It has been one month since the Midwest Moms Media – Brands and Bloggers Summit. The Summit was just the right size, with just the right amount of information for my tired mind to absorb.
What I took away from the BBSUMMIT is how we’re all making an effort to help each other to be successful and expand our personal and professional connections. Brands and bloggers need each other. Online media has taken the world by storm and by attending niche conferences like this one, we can really dig in and focus on what it takes to help one another.
Our first session consisted of a panel of influential bloggers and brands, discussing their experiences being pitched and making pitches. The session was moderated by Barbara Rozgonyi. Bloggers are all very much connected with each other and if someone thinks a pitch was not delivered appropriately, chances are, there are many more that also feel this way. This fact lead to discussions across the board on how bloggers would like to be pitched and in turn, how bloggers can pitch the brands they love.
I know that we all have our own opinions on pitches. What some think is a major faux pas, others may just press the delete key and move on without looking back. The goal of Session I: Building Blogger and Brand Relationships was for us to express our opinions and spark ideas about how to better approach pitching and being pitched. Because, if no one speaks up, how can we improve our interactions? We all shared ideas and gained some great insight from the session’s expert blogger and brand panelists.
Next on the agenda was networking. I loved how the networking time was managed. Each attendee had a name badge and on the inside of that badge was the day’s agenda, prize drawing entry form and sponsor table checklist.
Each numbered box represents a sponsor’s table. Visit each sponsor and exchange contact information. The sponsor “marks” your card. After you have visited each sponsor, you can complete the Prize Drawing Entry on the reverse side for a chance to win big prizes at the end of the day. I can’t stop raving about this idea! I thought it went really well.
After networking and lunch, we settled back in at the DoubleTree for Session II: FTC Guidelines Overview and How it Impacted the PR and Blogger World. This session was lead by Sarah Evans.
Sarah was adorably pregnant in the photo above and I’m happy to share that she brought her baby boy, @KashtonEvans into the world just a few days ago (Congrats, Sarah!). You can view her presentation right here:
After Sarah’s presentation, Nancy Loo took the stage for Session III, Catching Traditional Media’s Air Waves – Beyond Press Releases. Nancy helped us understand how to prepare for on-air interviews. I could have used her tips a few years ago! She offered BBSUMMIT attendees some good pointers about online presence related to catching a reporter’s attention and getting your story noticed.
After some more networking, Miss Lori took the stage and gave us all a boost of self-confidence. If anyone is good at encouraging a positive attitude, it’s Miss Lori.
Her presentation was inspiring and her advice to all of us is to take A.C.T.I.O.N. You can learn all about that in Miss Lori’s recap post. I encourage you to watch the videos in her post and make mental notes of her wise information.
I really enjoyed myself at the Brands and Bloggers Summit and not just because I was a media sponsor, although, it was very cool to have my own table with my own banner attached to it, passing out uber cool products from BBSUMMIT11 swag sponsors: Jabra, About Your Time, LLC, Cascadian Farm and Erin Gallagher Jewelry. Oh yeah. That was so cool!
Here are some other great recaps of BBSUMMIT11 across the web:
Oh Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy – Life as a working mom with three boys!
Alright, I know there are more recaps out there! Unfortunately, I just don’t have time to go and grab all of the links right at the moment. Please leave me a comment and a link to your BBSUMMIT recap post if you’ve written one. I’d love to read your thoughts!
Also, I’ve linked up to everyone (hopefully) that stopped by my table at the Summit HERE.
Thanks for linking! Your recap is pretty great, too! :)
Thank you for the awesome recap and including mine as well. I can’t wait for the next event! :)