Blogopolis - my very first blog conference

Greetings all,

Thank you for the enthusiastic response to my 600th post giveaway.  I found a draft post which is now obsolete & deleted, so this is technically my 599th post, again.  I'm thrilled as i have a fantastic post for the actual 600th - what blogging is truly about - heart & soul!!

  Now that is sorted, i can chat about the Nuffnang Blogopolis blog conference.  I will do my best to present a genuine opinion, without sounding too much like a hyped up groupie, as it was truly fantastic!!  Here's a basic run down of the day & a little who's who of Australian blogging.  

 Personally i thought the value for money from the ($99 early bird) $117 event ticket was excellent, with a great goodie bag, Twinnings sponsored high tea on Royal Albert china & the mixed buffet lunch was delicious.

 The venue was the Sofitel Hotel Sydney, i mingled bravely & found sweet bloggers i follow & met new ones i'll have to check out (over 200 blogging attendees!!)  

 Throughout the day, a huge screen ran the live conference Twitter feed, extremely distracting & entertaining (like reading all the notes being passed around a classroom.)  One tweet said "let the cake photography session commence", indeed, look at the cakes!!   

 I sat with Corrie from RetroMummy (my best friend in the blogopshere) & gazed at Nikki from Styling You's perfect hair all day.  I introduced myself, after hugs & kisses, she shared her hair styling secret - L'Oreal Professional steam pad (new at hair salons.)  Nikki even let me touch her hair . . . it was soft & lovely.  EDIT: she offered!!  

I didn't enjoy the first talk of the day: Idea Sourcing & Content Creation, by an image consultant, i wished it was stylish Nikki up there instead!!  The presenter wore black top to toe, against a black curtain, you could only see her face & hands.  Tip for presenters . . . bring an alternative colour top/ jacket/ scarf to stand out on stage against light/ dark backdrop, or ask in advance if it's light or dark!!   

 Then the room was split in half with a partition for different sessions, first up: SEO (search engine optimisation) is a dry topic, yet Jeff Tan was personable & engaging, with real blog examples on how to grab reader attention, move up search engine rankings, use analytics & social media referrers.       

Nicole Avery from Planning with Kids discussed Branding - your blog has a brand - which is everything from your personality, writing style, subject matter = reader perception, that's right, it's not about a logo!!  Nicole encouraged us to use surveys to find out what people think & being consistent across all your social media.  

 Gorgeous Rachel Devine from Sesame Ellis gave a talk on Photography.  Polished to the end, her tips & tricks, pamphlet & explanations will have everyone posting quality photos forever more.  I took my point & shoot camera to the event as handsome soldier took our big fancy Nikon DSLR to Taronga Zoo with the children, thus my less-than-amazing images.

 Rachel has written a book Beyond Snapshots, which i purchased at the event (under $40) filled with real life examples, not just a manual.  What i love is that she wrote it with Peta Mazey from Style Me Pretty, so one uses Nikon, the other prefers Canon, one uses Mac, the other prefers a PC.  They truly cover all the bases.  RetroMummy has a copy of the book to giveaway on her blog NOW - we are all mums with twins too!!  

 In the afternoon there were discussion panels: Finding Your Own Voice & Staying Relevant with Phoebe from Lady Melbourne (fashion), Zoe from Good Googs (parenting), Eden from Edenland (life) & Penny from Jeroxie (food).  An unusual mix, their genres clashed with opinions on topics like 'have you ever regretted hitting publish on a post' & Phoebe was having none of Eden's deep personal publications about recovering from drug addiction.  Many started blogging anonymously too.  Personally i could have just listened to Eden on her own, chatting about blogging from the heart, fearless of the consequences. 

Utilising Different Platforms to Optimise Your Blog & Traffic included presentations on Pinterest with Christina from Hair Romance (stunning & informative); Podcasting with Caz from yTravel (she said "yes, your voice really does sound like that" - i actually like my voice, maybe one day i will do a podcast??) & YouTube with Janice from Chaigyaru (quirky, adorable, no wonder she has millions of hits!!)    

