My Indoctrination into Blogging Conferences

For those of you that follow my blog, you can probably guess… I’ve been running behind this week.  Posts are being shared late, I’m forgetting to post them to Facebook and Twitter, and the most obvious… I’ve been hit-or-miss on Pinterest this week, my favorite of the social media outlets. Yes, social media geeks can pick a favorite, it’s not like picking a favorite kid.  Although, sometimes I do that too. 🙂

So, why am I running behind? Because I attended my first blogging conference this week: Reviewer’s Retreat ’12, at the Great Wolf Lodge in Concord.  Although I don’t necessarily consider myself a Review blogger, I picked this for my conference deflowering because of it’s locale and small-scale.  Blogging conferences can get real big y’all.  Apparently, I’m not the only mom-blogger out there.  Whah???

So anywho, I’m not just here to make excuses for my haphazard social media vomiting this week.  I’m here because I wanted to share a little bit about blogging conferences to those of you who dabble in blogging or are considering making the leap.

Here are a few pointers, tips, and other cool things I learned this week at Reviewer’s Retreat 2012:

Katie from Charlotte Mom Favorites and Angie from My Four Monkeys!

1.  You get to meet other people just like you.  The kind of people that live on their iPhones and iPads, that tweet during conversations, and who don’t consider it rude to type and talk at the same time.  I realize in the “real world” people take offense to this.  At a blogging conference, not only is it not rude… it’s expected.

2.  The swag.  I swear, I got more in freebies this week than what the total cost of the ticket was to attend.  Brands that contributed amazing gifts included Eucerin (um, thanks for the full size products!), a giant rock ‘n roll Elmo, Rayovac flashlight, rechargeable batteries, and a car and outlet chargers for my iPhone.  I toys, books, cleaning products, free samples, and more.  Really, it was quite incredible.  Now, I wouldn’t say it’s worth it to go to a conference just for the swag, but it sure was fun!

3.  Tips, tips and more tips.  I attended numerous sessions and had take-aways and action items from all of them.  Need to know how to be more effective on twitter? Attend a blog conference.  Want to know how to make the best use of SEO? Attend a blog conference.  Need to get updated on the latest FTC requirements for bloggers? Attend a blog conference.

4.  Get connected with brands and companies.  Whether you are a review blogger or not, chances are if you are a blogger, you’d like to have companies send you products to try out, you’d like to accrue giveaways for your readers, and you’d like to have a brand pay you to represent them.  I mean, you’re putting all of this effort into a blog, may as well monetize it to some degree, right? Well attending a conference will get you face to face interaction with the companies that appreciate the value of social media marketing.

5.  Be prepared to network.  Introduce yourself and your blog to everyone.  Have business cards (you can DIY them, but there are affordable and savvy options at Vistaprint and Moo) and pass them out to everyone  you talk to.   Have a pen and sharpie with you to take notes on business cards immediately after exchanging them.  Be sure to have a media kit and media “one sheet” ready to hand out or email to contacts you network with.

6.  Stay Charged.  Make sure you have fully charged cell phone, iPad (or tablet), and computer batteries.  Bring your chargers for all your electronics, and if you really want to make friends, bring a power strip so you can give a power boost to your new blogger pals.

So next up, Type A Conference in two weeks in Charlotte!!! Anyone planning on going?