#BritMumsLive 2014 :)

Hellooo,

I have spent 2 days at the blogging conference of the year - #BritMumsLive 2014 run by blogging community known by the ever so well known and popular Brit Mums :) I think this was their 5th event!

Blog feels all official with having a badge now! Here is a little inside about the event, my thoughts (the good and bad) as well as what I got up too:

Pre Event Nerves

If you hadn't already seen my post from last week about all my worries or nerves then you can view it here. But honestly I was so nervous, panicking uncontrollable about what to wear, what to bring and what was needed. I shouldn't of worried really, I went for comfort clothes and this was a wise move although I still somehow ended up with 4 blisters on my toes.

I had no need to worry though, it wasn't as scary as I thought but I met up with Andrea before hand just like many others did with their friends too - helps to share the nerves with someone else!

Venue

#BritMumsLive was held at the The Brewery in London, which was an absolutely beautiful venue, complete luxury - it was spectacular. The kind of place you could only dream of for a wedding and you know it is pricey when they don't have prices on their site.

Brands

This is what the business cards were for, there was a room full of brands with stands, showing what they had to offer and a chance to talk to bloggers about the possibility of working with them. I honestly thought there would be more though and so did a fair few other bloggers I spoke too but there was a variety of amazing brands :) Some of my very favourites were: Morrisons, Butlins, Munchkin, Parragon, Spatone, Coca Cola, Highland Spring and last but not least Aveeno (in no particular order).

Speakers & Workshops

On Friday, they had a key note speaker called Emma Freud who apparently works for Comic Relief, the one who persuades the celebs to do the crazy things for charity (climbing up mountain sorts of things) and she made the idea of texting donations. Sounds like a brilliant women and she was absolutely hilarious, I couldn't stop laughing and loved every second of her speech. A real "can do" women and very inspirational! Plus she had some beautiful tiaras, and it was essential for everyone to wear one whilst she talked (no idea on the reasoning for this!) - an idea I loved non the less :)

There were a few workshops I attended with some incredible speakers, I made a fair few notes. I won't talk too much about this as I am going to do another post on what I learnt, so be sure to keep an eye out for that too. However, I will say I was very let down by the SEO talk because I had expected it to be tips and how to's on how to do it but it was just a chat explaining what it is. This had been the main workshop I was excited for and I didn't learn anything new. So gutted! Am I the only one?

Bibs Awards

First of all congratulations to all those who were nominated, finalists and of course the winners :) Some really well deserved winners especially Team Honk. Who sadly I hadn't heard of until this event, but they do great things for charity and involved an elephant. I will be keeping my eye out for them in the future! It was a good evening and nice to celebrate everyone's success. It was presented by non other than Katy Hill who if you didn't know used to be on Blue Peter now turned mummy and blogger. She was so funny and it made the evening that much better. Katy also won 'Fresh Voice' (newbie award) for her blog!

Meeting Bloggers

My favourite bit, I met SO many lovely blogger's. Sharing this interest/hobby - literally 100's of people, it was amazing! Everyone was just as lovely as I imagined. I struggled to put names to faces from my twitter feeds and couldn't always see the badges so I do apologise if I didn't manage to say hello to everyone!

Just to name a few of the lovely friends I spent my days with:

- Andrea & Baby Archie // Blogger Mumma
- Lucinda // Teacher 2 Mummy
- Vicki // Ellie Bear Babi
- Donna // The London Mum
- Rebecca // Mrs Mumsie
- Kelly // Tias Mum 12
- Kate // Family Fever
- Harriet // Toby & Roo
- Kelly // To Become Mum

Goody Bags

I didn't bring a big enough suitcase to fit the goody bags in after, like I was told too and I could kick myself for not doing it. I really suffered on the way home with the tubes and trains with a suitcase, 2 heavy goody bags and a hand bag - I can barely move my shoulders. I won't be making the same mistake next year, that is for sure!

Top Tips For Next Year

- Don't be too frightened beforehand
- Meet up with someone else or a group
- Comfort, always go for comfort in your clothes & shoes
- If you want a sponsor, get in early
- Stay over night
- Bring a BIG suitcase for goody bags on way back home
- You only need around 50 business cards
- Don't be afraid to say hello to someone, you will regret it if you don't
- Take pictures, plenty of pictures!

Overall

In the week coming up to #BritMumsLive I honestly almost couldn't come but my mum and grandparents saved the day and so glad they did as I had such a fantastic time, nerves aside it was such a fantastic opportunity and experience. Made friends, learnt some tips, met some brands and just had fun :)

I have a massive let down though - boo! This is focused on food, as frankly there was only something served on Saturday lunch time which just wasn't my cup of tea as it was posh food. I was poorly and it was a tiring event, so food was essential to keep awake and for energy. Also, there was literally only tea, coffee, water or wine (all free) but not the option to buy others. I needed some fizz! I ended up in the Morrison's Lounge for some great snack bites and big kudos to them as was excellent! :)

So there you have it, my post on #BritMumsLive, can't wait to read everyone else's :) Hope you managed to read to the end and be sure to look our for my next post on what I learnt. For those who didn't manage to come this year, I highly recommend you do next year & will hopefully see you there - tickets are already on sale at early bird price, I will be getting mine soon!

Love, Gemma xo

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