Mumsnet Blogfest 2014 A Bit of a Veteran

Arriving at Kings Cross halted me in my tracks as it did last year when I travelled to Mumsnet Blogfest. Except fast forward a year and Kings Cross is even more transformed. Last year I was gasping at the redevelopment and admiring the gloss/regeneration. I have lived in North London all of my life so I know the Kings Cross of old only too well. Unlike last year, I didn't have the spiritual connection to channel a political poem on the way home, but I was conscious of the many cranes that littered the skyline, further proof as to why our borders have been opened, for a workforce that is very cheap busy. Working in HR for as long as I did, it is as clear to me as the nose on my face, why free movement of labour was allowed and why it is therefore always people in the building trade that you hear despairing about it on the radio. Capitalism chasing the cheapest resources for the greatest profit, using the recession as an excuse.

My gaze lingered at the architecture as I took the photo above, and it seems that's what's intended. It is an important eye catching building: One Pancras Square and it would seem there are many plans for that district, hence its having its own escalator to a London Underground entrance (did you see the discreet sign above?). The website I have just linked to boasts: "footfall here is exceptional - thousands of workers, shoppers, commuters, students and residents will pass by each day" - now either that is their dream for the future OR they are talking about the busier side of Kings Cross OR that applies to week days (Blogfest was this Saturday 8th November) as I found that side of Kings Cross to be like a ghost town, except for the fact that the posters that plastered the hoardings were very pleasing on the eye. I could have taken photos of them all but didn't, as I wanted to punctually arrive by 9 a.m. So last year I walked down York Way itself (the address of the venue: 90 York Way Kings Place) whereas this year this path way below (which the above building sits on) was my route to York Way. Presumably, last year it was still all under construction. It does all look brand new, and the website I linked to above leads me to believe Pancras Square will be fully populated by 2016.

The path above though, that provided my shortcut to the Mumsnet Blogfest venue on York Way, if this is anything to go by, might actually be a ROAD in the future:Kings Cross Talking Heads.

The first thing you do on arrival at Blogfest (apart from registering and receiving your name badge lanyard with accompanying complimentary copy of RED magazine) is to go down a long escalator (so long in fact that it passes a floor!). I think for those arriving later, descending that escalator must be very daunting as you get all that time to look at the vast crowd of 400 intelligent women you're about to face. I was so early that the tea/coffee pastries were not yet set up downstairs, so after a visit to the cloakroom (at this point queue-less), I popped upstairs to get one some, and then balanced my coffee cup, saucer and pastries on the way back down, where I bumped into the organiser I spoke to on arrival (I'd asked him if I was allowed to video). Except THAT is what my memory tells me, but the Mumsnet photos tell me that I still had my jacket draped over my arm, when the place was already crowded, so unless that photo just shows a quarter of the crowds that were to come, I can't explain it, but there was definitely no queue when I handed my jacket in. I think I'll have to have a dictaphone for future conferences so that I can live blog (verbally) as the day unfolds, as afterwards it's all a blur. PLUS trying to summon up the energy to then blog about it - pah! In an ideal world I'd love to have blogged Saturday night when I was still on a high but I had to go and meet Aaron at his Aunt's where he'd spent the day playing joyfully playing with his cousins. I am only blogging now, despite tired, out of some sort of misplaced obligation that I ought to, and surrounding me right now is things in the home that I should be doing and Aaron's school bell is going to ring real soon! Edit: he's now home, watching a DVD and I am STILL trying to finish this off.... zzz

Once breakfast was set up downstairs I had seconds (breakfast three if you include the one at home) with friends. Early starts always do make me very hungry. The first friendly faces I set eyes on were Pink Oddy and Monika Mum on the Brink - it was lovely to have a good old chat with them both, particularly Joy with regards to You Tube and Monika with regards to travel blogging - they're both incredibly knowledgeable:

I did get a quick squeeze with the lovely Michelle from Purple Pumpkin Blog too.

I then wandered off and got chatting to other lovely bloggers like Californian Mum in London and Adele Circus Queen.

I can't even remember who I walked into the opening session with. I think I may have been alone by this point. If I was, then that was the time in the main hall where as I took a seat a blogger I have known for years told her neighbour who I was, but didn't actually say Hello *sigh*. I can't remember if it was THIS session or another. It was such an amazing day it's all mixed up in my head.

