around me, oblivious to who I am.  We have wandered through the hub, checking out all the brands and I am already clutching a Lego goody bag! Terrified we would be a table of two we now have some companions and we are off!





Friday 5.55pm
cake, britmums livescooby doo, warner brothers, britmums liveI have attended my first session all about taking your blog to the next level from some fantastic speakers whose blogs I know well.  I am here as much to see them in 'real life' as for the content, and neither dissapointed.  Message of the session is - Create great content, spellcheck learn how to work social media and make sure you keep your voice.  Be authentic and truthful to yourself, regardless of what others may be writing or you think they want to read.  Have confidence, start a conversation with a 'diva blogger' and make them react to you.  Her Melness Speaks had a lot to say and reminded us to remember the passion we started blogging with, and always come back to it.

Friday 8.30pm
Highlight of the night so far has to be the semi-naked men serving bubbly.  Encouraging me to drink increasingly faster just to have my glass refilled they were rather tasty.  Didn't find one in my goody bag though which was a bit of a dissapointment.  The Bib awards went to some fantastic winners and Katy Hill was the perfect presenter.  Off for dinner and drinks with a great group of bloggers and ladies including Makeshift mummy, Her Melness speaks and the Brighton Mums.
semi naked waiter, britmums livebritmums live, winebuffs



Saturday 7.00am
I am up earlier than if I had been at home with the baby!  No lie in for me as there is so much to take in and we have Vikki aka LovefromMummy and Angela aka Mumofthreeboys to meet before we set off.  Feeling more confident as we know what to expect and looking forward to free hands as we appear to have collected quite a few goodies yesterday and handed out a lot of business cards!


lego cake, britmums live
Sarurday 2.20 pm
What a morning!  A fantastic keynote from Sarah Brown, a great public speaker and inspirational woman followed by two 'beginning blogging' sessions.  Have learnt a little about the design and accountancy and a lot about SEO and hopefully I will be putting some changes in action soon! We have decided to sit out a session now as there are none that particularly appeal and it is lovely to mingle with bloggers and brands while it is quiet.  I am just heading over to the Lego stand to make myself a cupcake and might atempt a chocolate button stacking tower. The list of companies to talk to includes Disney, Me & i, Crocs and Panasonic.

sarah brown, keynote speaker, britmums live







Saturday 4.10

Two more sessions, one about a social media plan and although it was interesting I have to admit I was flagging a bit by this point so not many notes.  The session on blogging for happiness however was thought provoking, interesting, emotional and well worth attending.  I know I am not alone in checking my stats more often than is healthy but I started blogging presuming nobody would read my corner of the blogosphere and we need to remember why we began and what we want from our writing.  I didn't take any notes, so my paper looked like this at the end of the session:



blog for happiness, writing in notebook, britmums live

Hearing other people's stories of why they started writing and their motivations made me realise how lucky I am and I wondered whether I was as worthy of readers as some of these amazing people, but I have my own reasons and I should not underestimate them.  There is space for us all and as long as we believe in what we say and it makes us happy to write it then we should keep doing it,  I came away from this session with a renewed passion for what I do and a smile on my face.

Katy Hill, britmums live, mummy bloggers, blogging conference
Saturday 7.30
What an amazing, emotional weekend.  A keynote by Cherry Healey followed by the highlight of the conference - the blogger's keynote.  Some amazing posts have just been read and remembering Hayley's recital (Downs side up) still brings tears to my eyes.  A well deserved standing ovation reassured me that I was not the only one with tears streaming down my face, and looking around I couldn't see a dry eye.  The tears continued with Ministry of Mum's amazing Seven days of special love, this time with laughter as the perfect antidote.  Posts that took my breath, made me sob and laugh out loud the first time I read them were intensified as you saw the person behind them.
random door in wall, britmums live, the brewery
Where does this door lead?
The conference may be over but I have some fantastic memories, have learnt some great lessons and most of all have spent time with some wonderful friends.  Although I have only known Laura for 4 months, we spent an entire weekend together and have formed a friendship I never expected.  Blogging has given me confidence in myself, some fantastic experiences and the chance to meet some amazing people and I cannot wait for Britmums Live 2013!



Sunday 7.30pm
 Arrived home this morning after an eventful night and after a short time with my beautiful little boy I had to leave him and go to work.  I was back home to put him in bed, and I have missed his cheeky smile and open mouthed kisses so much.  I am physically and mentally knackered (goody bags are not light!) but I enjoyed every minute and can't wait to do it all again.  I leave you with my highligh:



britmums live, semi naked wine, winebuffs, hubba hubba!
The Main message from Britmums Live















10 comments:

  1. I was so interested to read this! I'm a new blogger and am going to Blog Camp later in the year and am a little bit nervous and excited at the same time. Thank you for your diary- loved reading it :)

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    Replies
    1. Are you going to the London one? If so will see you there! Think that will be a much smaller event as there were 500 bloggers at Britmums Live!

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    2. Oh ladies I'll be at the London BlogCamp too! see you there! It'll be much smaller - the last one I went to was about 125 bloggers and it was really lovely. I would say it's the best blogger event for bloggers to go to for their 1st time!

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    3. Looking forward to meeting both of you then! Hopefulyl will get a chance to say Hi to everyone I want to this time

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  2. Wooooo! You got it all highlighted in there and what a fab weekend we had!
    Mummy Bloggers ROCK! xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gosh you have summed up the weekend fantastically!

    J x

    ReplyDelete
  4. great post, wish I'd made it along maybe next year x

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  5. I loved meeting you and hope to catch up again soon xx thank you for all your support xxx

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  6. Glad you had such a good time. I love the photos they give a real flavour of what it was like.

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