So I did it, I attended my first blogging conference and had an amazing time. What the heck was I so scared of all these years. I just needed to get myself out there and realize all the awesome bloggers I see on Facebook and Twitter are so supportive and fun too.
I made the trip last week to #PGPet Love the Pet not the Mess Blogger event.More about PGPet in the coming days.
The day before I left, I found out another blogger I had met during Reynolds Real Moms was going to be there, so I was already at ease. To my surprise, as I went to check in at the Museum hotel, I recognized a fellow blogger From Facebook. I have been working with her for several years.
I always was a little weary of these virtual friends people claimed they were making. How could you really have a relationship over Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? Well, I was proven wrong.
There was an immediate sense of friendship when I went up to her, as if I had met her in person many times before. I knew about her kids,where she lived and that she had a birthday just a few days prior. You can catch Rachel on The Brand Connection.
I now realize you can have an immediate connections with virtual friends and feel blessed to have bloggers friends, even if I had never met them before. I fell I have made several more connections on this trip and look forward to keeping up with these ladies and hopefully meeting up with them soon.
I am actually going to be spending a few days with one blogger I met this week at another conference in Minneapolis in a few weeks.
Looking forward I realize there really is nothing to be afraid of, most bloggers are in the same boat, traveling to these conferences knowing only faces via social media. I look forward to attending the next two conferences in May, learning more about blogging so I can be a better blogger for my readers as well as building relationships around the country.
An added Bonus of this trip, I rerouted myself after the conference to visit my family in Chicago for 12 hours instead of sleeping in an airport hotel for a missed connection. In fact this business trip turned out to be all about connections.
I love going to conferences now, but I used to be really nervous before them. Then I figured out…it’s like the first day of school. Most people are a little nervous and don’t really know many other people. Although, now that I’ve gone to conferences for a few years, I’m starting to recognize a lot more faces!
thanks Allison, it is definitley easier than I thought. Being trapped behind a computer you start getting introverted but that is not who I really am. Glad to get out there. See how I do at a bigger Blogger conference on Friday:)