I sat up attentively and listened to Justine and Kate's opening welcomes, but the session first scheduled:
Always On: How does technology shape the way we think?
bored me to tears. This was for three reasons. (1) the heading was wrong. It was about the world wide web, and social media, NOT technology, as Lou (who teaches Technology) politely pointed out to the organisers later over drinks. (2) they kept talking about the effect it was having on our children, and too often stated the wrong solutions for this. The only interesting point that I picked up on was that children wouldn't have a "before the internet" era like we did, so they are growing up ONLINE (and even more so as the child of a blogger). (3) There was a live Twitter stream on screen behind the panel, so I found myself distractedly reading that, finding brilliant tweets that I would then locate on my phone to retweet them. The reason I am stating the latter as a reason the session was boring is that when there were great sessions I was so enthralled by what I was hearing I had no time for tweeting (people watching my Twitter feed at home probably thought I'd fallen asleep or left LOL - no, when I am interested all of my faculties are focused on stage not on social media).

Best way for our children to learn about the Internet is to keep them off it? Please. Apply that to rest of world, it's nonsense #blogfest
— Jax Blunt (@liveotherwise) November 8, 2014

That tweet reminds me, I did hug the lovely Jax at some point in the day.

Another good one:

Older people have a 'Before the internet' identity, children haven't. How can we as parents prepare them for this? #blogfest
— chris mosler (@thinlyspread) November 8, 2014

Talk about over stimulating my senses. My eyes were on the screen, my fingers were on the phone and my ears were (intermittently) on the panel. No wonder I left the event tired. Oh and I was intrigued to hear that Sarah Vine (a panel member) is Michael Gove's wife (yes you are correct in discerning that I did not previously know that). She was brave facing a crowd of Mums given how well liked he is!

After that opening session I then needed a good one to cancel it out but all too soon it was time for more coffee, which thankfully was followed by:How to Make Money From Your Blog. After the coffee I noticed everyone gone and therefore wanted to get into the main hall for this session quickly as it was relevant and the first one where we got a choice. Given that most people had gone in already and we could see that we no longer had time to go downstairs, a gang of us, with me as their leader headed for the balcony seating area. By this time I had lots of bags and spent ages getting myself comfortable. JUST as I got my camera out and was about to record a lady came along and asked us to move downstairs - they didn't have the manpower to man the balcony. Much huffing and puffing ensued, as we gathered up our bits. In the scuffle my camera and phone dropped on the floor but thankfully Laura helped a very flustered me get myself together. I don't know how we got all the way downstairs AND seated for me to video as much as I did, but maybe time stood still as we sulkily reluctantly moved. Luckily they DID open the balcony later, and that was the relaxed environment from where Emma and I watched the writer session - brave me going on the balcony once again, but at least I have now fully exorcised the demons from last year, as all of us who spoke against the feminist panel last year were sat up there (oh and no! we hadn't been drinking, as has become the Chinese Whisper). But it's history now, and there were ZERO dramas this year. In fact it caused a couple of people to say that the event felt flat. I think it is only veterans who've been before who felt that, as anyone new loved how high brow it was, and the shock bit of typical Mumsnet style swearing that was occasionally flung around, but I'm used to all that from previous  years. Justine did say something in the morning that led me to believe there would be a twist in the tale, something unexpected or a sting in the tail, so I spent all day on red alert, but the day passed without any stormy waters. None of the debates were heated, and there was audience participation at the end of every session.

The How to Make Money session was brilliant. Don't worry I recorded most of it, and am as we speak uploading it to You Tube.

In this session, Tara Cain of StickyFingers will share how she brokered a deal with Coca Cola, the world’s biggest brand – with additional tips from Zone, the agency that put them together. Plus, our sponsor Skimlinks will be giving you the inside track on affiliate marketing and how it works for bloggers.

The session further confirmed to me that the rise of the Professional Blogger (as per the States) is a shift here to stay. I will be joining Skimlinks as soon as I get a moment. The session didn't cover ALL of the many and varied ways that you can make money from your blog, but I think often it is better to focus on a couple of things and explain them really well, and that is what the session delivered.

My ever so BRIEF view from upstairs:

Thankfully after being uprooted, when we did get comfortable downstairs we were able to remain there for the next INCREDIBLE back to back session:

Think Bombs: Francesca Martinez, Camila Batmangelidh and Suzanne Moore

This session was humbling to say the least. Camila kicked off, and was so deeply spiritually profound, but either people were hushed into a respectful silence or it all went over their heads as sadly she did not get the biggest applause which left me temporarily worried about humanity (I know that sounds deep and dramatic but it was honestly how I briefly felt). 

