What a difference a week makes. This time last week I was with 60 other New Zealand bloggers as part of the Around the Table – Bloggers Connecting conference held here in Christchurch. It was a fantastic opportunity to meet other bloggers, gain techie tips, get ideas and figure out how I want to tweak This Mum Rocks.
Fast forward a week: A rainy Saturday night, with an evening to focus on This Mum Rocks and reflect on what I gained from attending Around the Table. Here is just a sample of what I learned:
1. Choose a blogging platform that suits your needs. Most Bloggers Connecting attendees were using blogger. As you can see from the address, I use WordPress and am now more confident that I made the right decision. It works for me and what I want to do with This Mum Rocks.
2. Photos, Graphic Design and Visuals: I should probably think a little more about photos and the whole visual side of things. Would you believe I didn’t take a single photo over the weekend. I spent a lot of time listening and meeting new people, but since I live in Chch, I wasn’t doing the whole tourist thing. Also, there’s an art to taking posed shots or selfies. Trust me to be the one always with their head down or looking in the other direction.
3. CHCH retail tips: There’s a tea shop, Teasme , on Riccarton Road that I need to check out. Thanks Jen from Utterly in Love for the heads up.
4. I need to Redo my About Page: It’s time to update my About page to better reflect who I am and the focus of This Mum Rocks. This Mum Rocks used to be a blog that supported a radio programme I hosted. Now that I’ve shifted to Christchurch, the gears on This Mum Rocks have shifted as well. The About page updated is officially on the To Do list!
5. Privacy Issues need to be addressed: The Mayor of a small town where we lived is a friend on Facebook. Before clicking submit/send/publish I say to myself ”Do I really want the Mayor of South Wairarapa to read this?” Everyone has differing opinions on privacy and disclosure. Regardless of whether the blog is personal, topical or business related, it is important to figure out how much you want, can and should disclose and reveal about your life and the lives of those around you.
6. I might be a walking Emma Makes advertisement: On any given day I am likely to have 6 Emma Makes products with me. The people from Felt were doing soundbites and asked who my favorite Felt seller was. I looked down at my Custom made Emma Makes bag, opened said bag and pulled out a Knitted Skulls notebook, a Plans & Schemes Notebook, an Orange Jandal notebook, and a Bite Me Pencil all stored inside a plaid Emma Makes iPad case. Umm, yep, I’m a bit of a fan. Whats even better, Emma gave every attendee a notebook and Pencil in their goodie bag with a little note to the bloggers inviting them to connect with her. Talk about switched on. Emma, you rock!
7. People can mistake my sense of humor for being serious: There is a knack to making light social conversation. You know the type of chit chat that goes on at happy hour events and networking sessions. I need work on that a bit: Made a cheeky straight faced comment about Gore and fashion and the lovely Kelly from Kiwi Women’s Style thought I was serious. (note to those reading, Gore is lovely, and one of my fav songs is a punk song Girl from Gore, circa 2004).
I realize I’m a little late to the party with my post conference reflections, but hey, better late than never. :o)
Thanks to all the bloggers who organised a fantastic weekend full of learning and laughter.
