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| A fish out of water |
Seems everyone is doing it. I don’t like to stand out of the crowd, so I might as well do it too. It’s time to reflect, to review, to sum up and write down what I actually got out of the inaugural Australian Bloggers Conference.
- Be yourself, be authentic – in your blogging, in your Twittering, in all your social networking online. Readers can pick a fake, a facade and will not return. Being yourself means that you will connect with people who “get” you, with whom you share interests and values. More importantly, readers who will keep coming back and eventually become your community.
- In order to be authentic you need to know who you are and what you stand for. This really gave me food for thought. I have revisited this so many times and still my definition of who I am keeps changing. And I guess it will keep doing that because I, just like everyone else, will keep growing. My best definition of what I stand for is now the description of my blog. You can see it above.
- All blogging “rules” are there to be broken. You need to do what works best for your blog, for your community and for your purpose in blogging.
- It is possible to be as much in awe of your favourite bloggers as of your favourite movie stars. Even though I managed to say hello to a few of them, I could not hold a proper conversation. Perhaps I needed more wine…
- I felt like a fish out of water for most of the time. Apart from the social anxiety and awkwardness I already mentioned, I knew that I was only a little fish in a very big pond. Most people didn’t know who I was. But a few did!
- Most Mumy Bloggers are also Wife Bloggers, which was another reason I felt like a fish out of water. If not talking about their kids, they talk about their husbands. And a lot are free to blog because of the support from their husbands. I felt like I had very little in common with most people I spoke with.
- It was so refreshing to be in a room full of people, mostly women, who get what you’re talking about! I may not have had much in common with them, not that I talked to everybody, but we’re all bloggers and we get blogging. Noone in my immediate circle of family and friends really understands it, so it was liberating to talk about it without having to explain the basics.
- Bloggers are very generous. With their time, expertise, advice. And hugs!
- Twitter is addictive when you know the people tweeting IRL. And it provides an extra dimension to a conference, as an undercurrent of commentary on the hotness of certain panelists sweeps through the room. Someone said that it’s like passing notes in class and not getting caught!
- Bloggers get free stuff! Our goodie bags were amazing! Being used to coming back from a conference with some dodgy pens, fridge magnets and a stress ball, I was pleasantly surprised at the quality and quantity of gifts in our swag bags.
- I find it extremely difficult to be with people for extended periods of time. From the time I left my car at the airport car park to the time I got back inside it – about 50 hours later – I was with people. By the time I got home, I was physically ill. I felt as if I had the flu. I ached all over. My head was buzzing. I was absolutely exhausted – total sensory overload!
- I feel safer travelling with my kids. Somehow, when I’m with them, even when they’re cranky, I feel OK, no matter where I am. They’re my security blanket.
Did you go to AusBlogCon2011? What was the best thing you got out of it?
Oh Dorothy I so wanted to chat to you more. The few snippets we had you were so bloody funny. Next year my lovely xx
My hubby's an introvert – 50 hours with people would have all but killed him :). Great job sticking it out and living to write to tell the tale xxx
Yo, you've got a crazy amazing story there. Good on you for having the gut to tell it.
Nice post. I reckon I'd be about the same at a conference like this – loving a lot of it but suffering from a little people overload by the end. Sounds like a great experience.
Hi Diane,
I'm sorry we didn't get to connect. Have been reading your tweets and you sound like a fun person. Perhaps a bit more fun is what I needed….
See you next year?
Me too! There was so many I wanted to talk to and so little time and stamina. Small group workshops would have made it so much easier… Next year…
sorry we didn't get the chance to chat 🙁 swagbags were friggen unreal and all the bloggers i did meet were wonderful ,open and really friendly:-) xxxx I'm going to #ausblogcon2012 (hopefully melb) are you?!
Yes, I'll be there and fully sponsored this time….
Look, it was really great. I do not regret going for a minute. I know what I'll do differently next time and I won't be so nervous, because I have met all these people before. And I did learn a lot. I haven't spent much time away from a screen since I got back! My children aren't very happy with me… Might take tomorrow off 😉
Love reading this and I'm sure if I was there I would have felt the same! PS: I love the colours you were wearing! Nice to see you in colour whilst most others were in all black.
PSS: Great to see Toushka there with you too!
Thanks, Cheree. There were quite a few colourful dresses. Just did not snap them all.
And Toushka was moving in very different circles to me, schmoozing like a pro…
Dorothy – you came across as soon confident and relaxed – did you realise that?
This is a really candid wrap up – I'm glad. xx
Thanks, Lucy. I might have looked that way, but I wish I felt it. I wish I knew what to say to all you wonderful people. Small talk is just so not my thing and frankly I just froze up most of the time with a smile on my face…
drinking like a fish actually.
Great wrap up! I think next year a two day event with small workshops will be the go. I also envisage a speed networking session – like speed dating. so we get to, and are forced to, meet everyone. I spoke to people I felt comfortable speaking to but stayed well away from anyone that I felt I might not be able to sustain a conversation with due to being star struck. lol.
Sorry you feel ill. An overload of people all of a sudden is a bit hard work really.
I hope you had a good time. It was good to have your friendly face around on the day. And just between you and me – You. Were. Awesome!
Loved this rundown, Dorothy. Love your honesty and can relate on so many points!
Thanks, Tania. I had a feeling that there were a few of us who felt like this. I hope to talk to you at the next one..!