The next two ladies were SO funny that any sadness I had was shortlived. Thankfully all three of their think bombs are already live online thanks to Mumsnet Blogfest;

Suzanne Moore of the wild hair was worried about following Camila but she needn't have done:

You will be humbled if you watch this video of Francesca Martinez

Right hot footing it on the heels of such wisdom and wit was a welcome lunch. As I queued for food I got talking to a lady who said she had been doing seva (selfless service, which I have practiced as part of Kundalini Yoga since 2001). Given that this was the word that had popped into my head during Camila's inspiring talk it was cathartic to talk to someone in the flesh about it, as I often worry that I can't find like minded people in the parent blogging community (note I said find, I am not saying that they don't exist). Which is why I sometimes feel lonely in a crowd, a feeling that descended about a year ago when I started to feel like a fish out of water (i.e. not a craft blogger, not a food blogger, not a travel blogger, not a twee blogger, not a beauty blogger, who am I?). An alien feeling for me, when I am normally so sociable and such a chatterbox. Sometimes I wish it was like Cybermummy 2011 when everyone spoke to everyone with SUCH enthusiasm - it was almost childlike and fun! Before we all got pigeon-holed, before dare I say it, people got egos.  I know this feeling of not belonging is deliberate as it is to spur me on to blog about what I am meant to blog about, but thus far I have resisted the calling. And as we all know, what you resist persists, so the call only gets louder, as does my discomfort. Maybe I am just a square peg in a round hole.

For that reason amongst others, at these type of events, I have now completely lost the ability to small-talk. I noticed it for the first time at BritMums Live 2014 (despite having attended since 2011) and this time at Blogfest despite this being my 3rd Blogfest in a row (which equates to all of them)! So the drinks were a bit odd as I couldn't do the whole work the room, socialise, network thing, despite recognising LOTS of faces. When you say "your son looks so much like you to a blogger", and it turns out to be their daughter (and normally you WOULD know that), it's time to leave, or have another drink. I chose the latter. Thank God for Emma - we propped up the wall drinking the free alcohol bubbles (although you'd never know it from her post) on tap and ate our body weight in canapés as we were right by the door where they came from the kitchen. Emma didn't wolf quite so many as me, as she was heading for a posh nosh up with Pink Oddy. After they dashed off I got talking to the lovely Lou and Swazi. I already knew Lou from Morrisons (Brit Mums Christmas event last year), and Swazi I gelled with immediately, and having read her most recent blog post I now know why. They both have little rascals boys, so we had lots to talk about, and despite talking a dozen to the minute we DID talk about our boys and not just blogging.

Anyway, I digress, where was I?
LUNCH... 

Yes, you see right, I am a growing girl (width ways at least) so there are beef AND noodles on my plate (having a friendly waiter helped there), washed down with a lovely glass of Coca Cola Life. It took them both to fill me up, and delicious it all was too. The beef WAS yummy. Surprising that you can put away so many pastries and still eat a lunch like that, but perhaps that's why I am a size 18 LOL!

I started off by sitting with Adele, Laura Side Street and Fritha of TigerLilly Quinn, but I couldn't focus on the conversation, as a I felt scattered so I went off for a wander (which turned out meant to be as I bumped into Ella followed by Emma). But before I did wander, I took the obligatory #ClearAPlate photo as that is SUCH a great campaign by Unilever:

As I walked around I bumped into Jen, Susanna and Ginger Warrior (Ceri) which was lovely. I giggled with @Gingwarr about the fact that I wasn't videoing the day as I thought she would (she did a fab one of BlogHer in California). But in actual fact I needed to conserve my camera for the videoing that I did do, as with all the sessions I recorded I did have to plug my camera into the wall several times.

During lunch, and on a wander, I was delighted to bump into and cuddle wonderful Hayley from Downs Side Up who I adore. Shortly after that I had a lovely chat with Emma from Crazy with Twins (although you'd never know it from her post) and it was great to catchup. So after a deep and meaningful with Ella we wandered in late to the 
Panel: Can blogging change the world? 
session. There was lots said here that was so relevant to how to make a cause or movement successful but I found the chairperson to be very curt - annoyingly so. Whenever the lady to her left (next to Chris) said something really profound, she didn't at all acknowledge it and would just swiftly move to another panel member. Before I change the world I'd like to change her a little ;-)

The lady I speak of who floored me with the wisdom of her words was this lady (photo credit: from Mumsnet Facebook):

Do you know which of the panel she was? Very wise lady! Incredibly articulate!

Going off on a tangent for a moment: 
Oh and by the way, I might write "like a girl" and blog "like a Mum" but this. this. this. is why that is okay (I wish the panel members from last year with their Self Abnegating Mother b*llsh&t could watch the below):

Be powerful in your divine feminine NOT in spite of it. BE a woman, NOT a woman trying to be equal with a man. After all, being, is so much more attractive and self-fulfilling than trying. Leading by example, by being radiant (like Camila) is so much more awe inspiring than fighting a good fight and speaking of causes to be won. Taken out of context, that doesn't at all make sense, but this post is long enough already!

