Blissdom 2010

What an adventure! What BLISS!

Attending Blissdom will go down in history as one of my favorite experiences! The joy that one feels when meeting someone in real life, for the first time, after years of writing, chatting, and tweeting can only be described as blissful.

The drive to Nashville with Dwan and Lizzy was so much fun… one on one girl time; laughing, sharing, and rockin’ out to the radio. I took a book to read (Beyond Blogging) but didn’t even crack the cover. I was too busy having fun! It poured rain the whole trip… I think we followed the storm all the way to Nashville.

I enjoyed most of the sessions, but found blogging for going on five years already left me a little advanced for the material covered. I’m not sure if I should be disappointed that I didn’t learn more, or happy to know I am on the right track. I did learn, and take away from, the track on Evolving into a Professional Blogger. There was a lot of information on working with companies, sponsors, and the difference between earned media and sponsored posts that I had previously been confused about. The ladies at my table had a nice little discussion during the session and I feel that was the best part of my learning experience at Blissdom.

Networking. Ah, the very word makes me giddy. You have to understand that until last week I had only ever met two others bloggers in real life. (not counting family members) I’d met Dwan, briefly, at a Diane Birch Concert and I’d met ‘chelle during my week driving the Flex for Ford and 5 Minutes for Mom. So, to stick me in a hotel with 500 women who blog, tweet, and socialize online was almost an overload to my system. I honestly didn’t know what to do. After checking in and changing we headed down to the First Night of Blissdom Party where I awkwardly stood in line for a drink. I saw faces of people I knew online, but felt to shy to say anything, yet. Then Nikki saw me from across the room, came running, practically squealing my name, and the rest is history. After that warm hug and the tears we shed over finally getting to meet, I was determined to have fun and meet everyone on my list!

And, as you can see, I did! I could no believe the number of people who actually knew who I was. (blushing) Apparently, some of you are very good at lurking in the shadows! Now that I’ve met you in real life, and you’ve seen that I don’t bite, you’re safe to come out and play!

People I was most excited to meet:

@JessicaKnows – The Jessica Smith. (that’s us in the bottom left picture) This woman has been a huge contributor to my success as a blogger. She’s encouraged me both personally via lots of tweets, and publicly via her amazing blog posts at JessicaKnows.com. Her constant theme is ‘be true to yourself’ and no one is a better example of this than Jessica. Her recent guest post on AngelaEngland.com is a great example of her encouraging spirit. Read: True to You

@Nikki_S – Nichole Smith should be at the top of everyone’s list of people to meet. She is hilariously fun! She’s also knowledgeable, wise, and beautiful, but mostly, fun. Since Nikki’s first call for help and my answer to that call in the form of designing ZoesHeart.com, Nichole has been one of my closest friends. We’re more than just online pals, we’re sisters. We’ve never had the same last name, lived in the same town, or talked with the same accent, but somewhere along the way our hearts were woven together. We’ve worked together on numerous projects now, but even if one of us stopped blogging tomorrow we’d remain friends for life.

@AngEngland – I’ve followed and adored Angela England for a long time, but just recently really connected with her. We discovered we have a lot of things in common, and then, that we live in the same region. We’re not neighbors, but we live close enough to one another that blog conferences should not be the only time we see each other! This woman is a multi-tasking genious who owns and manages multiple sites, my favorite of which is AngelaEngland.com

@ResourcefulMom – Amy. Replace the word ‘genuine’ with her name in your dictionary. Then, read the definitions. When you follow a blogger online you often wonder if they are a kind, compassionate, fun-loving, and amazing in real life as they seem on their blog. Meeting Amy Lupold Bair of ResourcefulMommy.com and Global Influence reminded me that there really are good people everywhere!

@JaniceCroze – Twin sister to Susan, Janice Croze is half of the amazing 5 Minutes for Mom duo. Since working with them on the Ford Flex project I’ve longed to meet these smart and fabulous ladies! I’ve seen them in video interviews, connected with both of them via Facebook and Twitter, and just as I suspected, Janice is the fun-loving, super-woman I’d always imagined her to be. I’m just sad I didn’t get to meet Susan too!!

@MultiTaskingMe – My last client project before leaving for Blissdom was Melissa Smallwood’s site, Multitasking Mama. I fixed up some fun graphics to create a fresh new header and social icon set as well as a Twitter background for Melissa. I’ve worked on her projects before, but this time, I felt connected to her in a special way. When she saw me at the registration booth at Blissdom she came right up and hugged me and I knew I’d been right about her… tidy, neat, and very organized. That’s Melissa. Oh yes, and sweet!

My Big Blissdom Surprise

There I am, first night of Blissdom, second party of the night, and nearly falling over from exhaustion. I’d be in bed already except there are grand prizes to be won at this party; fun, girly prizes. And, there are women. (I have 5 brothers, am married into a family of men, and I have few girlfriends) We’re all anxiously waiting for prize winners to be announced when up on the winner’s board I see the url SavingMoneyPlan.com! Unbeknownst to me, one of my best clients has made her way to Blissdom! I was so excited about the prospect of finally meeting Claire that I made my way to the front of thr room and asked to see the business card drawn for that prize. Sure enough, it read: Claire Williams – @savingmoneyplan. I immediately began a scan of the room, and then a thorough search. I’d just stepped out into the ante-room to look when someone tapped me on the shoulder… it was Claire! After a few moments of chatting she introduced me to a few of her friends who want to switch from Blogger to WordPress.

And so, I spent every moment of free-time networking, visiting, and having fun!

Now that I’m home my husband and son are swearing never to let me out of their site again, I’ve been presented with the opportunity to volunteer at the Mom 2.0 Summit conference in Houston next week. So sad to have to turn that down! I would LOVE to attend, but I just can’t see leaving my guys again so soon. Maybe next year!