I’ve reduced my Blogher experience to lists because that’s the only way I can process it right now, and to save you all from something like the 3 part series of epically boring proportions I wrote last year. This, again, is a 3 part series, BUT in list form, which helps… I hope?
Note: These Β lists are in no particular order. That’s way too much for my brain to take on right now.
Top 5Β 6, No Wait, Make That 7 Things I Learned From Blogher Sessions
1. “Everyone here wants to be noticed, and YOU have the power to notice them.” One of the panelists (can’t remember which one, probably Liz Strauss) in the Peer Networking session said this, and I loved it. It’s not only true for the conference, but life in general. I quit worrying about who would and wouldn’t recognize me, and focused on recognizing, acknowledging, and just plain ol’ noticing others. It brought a lot of awesome new connections my way.
2. “The quickest way to make a connection is to ask a question.” That was Liz Strauss (I am now stalking her)Β at the same Peer Networking session. Really want to get to know someone? Don’t wait and wish for them to reach out to you. Engage them!
3. Find out what makes you standout from the crowd (ask others!), accept that & enhance it, focus it to your audience, then redefine and refresh yourself and/or your blog every 2-3 years. (Pathfinder Day Breakfast with personal brand expert Sandra Miley)
3. Come up with a mission statement or an elevator pitch about who you are and what you’re about. As opportunities come to you, see if they match your mission statement. Say no to things that don’t.- Implementing this now! I spread myself too thin all the time. (Also from Sandra Miley)
4. Melissa Ford from Stirrup-Queens.com was one of the Pathfinder Day: My Blog as Book Proposal panelists. I took away so much from this session, but I’m not sure much of it is of interest to the majority of you. That said, if you’re interested in how to get a book published, she has a How To Get A Book Published series of posts, linked in her right sidebar.
5. Blog regularly! (So, so, so guilty of this. You all know that.) In the Your Blog Can Make You A Social Media Marketer session, Melissa Lion made a great point that blogging every day shows a prospective employer that you can and do meet deadlines. Ree Drummond (you may have heard of her little blog The Pioneer Woman) spoke in the My Blog As Media Company Pathfinder session about how important it is to tend to your blog like a garden, to nourish and water it regularly. She also has some other amazing tips in this post here.
6. You are the boss of your blog. This was a note that several touched on. Do what you want! Don’t like an old post? Delete it. Want to blog about different topics? Go for it. I think you want to try to go about these things with a little thought so you don’t leave people confused, unless you want to confuse people. Then confuse them because it’s your blog and you can do what you want. You are the boss of it.
I’ll post my other 2 lists (memories, and notes for next year) tomorrow and Friday. (I was going to post them all here, today, in this one post, and then I remembered the whole “trying to keep things from being epically long and boring” goal. Lookie there! I’m learning.)
BUT WAIT! Don’t forget that BornFree (my awesome Blogher Sponsor) is giving away over $500 of super cool baby gear to ANYONE who enters (from the US or Canada), not just those who went to Blogher. There’s still time to enter if you haven’t yet. Just click here and fill out the info. They draw a winner August 22nd.Β
25 comments
Great points. Except the blog regularly one. I gots me a real garden to tend to. I can’t do both well.
You slay me every time, Jenn. Every. Time.
This is awesome. I didn’t make it to any sessions so I really appreciate this wrap up of some of the best nuggets of wisdom.
In other news, I met you, saw you, whatever, and never put together who you are (I follow you on Twitter) till right now. So belatedly, SO NICE TO MEET/SEE YOU! π
Yea! So nice to connect with you.
Thank you SO much for sharing these tidbits of wisdom with us mere mortals who weren’t there. And honestly it is refreshing to see a post with actual, useful information about the party. Er, I mean conference.
you have two #3’s, so I guess you learned 7 things! π
Ha!! So I do. Blogher kills brain cells, FYI π
Great ideas for real life as well as the online one!! #5 & #6 are so important!!
This is so great, thank you for posting this. Very wise words! xo
Thank you for sharing! I’ve got a handle on a couple of these (including blog regularly…I might actually blog too often lol). Now I’m off to ask others what makes me stand out…
Do you actually have time to blog every day? I couldn’t even look for a job until Ella was in PT daycare, thanks to my parents. Downtime during the day is all about recovery/recharging as opposed to taking on more work (like looking for a job or studying for my license.)
I’m trying to find time, especially since my goal, long term, is for this place to become my “job” and pay me like one. That said, it’s really hard right now while K is not in school (on summer break), and it will continue to be difficult until Leyna starts next year. I’m trying to do the whole blog when you have time, then schedule posts thing. I suck at it.
#3a. You stand out for your honesty, hilarity & vulgarity. π
And I don’t know how to put this the right way, so I’ll put it the wrong way: So many “honest” mommy, “bad” mommy, anti-June cleaver blogs seem just as smug as “perfect” mommy blogs – they are bragging, but bragging about how unperfect they are. Except yours. It is SO refreshing.
I love this, Lisa! Thank you. It’s nice to hear what other’s have to say about me π
Sounds like an awesome conference. I’m not a blogger, but a regular reader of many blogs. I love that women like you can be successful online and then share your secrets with other women. It’s refreshing to hear about women supporting other women. I hope your enthusiasm and wisdom from the Blogher conference lasts all year long (’til the next one of course!).
I do, too! I’ll admit, it’s hard once you’re back in the daily grind, but I love my bloggy friends and I love supporting them, and it’s reciprocal.
Hi Jill – we met in the Peer Networking session. Just wanted to say thanks for the link to the Stirrup Queens site. I have some reading to do!
Hi! Lovely meeting you. Yeah, I haven’t even had a minute to touch those links, yet. But I knew I had to share them.
I sat next to you in the Pathfinder Book session and totally didn’t realize you were, you know, YOU, until a day or two later. I’m awesome. But yes to all your points. Glad to meet you!
Hey! I just remembered I still owe you the notes. I’ll email them your way tonight… hopefully. Remind me if I don’t. SO lovely to meet you, too. My goodness, your story, your daughter’s story is amazing.
I love the last one, it is something I need to remember. And I think I might need someone to pick my sessions for me because I didn’t really like 75% of the ones I went to.
Great recap! Thanks for posting this so I can get insight on the sessions I missed.
To Lisa – when I can, I sneak off for 2-3 hours on a Sunday afternoon and leave the babe with my husband. Then I can write 3-4 posts for the week and schedule them. That’s the easiest way for me to blog regularly. If I don’t do that, my whole week is very hectic.
[…] There were many more memories and many more pictures, but I will keep those close to my heart for now. Tomorrow I share my tips for Blogher12, which, in case you haven’t heard, will be back in NYC. Hope to meet more of you there! (And if you didn’t see, I shared some of the things I learned at the conference sessions yesterday.) […]
Hmmm mission statement sounds like a good way to keep myself on track. I had to use it for business and for teaching (well a philosophy) should work for my blog too. Thank you!
[…] posts on the conference was written by Jill of Baby RabiesΒ (the girl who gave me a Dyson!). The whole post was great, but this excerpt really hit home with me: You are the boss of your blog. This was a note that […]