Armed with my fresh off the press blog cards, comfortable shoes, a light weight sweater, a fully charged iPhone (that only lasted until noon), a notebook, pen (that was out of ink by noon), a firm hand shake and a smile, I attended my first blogging conference, Bloggy Boot Camp on Saturday.
I loved the intimate round tables, the seating assignments, the view of the ocean from our seats and the very informative speakers…
I enjoyed listening to the adorable Ashley Stock (Little Miss Momma), whose blog is barely a year old (!) share tips and tricks suitable for any and every new blogger.
I appreciated what Anna Vielle’s (ABDPBT.com) had to say about Social Capital (your metrics and demographics) vs. Trust Capital (staying true to yourself and your voice, i.e. not selling out).
Mama Mary’s presentation was all about incorporating videos to your blog, which is something I might try with Letters For Lucas some day after she made it look so easy. NOT!
But it was DeNae Handy (My Real Life was on Backorder) and Mama Kat (Mama’s Losin’ It) that stole the show for me!
DeNae’s kind nature and wit make her an absolute joy to listen to. I wish she was my neighbor so that she could help me with my writing, maybe babysit Lucas form time to time and I bet she’s a real hoot after a glass of wine. She shared so many writing tips and good things for us all to remember that I have to share some here:
Your readers are people. Your readers are you. Write for you and you write for your readers.
Read, read, read… just as singer sing, writers write in language that speaks to them.
Make sure it is your story to tell.
The Internet lives forever! Be careful what you put out there. People are more important than a punchline.
Generosity plays well on the Internet. Support, support and support some more.
And Mama Kat, well, she’s just awesome and I must have told her nine times (shaking my head in complete and utter embarrassment).
I came away inspired and encouraged by this amazing group of women PLUS, I met the incredible writers behind Mandyland, San Diego Momma and BernThis!
I have a list of things I can do to improve my blog and my writing and I have a ton of new friends to boot.
It was Ashley that started the day by saying, You have a story, You have a voice. You deserve to be here and those words resonated with me throughout the conference and today. There may be 4 million mommy bloggers, but only one Letters For Lucas.
A HUGE big thank you to our hosts, the SITS Girls, Tiffany and Francesca for putting on a terrific conference.
Thank you too, to Morgan, (The Little Hen House) who is my friend in real life and was kind enough to help a sister out by lending me her phone charger and a pen. 
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Hey, I see my card in your stack! hee hee
It was so fun to meet you! And I was the same way with Kat!
"writers write in language that speaks to them" – love this quote from Denae! And love the pic of you and Mama Kat! 😉
Hi friend! Great wrap up of the conference. You nailed it! So awesome to get to hang sans children!
Great post! I'm excited about going to BlogHer in Aug. Are you going?
I went to the one here in Utah last November! I LOVED it! I met so many great new friends and learned so much! Glad you had a great time 🙂
-Marci
So glad you survived BBC. Hopefully you can share some tips before BlogHer that might be helpful for me as a conference newbie. I like the advice of staying true to yourself and your voice and not selling out. I think that is important as your blog grows. Thanks for sharing some of what you learned.
Oh, I'm so, so happy that it was such a good experience for you! YAY!
So glad you had fun at BBC! I'm going to BBC in Chicago in August – can't wait! I loved the line…"there may be 4 million mommy bloggers but only one Letters for Lucas" – so true and something to remember. 😉
I absolutely loved "There may be 4 million mommy bloggers, but only one Letters For Lucas."
Glad you had a good time!!
Look at all those biz cards?! Oh my gosh. Sounds like a great success!!!
It was *great* meeting you! It was a blast huh?!
Great to see you again, Tonya!
I'm so glad you went to the conference and got so much out of it. Looking forward to seeing you again soon!!
How fun! What a great day and such an educational experience for ya! Can't believe your phone died half-way thru it! Geesh, iPhones really don't last long, do they?! I'm super jealous you got to meet Mama Kat! She rocks! : )
I love that you went, and had such a great experience! Warm up for BlogHer!!
That sounds so fun! I really want to go to a blogging conference (hence putting it on my life list) even though the idea totally intimidates me.
Love the tips – thanks for sharing!
so so cool. i really want to go to one someday. lucky! 🙂
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