Hello Beautiful Peoples!

February 16, 2010

Hello! I hope all is well in your world. We’ve been avoiding the East Coast weather through a series of travel adventures/misadventures.

I had a wonderful weekend at Blissdom, in the incredibly huge Gaylord Palms in Nashville. I also visited by friend Chris Thomas at his place of employment, AKA Dave Ramsey’s Office. That was really cool, as I’m a Dave fan from way back in the day. I saw Dave taping the show through the glass, and as I was sitting at the espresso bar talking to producer Blake Thompson’s mom, Martha, Dave popped in for a double espresso! All I could do was a brief double take and a, “Well, It’s Dave Ramsey!” Yathink, Lindsay? At his office? I’ll never be mistaken for cool.

I stayed an extra day in Nashville due to the snow, and flights being cancelled- shared a room with Amy from Resourceful Mommy, who is cool as a cucumber under pressure. She was one of the three moms who put together the Disney Social media Moms conference, and it briefly looked as though she wouldn’t be able to make it due to weather. All I can say is that chick has class to spare. While exploring every possible angle to get herself there, she never gave in to self-pity or futile anger. And, she got there! True Resourceful Amy style.:)

Also had a great time with Amanda from High Impact Mom, and my Parentella CEO Aparna. Just stellar women.:) AND I got Amanda hooked on Mentos! Another freshmaker is born.:)

So while driving home from the airport, I got word that my Dad was in the hospital for some chest pains- bad combo of too much shovelling, we think. But my mom definitely couldn’t leave him to come to Florida, especially knowing she was about to be snowed out of DC. We added my 13 yr old to the flight, as he wouldn’t be having school for quite some time. And I took off the next morning with the three kids and my lovely Mother in law.

The Disney Social Media Moms conference was amazing from every angle- all of the events were top-notch, and I thought very focused on what Disney gives back to the community. And it never hurts when you’re highlighting your volunteer initatives with Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato. (My five year old was BEYOND stoked when they staged a private press event at Epcot featuring those performers.)

I think what Disney really did right was treat the moms involved like professionals from start to finish- the languaging of calling us “Media” and “Press” is a very important differential than the normal dimunitization of “Mommy Blogger”. I think of you’re trying to work with a certain demographic in a meaningful way to share a message, it’s so smart to not mitigate their megaphone while doing it.

And not for nothing, while their was no shortage of swag at the conference, I saw none of the entitlement/gimme mentality that’s been the prevalent external perception of mom bloggers for the past seven months or so. (Note: Same for Blissdom. Class acts all around at both events.)

Guy Kawasaki was a hoot in the morning,(and taught me alot about localized Twitter search, which I’ve been sharing with the National Auto Dealers Convention reps I run into here at the Waldorf Astoria in Orlando.:) Kathy Ireland is an INCREDIBLE speaker, and Chris Brogan owned, as always. Favorite Chris line: “Never sell out your communities.” That pretty much says it all, yes? I also saw a copy of his new book, “Social Media 101″, co-written with Julien Smith, and can’t wait for it to be available for public (namely, MINE) consumption.:)

So my fam and I extended the trip through Wednesday, and did a mom switchout on Saturday- MIL went home, and Mom flew out, since Dad’s all better. I have to say Jetblue went above and beyond the call of duty in helping us with constant re-scheduling and changes- they waived about $600 in fees when I misread a policy, thinking we could make a change without penalty due to the weather. But our travel dates were outside the listed dates (Hello, bad fine print reader) and they were really helpful and accommodating.

Heading home tomorrow, for a night in my bed and some serious laundry catchup. Dan is in Australia on tour with Jane’s Addiction and about 40 other bands I love. (Wahhhhhh!) But I leave for Mom 2.0 on Thursday, where I’ll be creating video content about mom’s perceptions of emotional intelligence for Fishful Thinking.

That’s about it- total braindump, I apologize. I’m still really processing all of these experiences and people I’m meeting. People ask me often what I get out of going to conferences. All I can say is, I always leave feeling so energized by all of the smart people. Spending time with people who love and understand this digital space gives me so many ideas, and it always sets me off like a popcorn popper. And it’s hard to tell when a random meeting from six months ago leads to an opportunity that crosses my desk today.

Also- total tangent here, but work with me- there’s often a perception that the only way to attend conferences is to be sponsored. That’s one way, for sure, but I would encourage you to reach out to conference organizers- offer to help with logistics in exchange for a badge. Put in speaker proposals. Many conferences are actively looking for people who haven’t “Done the circuit”, and some cover speaker expenses.

You have a lot to offer, and it’s uniquely your perspective. No one else can say it quite like you. So don’t feel like you have to be at “A level” (whatever that is) or have speaking experience. What you need is confidence, good ideas, and the ability to write them up.

As for cutting costs while there: Reach out for room-mates, or look for non-hotels to stay in on Craigslist. I rented an apartment for ACL for $90 a night, less than half of going hotel rates- and that saves on food costs, as well. Then I rented a bike, cheaper than a car, but OMgosh, those Austin hills.:) Also: Priceline and Hotwire are your friends. When booking a room on Hotwire, you can go to Better Bidding to research exactly what hotel you’re booking. I’ve figured it out 95% of the time before placing an order.

In short, just keep putting it out there. I spent quite a bit of money on attending conferences this year, and I feel like the ROI has been extremely worthwhile, although not always obvious or direct. I will say that everything cool in Blog-land that I can really point to and say, “Man, that was cool!” has been a direct result of seeing someone offline, in 3-D real life. So even if a travel conference doesn’t make sense right now, hit some tweet-ups. Organize one if there’s none near you. Start your offline ecosystem, and I guarantee things will move.

Here’s some video from Disney’s Spectro Magic, one of my favorite things at the Magic Kingdom: Loved seeing this with Audrey McClelland, Lori Falcon, Tara Kuczykowski, Christine Young, and Sue from 5 Minutes for Mom. After dark in Magic Kingdom with Girlfriends= MAGIC.

Posted in Adventures, DIY, Fangirl, Old School, Rock and Roll Mama