What I Learned from BloggyCon14

This past weekend, I had the awesome opportunity to attend Bloggy Conference ’14. It was one of those quick decisions I had made a few months before when some of my online friends asked who might be going. I have been wanting to attend some sort of blogging conference to get the juices flowing and make some connections, and Bloggy Conference was the right place, right time, and right price.

My friends and I arranged it so we could room together and meet up at the airport to make it to Cedar Point and Hotel Breakers. Everything was going to be perfect as Greta (of Gfunkified) had a flight that would land just after mine, so Jody (of Gemini Health & Nutrition) could pick us up. Then, we’d meet up with Dee (from Lumpy to Lean) and Kristin (from Little Mama Jama) for dinner and a few rides at the amusement park.

The trip to get to Bloggy Conference was not enjoyable. Here’s what happened:

• I didn’t leave the house in enough time to get to the airport, so
• I was waiting for a shuttle from parking to the airport with only 40 minutes left to my flight’s departure.
• Then, there was only one x-ray machine open in security, and
• Everyone was taking a billion years getting their shoes off and their bags on the conveyor.
• I walk-ran to the gate only to find that I’d missed my flight by probably 1 or 2 minutes, so
• I hurried to the Customer Service counter where I eventually melted in to tears.
• Somehow, I didn’t get charged for changing my flight (even though it was my fault — I think the tears helped), but
• I had to go on stand-by for a flight that would get me in about an hour after Greta was landing.
• Trying to see the positives, I spend the next two hours working on my teacher stuff, and
• I actually made the plane as one of three to get a stand-by seat.
• When I arrived in Cleveland, they hadn’t taken my bag off the plane, so
• It didn’t show up in baggage claim.
• Luckily, Maggie P. from the airport was awesome — she personally went and found my bag.

Phew. Just getting to Greta and Jody made things better. We went straight to the hotel and met up with Dee so we could go eat dinner. Then, we found Kristin and her husband and hit the amusement park.

The next two days were filled with sessions and networking. I was beyond excited to meet Dr. Debbie Gilboa from Ask Dr. G. She had helped me with a Twitter party way back when, and I’ve had a blogger’s crush on her ever since. She’s super awesome, hilarious, and brilliant. Her session about speaking sparked quite a few ideas for me and renewed my energy and desire to get in front of some audiences for both my children’s book and my essential oils business.

One of my favorite sessions was by Katy from Katy in a Corner. She had amazing ideas and suggestions about vlogging. I’ve already been working on my vlogs, but she gave me some ideas about making it look more professional. So, thank you, Katy!

I may have embarrassed myself at Claudia’s  (of Trendy Latina) session by screaming out, “I’m on fire” at an inappropriate time, but she did remind me that I do have something to offer to my readers and more. I had forgotten some of my original purpose, and Claudia’s tips on how to choose what we write about and why really sunk in.

Ang England’s (The Untrained Housewife) session about writing is probably what gave me the most inspiration for what I need to be doing with my time. This session gave me very practical and important tips about getting my writing published. Having published my own book and then getting ready to be in a blogger’s compilation book, I know that it’s all possible. I just need to get out of my “I’ll do it some day” mindset and simply do it.

What else did I learn from #BloggyCon14?

• Take a bigger jacket to Sandusky, Ohio, if you’re going to walk around Cedar Point at night in September. That breeze off of Lake Erie is cold.
• I can actually survive spooks and goblins trying to scare me in the Halloweekend-type theme parks.
• Guacamole and chips at midnight is a great snack.
• It doesn’t matter if you are hanging out with people you only know online. You can still have some pretty amazing friendships with gals you may have never met in person otherwise.
  
• If I have the chance to go, I will definitely attend Bloggy Conference again. It was well put together, and I enjoyed it all!

 

Tags: blogging, bloggycon14, cedarpoint, conference