 The final panel: The Australian Blogosphere included Trevor Young (PR), Kate from WoogsWorld (life), Sarah from A Beach Cottage (decorating) & David Krupp (Nuffnang/ event host) which made for another interesting mix of personalities.  Comments like "i've never met such an amazing bunch of women" from Kate; "blogging is a personal learning curve" from Sarah; "the future of advertising on blogs is exciting" from Trevor; & "blogging has never been more healthy" from David, capped the wonderful atmosphere of the day.  They all discussed blogger influence & how you should never advertise for free on your blog, the conflicts of making money from your blog - actually the discussion went a bit off topic, i left with my head spinning.  I'm glad i had a train trip back to my family to clear my mind.     

 Look at my beautiful home town of Sydney, just glorious at sunset!!

What i learned??  You can manipulate statistics & trick readers to your blog with popular key words & catchy titles, however, i believe if it doesn't come naturally (writing, topics, genuine opinion) you will struggle to post frequently.  

What i loved??  Bloggers get each other, non bloggers don't know what they are missing out on!!

What i loathed??  OMG, do NOT give me your card or details unless i ask please.  If you do shove a card in my hand, how about you ask who i am too??  I don't do impolite, pushy or social media climbers!! 

Would i attend again??  Absolutely.  I would love to see how my photography improves (using the proper DSLR & flicking it off auto) & organise to meet more bloggers in the crowd.

What will i change??  Even as a mathematician, i'm not going to analyse my statistics & let them rule what i blog about, i will still post across many genres & blog from the heart, rather than just one particular popular expertise (parenting, sewing, loving my husband!!) 

Will i use every social media platform possible??  No, it's not my obsession, no one else is running the house, going to the gym, walking the dog or driving the school run for me while i blog!!  I will stick to a few tweets, pins & FB updates each month.  I don't even have a smart phone, so it's my desk top or nothing!! 

Will i blast you with advertising??  I think the fact i didn't even attend the 'Opportunities Gained Through Blogging' talk says is all (it was packed) it has never been my focus or the reason why i blog!!  Again, things should evolve naturally & slowly, keeps your ego in check!!

I hope this was informative & encourages you to attend a blog conference if one comes to a city near you.  I wasn't nervous or worrying about what to wear, i am me.  You will leave knowing how to make your posts concise & easy to read with great images.  Now i have one question for you - what do you think my 'brand' is??  Love Posie

PS just follow & comment at here to win an awesome 600th post giveaway!!

The Best Ever Birthday story cook book giveaway

Greetings all,

NuffNang have featured an advertisement for this awesome story cook book on my blog for a few weeks & i was lucky enough to review it too, now i have one to giveaway!!  I purchased & blogged about the first book in this series 'My Grandmother's Kitchen' by Louise Fulton Keats (granddaughter to the Australian cooking doyen Margaret Fulton) . . . they are both fantastic!!  

The Best Ever Birthday starts off as a story, where you follow LuLu & Henry on a party journey . . . uh oh, Nutmeg the puppy + birthday cake . . . i won't spoil the ending!!

 Then the book is filled with recipes (from the story) with everything from sandwiches to drinks!!

 It's simple to follow with practical recipes you will use over & over.

 Jam packed with themes & ideas.

 Including a teddy bear picnic - yes please!!

 I'm now devoting my life to finding this pink pedestal, what a sweet way to present a meringue!!

 Now this Basic Butter Cake recipe is as close to my mother's i have ever tasted (perhaps my mummy was using Margaret Fulton's original??)  Printed with striped vintage straws, i love the layout, colour & quirky imagery in the book, page after page of pretty.

We left only crumbs . . . next time i'm doubling the batter as it is a fantastic school recess treat.

 Look at the inside back cover, see what i mean, scrummy.

Fancy a copy of this beautiful story cookbook in your kitchen library??  Just leave a comment at this post & please be a follower of my blog.  Winner drawn Friday 15th June, value $24.95, good luck!!  Love Posie

This was Product Talk by NuffNang.  Thanks!!

product talk: introducing . . . Uncle Tobys Simply Fruit Bars

Greetings all,

Welcome to product talk with Uncle Tobys Simply Fruit Bars.

  As a health & budget conscious mummy of 4 super active school children, i make, bake & grow as much as i can at home so i know exactly what is going into my children's bodies & we don't waste money on rubbishy snacks.

  Sometimes our fruit bowl is empty, the children are starving in the car & we're between school/ sports/ home, so a 'bar' from handbag comes to the rescue.

  Simply Fruit Bars are made in Australia from a blend of wholefoods . . . sultanas, apricots, oats, dried dates, orange & poppy seeds - all natural energy packed ingredients with good sugars & carbohydrates. Love a back-of-the-box which is easy to read!!

