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And a HUGE round of applause for Missy and Arik!! GOOD JOB. Uber-fab. Two thumbs up 🙂
MY thoughts:
Venue: Allina was a top notch and excellent choice. Super easy for country bumpkins like me to find drive-wise. Classy atmosphere. Great parking. The rooms MUCH better this year. No distractions and noise from other sessions. The “Mothers Rooms’ was a great idea and a nice touch.
Sessions: I was super glad to see they kept the Networking theme going again because that’s a topic I feel strongly about. I thought the topics were fresh, diverse, and timely. Here’s was I took, and my thoughts:
Keynote (Lee Oddin) EXCELLENT-learned tons. “Content is King, But Creativty is QUEEN.”
Ask The Expert (Tumblr) Good stuff. The only thing I would suggest is to take the “ask the expert” sessions and make them 30 minutes. I was in the Tumblr session and I knew everything I needed in 30 minutes and was ready to move on.I would like to know more about StumblUpon, Delicious, and Google + next year.
Panel of Experts with Building Your Community-Very good. I seriously am in awe of @cleverkate’s confidence and professionalism.
Ask the Expert (WordPress with Tim Rielly) Mr Rielly is super knowledgeable. Maybe WP will stop kickin my arse now.
Vlogging (Erica): EXCELLENT. Completely new topic to me and it was awesome. Great presentation. Erica is a HOOT. “Silence is smarter than the word ‘um'”
NOTE: The two legal experts were a great idea..Hot topic. Like a dumb sh*t, I missed BOTH. 🙁 Epic fail.
BECKY THOUGHT: I talked to a lot of newbie bloggers that were intimidated by the whole blogging process. My comment: just do it. Sit down, don’t worry about proper grammar, and let ‘er buck. Maybe for next year I would like to propose a topic (that I would be honored to present) specifically for Newbie Bloggers: Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff. Just BLOG. Thoughts???
FOOD: OMG with a side order of ::omg::. That was the best spread I’d had in a while. Freakin AWESOME. Simple, customizable for us picky folk, fruit was perfect, cookies=dang near orgasmic (the chocolate cookies were like a big fat, round brownie ::Swoon::) YES, I may have gone back at the end of the day and taken a few home…or 3. Hey, if they are going to go to waste, they might as well go to my waist.
FRIENDS-Old : I was so excited to see old buddies Stacie @thecouponsista , Beth @whereitblooms, Missy @marketingmama, Tracey @sellabitmum, Josh @JLBraaten, Christine @ncheapskate. Love you guys!!
NEW: I met some exceptionally cool NEW peeps as well! Lori @iryanis, Jamie @toysinthedryer, and Michaela @mindfulmomma. Can’t wait to get to know you guys more!
What was your best memory of MN Blogger Conference 2011??
Sounds like you had a fantastic experience. And, why not propose to teach a break-out session. You’d be terrific!
Thanks for the kind words! Made my day. 🙂
So glad to have seen you as well!
Wish we could have hung out more though 🙂
Makes me wish I’d been there.
Nice recap. I loved our lunch table. I actually ate slowly for the first time in my life because I was so focused on the conversations. I like your idea for a session next year inspiring new bloggers to just start doing it. And kudos to you for getting home and getting so much done.