I didn't put much thought into how I looked as it was all about getting there:

Speaking of getting there, I need to thank Lucy from Lucy's Madhouse. I entered a competition over at Anya Older Single Mum to win a ticket to Blogfest. I mistakenly thought that two of us would win, but in reality the winner would win a pair of tickets. I got Lucy's second ticket, thank God, for which I am incredibly grateful. Thanks ladies and thanks Coca Cola for providing the prize!

I digressed again didn't I? The next session I went to was:
How to be a YouTube star
It was utterly brilliant and the Google/You Tube lady who delivered it, is a born performer. I don't know if she has a channel herself but she knows how to work a stage and capture an audience. The session was very technical, so I don't think following the tips would make you a "star" as the name of the session suggests but it would at the very least increase your you tube traffic and potential. The star quality after all has to come from the person being videoed. I'll make the photos I took of the slides into a slideshow, as I did not have enough memory/battery to film the session. How funny would that be though? Putting a session about You Tube ON You Tube. Just cropped my photo, and realised, the session wasn't about stardom it was about fandom! Am I alone in thinking that sounds a little rude? Hmmm maybe it's just me

The slide above is a summary of the whole session truth be told. What also came across LOUD AND CLEAR was that for 1.5 years "watch time" is rather a big deal in You Tube land. They'll rank our video higher (that one with greater views) if our video means that the person's session time on You Tube (on our channel for example) is longer, so we are to encourage people to WATCH, not just click through, and we ought to have things like an end card slide to show them what to watch next.

This is a pic of all of the You Tube slides (or at least the ones I managed to photograph) not sure if it is readable:

I have now uploaded my recording of the You Tube: FANDOM session. I warn you I was limited for battery and memory space so it is not all of it:

But hopefully you will get the gist. My pleasure.

If you were following the #Blogfest hashtag at home then you will KNOW that the next session blew everyone away

The Power of Writing 
I could appreciate the gravitas of the many quotable things the panel were saying and I adore Nick Hornby (I have a couple of his books) but as I have no aspirations to be a writer I wasn't on the edge of my seat and neither was my neighbour Emma. Nick Hornby was by far the most humble person on the panel - the most memorable things he said were (1) you can knock out a novel in a year. But then to qualify this with realism he said he hadn't written one in FIVE. (2)He also talked about conversations he'd had with his son, on whether or not he'd had a good day. A tally of these by said son, aggregated to his having 13 good days in 8 months. So, dear reader, who may be a wannabe writer reading this (although why you'd read MY blog if you wanna be a writer I'll never know) don't worry if you have more bad days than good you could still be a future best selling author. I hope that bit is in my video as my camera times out when it's reached 30 minutes but here is what I did capture. Enjoy!


There was a clear gender division on the stage as the ladies said that if they go home after the school run they get embroiled in emptying the dishwasher and filling the washing machine so  they advised going straight to a cafe to write and drink coffee so that this housework drudgery and servitude (those two words mine not theirs) can be avoided. I don't think I heard Nick express any similar concerns. There was a panel member who is a blogger: How to Be a Domestic Disgrace. I need to check out her blog. 

After the writing session we got to stay in the hall for Lucy Porter, who although I had never heard of before, was utterly fabulous and had us laughing LOTS. She even mentioned the famous Mumsnet Penis Beaker episode that went viral, and captivated all of us with her charm and wit. It was the perfect high for the event to end on, except we now had to go upstairs for free food and drink, followed by a goody bag and home.

Like last year the gin was provided by Fever Tree

Oh and by the way, you can read all the other posts about MumsNet Blogfest here: Mumsnet Blogfest roundup of the day.

Introducing my Mumsnet Blogfest 2013 SPONSOR

Yes, I gawn and done it. I got me a Mumsnet Blogfest 2013 sponsor!  

A luxurious one too.... 

one you can dream about (or on!) ;-)

Let me introduce: The English Mattress Company 

(also known as TEMco.).

Here's some more information about their luxury mattresses for children, for our special little people, so that they can sleep like a Prince or Princess:

Personalised Princess & the Pea (girls) and Captain Black (boys) Ranges

There can be only one mattress fit for your Prince or Princess.  A personally embroidered, luxury bespoke children’s mattress is the only option.
 

The English Mattress Company (TEMCO) (www.theenglishmattresscompany.co.uk) has been making the very finest handmade mattresses for over 120 years and knows what it takes to give children the best night's sleep.  They have now launched a unique bespoke children’s range of mattresses, providing little princes and princesses with a royal sleep like no other.