  They taste delicious & the flavours of the apricot, the texture of the sultanas & chewy dates + the 35gm size is perfect.

  Thanks Uncle Tobys & NuffNang for the Simply Fruit Bars, they'll be in my children's lunches & my handbag for when-hunger-strikes next.

  A tip for getting little ones to eat healthy foods - tell them their favourite toys eat them, nom nom nom, like our Love Monsters here, they gobble down Simply Fruit Bars by the box!! It's how i got my children eat onions - Shrek!!  FYI my children styled these product shots, including Blip the Robot photobombing.  Did they nail the 'money shot'??  I have a new respect for packaged food product photography & styling. 

  My children even suggested they'd be cool at a picnic & in party favour/ lolly bags!!

Now for the official word: product talk byNuffNang = i was sent an item to review, no payment, just talking with my mouth full . . . of Simply Fruit Bars!!  Thanks for listening, love Posie

the 'tangled' web of boys versus girls & MOVIE TICKET G I V E A W A Y

Greetings all,

Yippee, Disney has made one of my favourite fairytales, Rapunzel, into an animated movie, Tangled - my children will love to see these school holidays!!  Nuffnang have kindly sponsored this promotion & giveaway . . . click here for the Tangled trailer.

The Official Word . . . Walt Disney Pictures presents TANGLED, an action-packed, swashbuckling, animated musical comedy about the girl behind 70 feet of magical, golden hair.  A princess stolen from her parents’ castle as a baby, Rapunzel (voice of MANDY MOORE) is locked in a hidden tower longing for adventure.  Now an imaginative and determined teenager, she takes off on a hilarious, hair-raising escapade with the help of a dashing bandit (voice of ZACHARY LEVI).  With the secret of her royal heritage hanging in the balance and her captor in pursuit, Rapunzel and her cohort find adventure, heart, humor, and hair… lots of hair.  With original music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Glenn Slater, this comedic re-imagining of the classic Brothers Grimm fairytale comes to theaters in Disney Digital 3D™.

With 3 big sisters, my son is well informed of what girls can do better than boys, they keep telling him!!  Sure it's a genderless society for children these days but how much fun is it to play good old fashioned boys versus girls games??  To test it out, in the spirit of Tangled, i devised some events, games & competitions for my family, to see who are better, boys or girls??

First up was . . . Target Shooting, nerf gun versus IKEA-cups-in-the-hallway-shooting-gallery-style. I figured with my son teaming up with a professional soldier, it might take all 4 of us girls to try to beat them!!

 We didn't, the boys won & had way more fun that us!!

Round two . . . Cup Cake Decorating. This was an individual event & highly competitative, Daddy was the judge.  

My son won, another victory for the boys!!
Word on the street is that my son had tipped Daddy off & asked him to vote for the cup cakes in the blue wrappers, foiling my blue-for-boys, pink-for-girls secret theme!!

Third event . . . Lego Building, who could build the tallest tower the fastest??

The winner was our eldest daughter, Boys 2: Girls 1.
Ding ding, round Four . . . Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Spinning around, blind folded & heckling, this is much harder than it looks!!

Some tails went a little haywire after spinning the children around, this was another victory for my son, Boys 3: Girls 1.

The final game . . . Plaiting our very own Rapunzel's Hair!!

Sorry ladies, my husband won this!!  In our family, the boys are just better than girls, so we're happy for them to do their best at cake decorating, shotting play guns & plaiting hair, we can be ladies of leisure!!

Did someone say G I V E A W A Y . . . two of you lucky readers will each win a family pass of 4 tickets to see Tangled!! Just follow this blog & leave your favourite boy versus girl game in the comments for your chance to win, you will be judged so have fun, drawn 5p.m. on 9th January 2011. Click here for terms & conditions.

Still want more, check out the Nuffnang Community Contest & participate with your own blog post about a personal funny boy vs girls experience for your chance to win $500.  Details on the site.  Good luck everyone!! 
FYI this movie is getting rave reviews, did you see the Tangled 'voices' Mandy Moore & Zachary Levi on The 7p.m. Project last week, ah, i love Mandy, she's so gorgeous - they were a huge hit!!  Then David & Margaret rated Tangled 3.5 & 4 stars repsectively on The Movie Show on the weekend.  Enough said, go see it, adults will really enjoy it too!!  Love Posie