Type-A Conference Recap: Baby Food, Disney, and New Friends

This post is long overdue, but as some of yall know I attended my first blogger conference during my birthday week. The first day of the conference was my actual birthday, which I was nervous about but it worked out for the best. I wanted to write this the week after, but life happens and it honestly gave me some time to reflect on the experience as a whole. Here are a few of my highlights from the weekend:

1. Eating Baby Food…

Okay I know that seems a little strange, but go with it lol. One of the sponsors from the conference was Beech-Nut,  a baby food company. They’re rebranding and created an amazing new line of baby food that actually tastes like food. Seriously, we sampled a ton of it and I even took there #NotBabyFood Challenge.

 

Aside from being pleased with the fact that the food tastes like FOOD, I really enjoyed meeting the people who work for the company. They were honest and genuine, and spoke to all of us like we were people and not just another way to advertise their products. Sesame is two and a half, so his baby food days are done, but I enjoyed their food so much I told them to come out with healthy toddler/preschool snacks next.

2. The Disney Party

There was a Disney party on my BIRTHDAY!!! Yes, you read that correctly. If you really know me, you know that I’m a big Disney fan and that Belle is my favorite princess. Costumes were encouraged, but not required. I went as a modern day version of Belle or what I imagine she would look like if she were around in 2014… oh and Black lol.

3. Making new friends/Meeting them IRL

Lindsay from RedHeadBabyMama via her Instagram acct

I’ve gone to academic conferences in the past, so I know all about the conference experience, but I was surprised to leave with new friends. In the past, I’ve attended the conference with a group of friends from school and kind of ended up stuck to them. Sure, I’ve talked to other scholars at these conferences, but it’s really hard to make a new friend when you’re trying to make sure you sound intelligent at all times. By lunchtime on the first day, I had already been approached by one person who follows Hook Smart on Instagram and sat at a table with women who read my post on Ferguson. Every time I looked like a deer in headlights because of my shyness and anxiety, someone would come up and ask me if I needed help or tell me to sit with them. We were all there to learn about growing our blogs, so I expected a little competitiveness, but everyone I spoke with was very helpful and didn’t mind sharing their “secrets.” Plus, it was so awesome to finally meet some of the bloggers I follow online in person. I wish I had taken more pictures, but I know I’ll see them next year.

Fadra modeling one of my Hook Smart creations. Picture via her blog, All Things Fadra

 

With a bunch of the ladies from Georgia Social Media Moms and one of the nominees for the “We Still Blog Award” via A Bug and a Bee

 

There are so many other things that I enjoyed, but since my blog isn’t about “how to blog” I won’t bore you with the details. There are some other things that will creep up in posts over the next few weeks though.   Have you ever attended a blogging conference? What was your experience like?