To launch their new range The English Mattress Company has launched a Made to Measure Luxury Range.  Because the mattresses are custom made and built from scratch, they can create pretty much any size or shape under the sun. From circular to a coloured mattress – even embroidered with HRH.

It’s a big moment for children when they get their first ‘big bed’, and sometimes even more so for mums and dads. Children usually sleep on the same mattress for around ten years, typically for most of their formative years and often into their teens, so choosing a good quality mattress is vitally important for their quality and quantity of sleep – and that of their parents!

 

• Princess and the Pea is a children’s luxury mattress for little girls, which comes complete with a single (wooden!) pea and book, plus their own name embroidered onto the mattress.
• For boys Captain Black children’s luxury mattress has been launched, with golden doubloons and a pirate book, as well as their name on the mattress of course.
  
  
   

Each luxury children’s mattress is manufactured to order and wherever possible, the process is done by hand. Not only will children nestle in the splendour of luxury but the high quality materials make for endless nights of slumber fit for kings and queens.

TEMCo use the most advanced materials to make their mattresses, combining the best of the new with the techniques and expertise that have taken centuries to perfect.  These include a Visco Elastic (memory) foam layer that contours to a child’s body shape for maximum support and a natural Talalay Latex layer – the most comfortable, durable and supportive material available.  The mattress is then finished with a health guard quilted top layer which is anti-bacterial and anti-dust mite which, unlike some rigid cotton covers, allows the springs do their job while also offering support for areas of the body that need it like the shoulders and hips.

 

The children’s Single (3`) mattresses are delivered to customer’s homes with a white glove service.  If mum and dad want a new personalised mattress too, they also come in a full range of sizes including Single (3`), Small Double (4`), Double (4`6”), King Size (5`), Super King Size (6`). Full details of the luxury adult range are online at The English Mattress Company

***

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post in the sense that The English Mattress Company have kindly covered the cost of my entrance to Mumsnet Blogfest, which is Saturday 9th November 2013.

People Make The World Go Round

My blog post on Mumsnet Blogfest did not tell the whole story.  Far from it.  My post was just a "I came, I saw, I learned" post.  What a missed opportunity.  But here's the good thing.  When you blog, you have more than one bite of the cherry.  The Daily Mail might not let Liz Jones write about Musnet Blogfest again, but the beauty of having your own space on the world wide web is that you can say what you want, when you want, how often you want, and hey, Liz, guess what?!?!? Here's the thing! WE don't have Editors.  We hit publish, not send!  AND we write for free so are free to say what we like!  So you know the way you said that we are wearing burkas rather than using our ability to exploit free speech... well like with many things you said, you were just plain wrong.

But you know what I have learned from Kundalini Yoga, and my work on "energy" in general?  When you have an energetic imbalance in a part of your body, this then manifests itself in the physical.  I don't want to make fun of the fact that it was clear you couldn't hear on Saturday, but it goes without saying that you got through the whole session by lip reading.  So that means you have a problem with listening... hmmmm! Having read what you've written, I'd agree that's most certainly the case.  You *perhaps* mingled in the crowds, but surviving on lip reading alone, would have left the audible buzz far from your reach, which is why what you wrote did not quite measure up to the intelligent discussion that was going on around you as you mingled.  And actually, maybe you didn't mingle at all, maybe as this first hand account from one of the blogs you name dropped demonstrates, you didn't even eavesdrop; you resorted to discreetly viewing and mis-remembering a name badge! Shame on you, but I admire your skill at finding out attendees names without having to stoop to actually having to speak to them. God forbid you'd do that!  Anyway, the lady at Mush Brained Ramblings is rather beautiful, and I DID speak to her, in the champagne lounge, post event, for quite some time in fact, but I wouldn't recommend it to you, as you'd have had to smile, and as we saw on Saturday you just don't do that do you!!

Anyway, this is not what this post is for.  This post is for me to talk about beautiful people, but Mush Brained Ramblings is a nice tie in to that, rather like when a DJ mixes two toons before playing the next one :-)

I want to talk about the people.  The people that I met.  Because some beautiful things happened.  I don't know if I would have opened up enough to talk about it here, but having read this post: connections made at blogfest, I just have to.  As that author says, she met amazing people who were quite literally right up her street (nearly) and one who'd even seen her yarn bomb.  How cool is THAT!

