Tuesday, 23 June 2015

Brit Mums Live 2015

Helloo,

Have you heard of the Brit Mums Live blogging conference?!

Most bloggers spend months preparing for what must be the biggest parenting blogger conference. Whether it from the initial overcoming nerves, the debate of purchasing the ticket, the stressful attempt to find a sponsor, what to wear, travel etc etc. Susanna Scott one of the founders of Brit Mums is such a lovely lady whom I actually had a great conversation to get to know at the end of Saturday. Susanna, the other founders and Brit Mums team members have obviously poured their heart and souls into creating such an outstanding event which must have taken a tonne of hard work and a hell of a lot of stress!

This was my second year attending and maybe my last - well I say this for now anyways. It's not that I've been there, done that. Frankly, if next year I am lucky enough to get a sponsor then I will go ahead and go because it is well worth it for the social aspect of it all. But this year wasn't as busy for some reason and certainly didn't have the same buzz as last year. I know I am not the only one who thought the same. I admit, I was in a right grumpy mood most of the time due to some personal reasons which didn't really help matters. I was in a world of my own and didn't get to say hello to anywhere near as many people as I would have liked too (sorry!!). Chronic Fatigue had really taken its toll by the end. I literally spent a whole day in bed recovering.

I came a day early on the Thursday to spend an extra day with two bloggers who became my best friends after attending last year. Vicki from EllieBearBabi and Andrea from BloggerMumma. We went into Oxford Street and done a bit of shopping and had a girly day. We Skype weekly as we all live so far, it was great to all be in one place after a whole year. Soon we will be reunited in August too. I think all 3 of us can admit the main reason we went was to socialise together and with fellow bloggers. It was great to see so many especially close friends Donna from TheLondonMum, Lucinda from Teacher2Mummy and Ally from MessedUpMum. Plus many many more. Safe to say we got a lot of selfies. So here are some:



Both this year and last year I haven't been an overly massive fan of the workshop sessions. In October last year I attended BlogFest which was a one day conference which focused on the talks more than socialising so much better for that. However, all in all I did attend four great sessions which I have learnt a lot from, got a lot of notes and some inspiration. The sessions I attended were -

Video & Lighting by RotoLight & TheVideoEffect 

A great informative talk about good lighting positions for various settings and demonstrations to show the real differences by some super cute guys which always helps concentration a little bit right?! The lights look great though, I really want to get into YouTube and these will certainly be a purchase for the future if I can spare the cash sometime.

Building YouTube by Marco Danesi

This was a great talk that was extremely packed, I had to sit on the floor. Another informative chat with demonstrations. Again will really help towards hopefully my possible future in YouTube! 

Creating Graphics by Julie Hall 

I thought this was going to be based on how to create logo designs but really it wasn't. It was about making the most of pictures, editing and fonts etc. I found it so useful and learnt some really great new tools that I can't wait to have a play around on to help improve my pictures!!

How To Market Yourself And Your Writing by Joanna Penn 

This I admit was not really based on blogs but as writing a book from Best Selling Author J.F.Penn! I admit it really has made me want to write a book but I am not good enough unfortunately. However, if I wanted to try in future I really do know some great ways to go about it. 

Overall I didn't take too many photos except for the beautiful garden scenery, the very talented Emily Leary from AMummyToo blog doing her cake thing and bloggers breaking an actual Guinness World Record!!





I am well and truly gutted I missed Carol Smilie, as really did want to hear her keynotes on Saturday! However, I did manage to listen and even have a long chat with Caprice and she was absolutely wonderful. Here is a picture with her and lovely fellow bloggers - Michelle, Emma (totally resisted fan girling!) and Michaela.



I did learn a hell of a lot and I plan to put it all to good use! I think I have finally figured out truly the direction I want my blog to go in and how to go about it. Now just need to find the motivation to actually get on with it and do it. But hopefully the hard work will pay off eventually :)

So there you have it a bit of a look on what I thought of Brit Mums Live 2015!! If it was your first time attending or you were a returner like me, I really hope you had an amazing time :) If you've not been before then keep an eye out and book a ticket for next year as it is well worth it. Hopefully I will see you there!! 

Love, Gemma xo


3 comments :

  1. I'm really hoping to attend next years it sounds like a really great event to be a part of when it comes to meeting lots of lovely bloggers, Would be great to meet you if I can drum up the courage to say Hi! x

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  2. So nice to see you again! Looks like you had a lovely weekend x

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  3. Looks like everyone had such an amazing time. I so need to go next year! (I've been saying this for 2 years!)

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