Minnesota Blogger Conference Recap

It all started (for us) with #FlipFlopNight hosted by Jen from Life With Levi.  A dozen or so twitter/blogger gals from the area got together for a pre Minnesota Blogger Conference shin dig on Friday night.  We were filled with hors d’oeuvres, wine, and laughter.  It was great to meet some new people in a smaller setting prior to the conference.

Saturday began way too early for those of us who were awake past our usual bedtimes (despite the conference starting at 9 am).  Right away we were greeted warmly by people we knew and didn’t know.  The site of our blog header up on a big screen in front of us (insert “happy dance” here) made us feel important and part of the group.

The day contained numerous educational sessions and tons of networking.  We were so busy learning and having fun that we did not take out our cameras often enough and regret that we don’t have many photos.  That’s what you get for living in the moment!

Our favorite session of the whole conference was by Hayden Creque,a lawyer who presented “Advertisements, Endorsements and the Casual ‘Like’ –  What You Need To Know“.  He presented a well organized, well prepared break-out group on the legalism of advertising on your blog.  He engaged the audience, was flexible with questions (and the occasional tangent), and left little room for misunderstanding of his content.

One thing we found humorous was that while people were presenting/socializing, nearly everyone in the room was on a smart phone, laptop, or some kind of tablet and no one thought it was offensive or weird.  Only in a room full of bloggers could you get away with something like that!

We took the opportunity to do some fun advertising by wearing Toys In The Dryer t-shirts and got tons of compliments on them.  We were lucky enough to have Mandy of Glimpses of Soul Photography take a head shot of us with our shirts (for a simple donation to charity)!

Thanks so much to Missy Berggren and Arik Hanson for creating such a fun conference and to Top Rank Marketing, Allina, and Kare 11 for being great sponsors!  We can’t wait to attend next year!