So, I was with Anya, from Older Single Mum, which is a story in itself, and I was telling her how I will be having my blog redesigned some time after 19th November, and then I said, if I really want to do what I should be doing (my life's work) I should get a certain domain done, instead of wasting the efforts having this here blog overhauled.  Anyhow, the domain I speak of is for Kundalini Yoga, and I have owned it for 3 months and not done anything with it, even though I KNOW I am meant to.  Right after I said those words, the person walking to the lift ahead of us turned right round and spoke to me.  I'd done my pregnancy yoga teacher training with her.  Now my real life and my blog life never collide let alone my Kundalini life, especially given that I haven't taught or struck a pose since Aaron was born (despite teaching for 6 years right up to 38 weeks pregnant).  Having her there, having her turn round, having her talk to me, felt like God was holding me to account, telling me to GET ON WITH IT.

Now that's a little deep, but then I read the Crochetime blog I linked to above and realised THESE coincidences DO happen, and just like the people she met were tailor made for her, mine were tailor made for me.

But that leaves me now in the knowledge that I do have to get on with it.  Be the person God (or my "higher self") intended.  Do the work that would help others.  Stop languishing and feeling sorry for myself, and most importantly, get the yoga mat out.

I did a vlog a few weeks ago, and Midlife Single Mum commented and asked me to do more of the same, and all I did was share a few breathing techniques.  Rachel saying THAT inspired me.  BUT did I act on it? No! Which is why I am being given another nudge.

Well here are a few out and out nudges I am going to give myself:

• I'll get that website up and running.
• I'll plot my progress on there to show an unfit Mum, not only picking up her pre-baby yoga lifestyle but using it to help others.
• Using it to prevent others from experiencing the PND that I did.
• Using it to get women (hopefully Mums) together, from all over the world to experience breathing, yoga and meditation techniques that are profound and life changing.
• Older Single Mum also has plans, (for the New Year) also of the spiritual kind.  Perhaps we could mentor each other to ensure that neither of us lets life get in the way.  
• Months ago I was getting little nudges along my path from the Mummy Whisperer, so I would quite like to involve her in some way.
• I don't want to just run the website domain (that I am yet to launch) I also.... drum roll... would like to run some retreats, but here I go, into the scary arena where I tell myself I am not good enough, which is why NONE of the above has happened yet.  I am VERY good at self-sabotaging and procrastinating.  I do take action, often, on all the wrong things.
• I write the above to hold myself to account.  Let's see if it works.
• OH and I used to read books about affirmations, but now I consider them old hat and very 80s.  How naughty of me when I know how profound and truly transformational they can be.  Even Olympic athletes have affirmations running through their heads (knowingly and unknowingly) and yet look what I had written in red above.....
• So here, live on the screen let me try and turn that all around:
• I am good enough!
• It all WILL happen!
• I am very good at being creative and making things happen.
• In fact I am a doer and a finisher.  A project leader and an action taker!
• When I take action it is on all of the right things.
• Am I feeling it? No, but like Caitlin Moran said (at least I think she did), I am sure she said something along the lines of fake it till you make it :-)

Oh and P.S. you didn't know I was on Twitter? Well you do now: @NewMumOnline
Liska xx

Mumsnet Blogfest - 10th November 2012

On arrival I could tell Mumsnet Blogfest was going to be a high brow affair.  You could feel it in the air.  I had arrived at Pimlico alone, but seeing 2 ladies (looking expectant - of a conference rather than the arrival of a bundle of joy) I approached them, and even though women in London could literally be going ANYWHERE, yes we were all headed for Mumsnet Blogfest. I can't remember either of their names sadly, but they were lovely and due to shortcuts (theirs not mine) we did an 11 minute walk to Millbank Tower and its impressive views, in 5 minutes.

After a visit to the cloakroom preceded by the necessary collection of a complimentary coffee, croissant and of course The Times (which I carried around all day, despite its heaviness and the fact that I am yet to read it - why would I, I had Caitlin Moran on the way home *coughs*), the first person I laid eyes on was Liz: Cambridge Mummy << click on her link, as she writes a reaction response to Liz Jones mentioning her in the Daily Fail here - she immediately took a photo of me and tweeted it, as you do.  Thank God she did as despite carrying two cameras around all day, that's the only photo I am in. Eeek it's not flattering, and doesn't show off the flat tummy that resulted from me being sick all week, but it's my souvenir that I was indeed there.  The naff hair in a pony tail is also down to the week of sickness, as is the arrival at a conference with NO NOTEBOOK - *head bangs*!

With the lovely

@Louisewkr who I also met yesterday.