Great post Dorothy! I'm pretty comfortable chatting to people I don't know but I too was ILL when I got home. Shaking like a leaf! But well worth it.
Sorry we did not meet properly at the Conference. It felt like a case of so many bloggers, so little time (especially as I only bought a day ticket)…I think I might have asked a question after you?
In the lead up I thought the social anxiety might overwhelm me, and a few times on the day I really had to push myself to really engage with strangers who I feared would not think me or my little blog worthy. I can do small talk but the lead up of thinking about it can do my head in!
Anyway, great post, and glad you still came along!
Thank you, it was definitely too many bloggers, too little time. Would have loved to say hello to everybody, but not very good at mingling, especially after 5 years as a SAHM. I used to be able to the corporate scene, but I never had to represent myself!
It was so lovely to meet you at the conference, even though we didn't get to chat for long enough. I agree with several of the comments that a different structure next year might help us to get a chance to chat with more people. There were simply too many people to meet and greet let alone have a proper conversation with.
I totally understand your point about enjoying being with people who understand blogging and why you blog as well. My friends and family have no idea and it can be quite awkward at times trying to talk about something I have read online or someone I have chatted with on Twitter. I guess to them it just doesn't seem 'real', but I have made some great online friendships and have found the blogging world to be incredibly supportive and positive on the whole.
Looking forward to chatting with you more on Twitter and catching up properly at the next AusBlogCon. 🙂
I was hoping to have been able to chat to you more, but I know what you mean about overload! What a weekend.
I'm with you, twitter has taken on a whole new dimension now hasn't it.
It was a case of lots of bloggers, not enough time really, and I think we are all a little exhausted now!
Tell me about it, it's Thursday and I still haven't recovered. It's been great catching up with everyone on Twitter and their blogs, though. Makes it really personal.
You too, Susan. I have really been enjoying your blog, as well.
I mentioned to a friend the other day that I was doing a paid review on my blog and she said “whaa….?” And I don't even try to explain to my parents. Maybe I'll let them read one day. Or maybe they already do? (!)
I have actually made a real point of meeting IRL the people I have made the greatest connections with online. I normally do it only after I have “known” them for a while, so seeing so many people in person on Saturday, was really hard, as I am only now putting faces to names to blogs…
Just think how well briefed we will be at the next one!!
Hi honey! I loved meeting you and totally get the overload thing. I felt quite similar by the end. I totally loved meeting everyone I met and hanging out with my tribe, but by the end I was craving a little bit of me time. Time to come down and be by myself. I'm glad you came and I am really glad I got to meet you. I am in awe of how far your life has turned around since you started blogging. Hopefully we can catch up when I'm in Melbourne.
Me too. I'm glad we got to say hello. I can't believe how much I've blogged and generally worked on my blog since the weekend.
I do hope we can catch up. I'll see you on Twitter, in the meantime…
I love this post! You are brave for going to the conference, given how highly social it must have been. I would have been scared to death. And your take-aways are very insightful. I find extended social contact exhausting, too. When I attended a book conference last year, I found many of the same insights-about being authentic and honest and how wonderful it feels to be in a place where everyone shares common interests. And the goodie bags- I had to ship home two boxes of free books! I'd love to attend a blogger's convention at some point.
I have to say that I didn't realise how confronting it would be. Five years is a long time to be away from the conference scene and going as yourself, rather than representing something you don't care about, has its own challenges. It certainly made me question who I was, or who I thought I was and what I stood for. Maybe you should get to BlogHer in the next couple of years? Hey we could time it so we could both get there in the same year!
Really? I did too! (Feel a bit fishy I mean…) I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to talk to you properly … so many lovely people, so little time! Hopefully there will be another get-together soon.
Hi honey! I loved meeting you and totally get the overload thing. I felt quite similar by the end. I totally loved meeting everyone I met and hanging out with my tribe, but by the end I was craving a little bit of me time. Time to come down and be by myself. I'm glad you came and I am really glad I got to meet you. I am in awe of how far your life has turned around since you started blogging. Hopefully we can catch up when I'm in Melbourne.
You too, Susan. I have really been enjoying your blog, as well.
I mentioned to a friend the other day that I was doing a paid review on my blog and she said “whaa….?” And I don't even try to explain to my parents. Maybe I'll let them read one day. Or maybe they already do? (!)
I have actually made a real point of meeting IRL the people I have made the greatest connections with online. I normally do it only after I have “known” them for a while, so seeing so many people in person on Saturday, was really hard, as I am only now putting faces to names to blogs…
Just think how well briefed we will be at the next one!!
AusBlogCon was my first conference too. I thought it was an interesting experience and it was great to meet so many people. I've watched a few other conferences via Twitter since then and it seems that the reactions of conference goers are pretty similar. Everyone feels like they're a fish out of water and, in many ways, we all are – out of our comfort zones entirely. It's really worth going along though, I think. If only for the hotness of some of the speakers!
I watched the conference from the safety of twitter. It sounded quite fabulous but I can totally understand the nerves and bouts of shyness and all the rest. I would have been the same. Glad that overall you found it a good experience. I am hoping to one day make it to one myself.
Michelle (rewind)
I followed on Twitter and there was some great stuff tweeted. I am sure I would have felt the same if I had been there too, but great that you got a lot out of it. x