“My First Time At BlogOn” – Fran, Whinge, Whinge, Wine!
Last week I attended my very first BlogOn, and I want to tell you all about it.
Things didn’t start so well. The older I’m getting, the more delicate my constitution and without going into detail, a friend and I spent the previous night playing tag whilst we took turns to vomit our dinners into the toilet of our Air BnB. So that was really fun. I finally stopped puking and got to sleep about 6.30am (at which point, down south, my children who were being looked after by my parents were just about to start their day) and slept for two blissful hours before I woke up, and that was it.
Feeling mightily delicate, unsurprisingly I did not make it across Manchester for the beginning of the conference.
Instead walking in just as the first session had come to a close. I still made it though; such was my commitment to BlogOn and the goody bag that I’d been watching like a hawk on Instagram; like a toddler coveting plastic tat, wild horses wouldn’t have kept me away.
I met up with some blogging friends of mine, we grabbed a lunch each and found a seat, and they filled me in on the details of the day so far. It was fab to meet them; if I’d have been nervous then it would have been an entirely wasted emotion because they were all super lovely as bloggers tend to be.
We took the lunch break as an opportunity to visit the brand stalls.
As a parenting blogger they were all really relevant, and the thing that struck me about this conference compared to others I’ve been to is that the PRs manning the stands knew why they were there and were keen to work with bloggers rather than simply promoting their brand. I’ve already had email contact from one regarding a review which is very exciting!
The sessions were useful; I definitely chose the right ones for me despite my fragile state.
I particularly enjoyed Ciara’s Facebook talk. I am a bit of a Facebook addict and I’ve put a lot of effort into growing my page but mainly through trial and error, but I found myself nodding my head along with everything she said as well as learning some new tips which I’ll definitely be putting into practice.
The icing on the cake was, well, the cake.
And the wine, and the raffle, and the tombola and all the other little details that made it so much more than just a conference, but a fun social event too.
I was absolutely in awe of the raffle table – and two out of my five tickets won, which meant I came home with not three but FIVE bags which made my life (I am a ridiculous sucker for a goody bag) although I did have to donate the heavier things to a local blogging friend, who upon seeing the goods has vowed to go to the next BlogOn. Except she can’t because it’s ALL SOLD OUT.