I'd normally be livid by what Liz Jones wrote - her headline sets you up for what's to come with: "You blogging mums may as well wear burkas" but it's hard to take it seriously having met her been in the same room as her (she's a lady in crisis), versus the formidable women that were present.  Her article proves yet again that she likes to poke and provoke even if she takes a stereotype or a small percentage of the mummy blogging community and assumes we're all the same.

The day began with a greeting from Mumsnet founder, Justine Roberts, who was followed by Miriam González Durántez aka Mrs Nick Clegg! (I missed the 1st few minutes before I hit "record" sorry! and double sorry as I haven't finished downloading my vid yet).  I am ashamed to say that I had never heard of her before, but I could literally listen to her for hours.  Was shocked to hear she is the wife of Nick Clegg, as I have always found him to be a bit wet; although in some ways his apology song was genius if a little staged naff ;-) 

The standard of Miriam's talk gave us an early prediction of the quality we were to expect from all speakers, who were all clearly chosen to impress and delight in equal measure, and that they did, even Liz Jones in her inimitable way.  There were times when I could neither tweet nor take notes because I was transfixed.  I did a lot of recording on my bloggie till the battery died!

After Miriam's opening keynote, the day began with us staying in the room for "Finding Your Voice" - I couldn't help but wish @TheBloggess would find hers - many times during the session the panellists forgot she was behind them on screen (on a G+ hangout from the States) so she was more like a smiley sun in the sky looking down on them all while we all silently begged her to speak.

@TheBloggess like a sun in the sky

She did get to speak thank God:


  
During this session an "old lady" in the audience asked a question, and we immediately all wanted to read her blog.  She apparently blogs about things she hears like "she shouldn't be allowed out on her own" said about herself :-) she blogs because although it is not fun to hear it, she knows it is funny to write and read it.

One of the panelists said we should "write like you are writing to someone you know (she writes to her sister) as it stops you over explaining".  I think I need to think about this one as I am guilty of this.
 
The 1st breakout session I went to was "Social Media" with Paul Armstrong @munkyfonkey  I videoed a lot of his session, but the slides can be found here.  He had a LOT of content to cover so spoke at about 90 miles an hour, but that is the speed I think at, so I was comfortable. He was an incredibly astute and knowledgeable speaker who added a certain gravitas to the material.
  
Lunch was laid out like a carvery with proper plates and cutlery - anyone attending a conference like this for the first time will now have set the bar high for future events of this sort.  I had the biggest tastiest lunch I have had in I don't know how long - wish I'd taken a photo of it for posterity. Beautiful salad, carved pork, potatoes, risotto, and veg! Had me full, nourished and delighted for HOURS!

I know I can be relied upon to write really detailed posts after conferences because I take notes like minutes BUT what with being sick all week, I was lucky to just get myself there, so hair was in a (nearly) greasy pony tail and I was minus a notebook, so the notes I am looking at now are scraps taken on a few sheets a fellow lovely blogger was generous enough to give me.  Sadly there WAS a notebook in the goodie bag but I only got that on the way home :-(

I went to the intermediate SEO Techniques session but he was such a gent he allowed the ladies to bambouzle him with questions without edit, and as a result he only went through half of his planned slides, and the ones we saw were the ones where he was setting the foundation to take us through to intermediate, so we were like planes that taxied the runway but did not actually take off.  Shame as he CLEARLY knew his stuff and he and his employer have some formidable clients.  He talked around a lot of his slides and made some great points so I am glad I videoed his whole talk before I ran out of juice:

 

He made some great points that gave us an idea where the future lies:

• G+ is the WAY to go if you want google to love your blog.
• Google favours content so is pushing us down the branded route, which is best done self-hosted
• He said that SEO is in fact REALLY SIMPLE and is a case of BRAND, CONTENT, being ACCESSIBLE.
• He said that Bing is actually Google's main competitor and not yahoo.
• Twitter also has a better relationship with Bing.
• Become a Google author so Google knows you wrote it
• Link OUT to good content

When asked what is the best SEO'd site, he said without hesitation Money Supermarket.
He also advised we use the Google keyword tool to see what people are searching.

The Blogging Can Change The World session was truly awesome and more importantly humbling (in fact if Liz Jones had been in the room she couldn't possibly have wrote what she has).  It was like watching an episode of Question Time, minus the questions and minus the men, but to a MUCH higher standard as women are the intelligent sex right?  I had run out of juice by this point but I saw a video man in the room, with a tripod for the whole session so I hope it is posted on you tube, as it would be a great session for you all to watch from home.  My favourite speaker in this session was  Stella Creasy, Labour MP for Walthamstow (which actually is not that far from me).  She had a "keeping it real" quality about her, and was really grounded every time she spoke.  Stella said that we have to rebalance power to be heard and hold people to account, and give them a call to action.  For example, she said there is NO POINT meeting an MP unless you have an "ask" as otherwise it is just a pointless meeting with no outcome.  Social media is part of the fabric of how we can create social change.

