Friday I attended the first BlogPodium, a quarterly conference series in Toronto, ON. The inaugural session was a conversation on blogs and media. That it was a first of this series was perfect for me, because this conference also marked the first blogging event I attended.
Organized by Jennifer, Shannon and Lindsay, BlogPodium was a fabulous morning of learning, laughing and being a little starstruck. Margot Austin, Kimberley Seldon, Kate Moore, Jennifer Flores and Leigh-Ann Allaire Perrault sat in front of a room full of beaming bloggers and happily, and frankly, gave us advice to blog better and successfully connect with media. The conference was top-notch: well organized, fun and informative (click here for photos).
With a geeky, fabric-covered notebook in hand I took pages of notes but a few suggestions really stood out:
- Post your own photos (Kate Moore)
- Edit your blog and focus on your brand & identity as a blogger (Kimberley Seldon)
- Add your own opinions/ideas/comments/thoughts to recycled photos, if you don’t post your own (Kimberley Seldon & Margot Austin)
- Have a fresh, original voice (the entire panel agreed) & be fun (Kate Moore)
- Network with other bloggers and always put your best foot forward (Jennifer Flores)
- Make your pitches to media clear, concise and demonstrate your talent, but also your fun side (Kate Moore)
- Pitch to the medium (Kimberley Seldon) & study the magazine/website you are pitching to (Margot Austin)
For other recaps of the talk, take a look at Jen’s summary on Rambling Renovators or read what Britt had to say on My Daily Randomness And, for any bloggers reading, be sure to keep your schedule clear May, 2012 for the next installment of BlogPodium.
If the fabulous information doesn’t lure you, maybe the fun swag will:
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| There is swag in this bag! |
Sponsors included: Delta Faucets, OlioBoard, Home Depot Canada, Chapters/Indigo Books, CB2, Pure Green Magazine, House and Home Magazine, Benjamin Moore Paints, The Penny Paper Co., and Butter Avenue. But our swag bags (I keep wanting to call them goodie bags, but isn’t that what kids get at B-day parties?) had goodies from other folks as well, including Beatrice (who included a gift card for a free print from her shop) and Milk & Cookies, a Toronto-based shop that offered a sweet coupon.
We also received a copy of the gorgeous, print-edition of Pure Green Magazine, volume one. I actually met Celine, founder and editor-in-chief of the magazine, at BlogPodium. She is amazing: so down to earth, approachable and really interesting – having met her made it even more enjoyable to flip through the magazine.
What a great day, no?and so many treats for us!I can't wait for May!
So many lovely goodies! Shame we didn't meet . . . we will have to make sure we do in May!
i hope I will be able to attend next year 🙂 Looks like you had fun
That would be great – I'd love to meet you! It was fabulous. Check back for photos from the Canadian Design Bloggers Meetup and IDS12.
BlogPodium was excellent & so informative. I'm just going through my 7 pages of notes and trying to organize them while everything is still fresh in my mind. I'm hoping to get to TO for the May conference.It was great meeting you & Gemma at the meetup on Saturday. It would be great to hook up sometime here in Ottawa for a chat :-)I'm adding a link to your post to my IDS post – hope you don't mind. I'm putting together a list of IDS posts so we can visit each other and relive the show 🙂
That's fabulous! Can't wait to check out that list to see what I missed. It was great to meet you too and I would love to get together – maybe we can do our own Ottawa meetup!
Nice swag! I love the serving dish!
Hi Tanya, thanks for including my brochure in your swag photos. The photos are well done and make everything look so pretty!mistymilkandcookies.ca
What a great swag bag! The dish is so adorable. Where is that from?
Good question! The little jalapeno pepper dish is from CB2 – it is an appetizer dish, part of a set I think The white textured bowl with wood lid is from Chapter's.
Looks like you came away with some great ideas and some great swag. What fun!
Wow looks like you had some interesting people to meet and listen to! What sweet goodies and (ideas too) you took home!
Hey Tanya, it was so nice to meet you this weekend. I'll catch you at the next meetup in May!
It was great to meet you too! May can't come soon enough . . .
That's some swag bag! Thanks for the recap, I'll have to check out Jen and Britt's summaries too.
I thought I left a comment already but I guess I didn't! It was SO nice to finally meet you in person Tanya. I love that you took notes at BlogPodium! And isn't the swag amazing? The Pure Green magazine blew me away – their photography is so impressive! See you in May!
A nice recap! I was impressed by the quality of BlogPodium event. I enjoyed the blogger directory that they gave us. Plus, I found a new fab with the Pure Green magazine. I am looking forward to their next issue about urban farming, since it is a subject dear to my heart; even though I do not have a green thumb ;-)On a personal note, it was nice mmeting you Tanya. We will meet again since I bookmarked my calendar for the BlogPodium event in May. In the meantime, let's chat across the Web.
Great recap, and great blog. Sorry we didn't get a chance to meet at BlogPodium too! Next time! And thanks for stopping by Recreated.