 The after tea, afternoon Keynote Panel was entitled "Private Lives on a Public Stage" which clearly explains why each guest was picked, including the infamous Liz Jones, Daily Mail, along with Tim Dowling, the Guardian, Zoe Margolis, Eliza Gray and Fi Glover (Chair). Zoe Margolis is the rather infamous sexy @girlonetrack who was outed by the Sunday Times, a few days after releasing her book.

So back to my notes:
Liz Jones said

• she DOES care what people think
• regrets what she writes 
• has a nervous breakdown when she hits send (obviously to an Editor! She should try hitting "publish" instead, that feeling is even worse)
• writing should be difficult
• women not allowed a voice like men 
• she entertains people and it is her job to get readers
• she doesn't enjoy it but thinks equally people do not enjoy going to the office everyday
• she draws the line at writing about her nieces and nephews (glad she has got SOME parameters at least)! 
• writing personal stuff is not worth it as it resulted in her having to move house
• she started in 1999 on millennium eve when she did not have a date, and said she wouldn't do it again.
• she doesn't blame it on her editor and takes full account for her actions. 

Eliza said "if you can't hack it don't blog it" which after the comments I got on yesterday's blog post DID give me pause for thought.  What I find odd is that that they all commented on mass, in the space of the same hour, a whole day AFTER I'd posted the blog post, like someone had circulated a link to me (wonders why!)....  Anyway it is a subject I feel passionate about and have read extensively about in the recent weeks, although you'd never tell from the brief post I wrote, but I HAVE researched A LOT!

Sorry I digress...

Zoe (Girl with a One Track Mind) is now engaged.  It was easier to blog about sex when she was anonymous, but she'll never forget after she was outed (by the Sunday Times) her Mum read a 800 word blog post about Zoe sitting on a man's face, and swore she'd never read anything else.  This difficult conversation was had with daughter and Mum with Dad alongside *eeek*.  This was 6 years ago and she still hasn't recovered.

So the day has come to an end.  We're brain dead from being overwhelmed and smug at having met and heard some great things.  The day could not get any better and then

BOOM BANG BOSH BINGA BINGA BING

THIS is where I am gutted that my bloggie video camera had died a death although at the time I was too enthralled and captivated to even give it a thought!

Justine Roberts mumsnet founder tried to introduce Caitlin by saying she needed no introduction, but Caitlin was already positioned at the back and shouted out that she wanted one.  This was the beginning of the pantomine extrovert talk that was about to come, yes, she was behind me.

I can't do her justice by writing here what she said, but trust me, buy her book, in fact buy both of them (we got Moranthology in our goodie bags but she is more famous for How To Be a Woman) and keep an eye out for the trilogy she is currently writing, beginning with writing about her teenage years, but in the style of a novel - she said it will be inhaling as you should "inhale a life" when you read a book, so that you have their wisdom and yours.  One memorable thing she said was "fake it till you make it" and "pretend to be cheerful".  We all had a good chuckle when she said a dash of whiskey in your afternoon tea means the kids are great.  She's NEVER suffered from writer's block and never had a fear of the blank page but then she has been professionally writing since she was like FIFTEEN!

I loved it when she said that if everyone is writing about the same thing, we all have the same pool table, so we should walk around the table again and again till we decide what angle to come at the ball from.  She also said your THIRD thought is usually the one you should write about.  She was extremely humble concerning the success of How to Be a Woman, saying that she was waiting for someone, anyone, to write the book and when they didn't, she did; she said it'd have been a success whoever wrote it - humble in the extreme and I think her millions of fans would queue to disagree, of which I am fast becoming one.

Here is a footnote for the Sponsors, without which none of it would have been possible.  They bankrolled Mumsnet being able to pull off a SUPERB event in RECORD speed to a standard I had not thought possible.

Without further ado
Google
Nintendo 3DS
Boden
Skoda
The Portland Hospital
Savoo.co.uk
Pizza Express
THE TIMES.
  
Mama Mio are not listed in the Timetable as a Sponsor, but they were by far my favourite exhibitor during the day.
  
And to all of the detractors on Twitter (when the tickets were on sale), yeah, you missed out! You missed a REALLY good conference.  You were quick & wrong to criticise in haste and I hope you repent in leisure.  And you know what? The day was ALL the better for being surrounded in people who WANTED to be there!

Liska xx 

The views were spectacular from the venue that was the Millbank Tower: