Is the floor shaking? And other observations from Type A

I'm home from  Type A Conference. This was the 5th year of the parenting and Social media conference and my 2nd time attending. If you may recall i was feeling very out of my element last year when i decided to attend, but came home excited and felt it was well worth it. This year i jumped on the alumni rate and got my ticket about 10 months ago.

Type A moved to Charlotte so YAY its even closer to home. I was so excited about attending i could not wait till i dropped C1 off at the airport to spend some time with her great-grandma. I have been blogging for 8 years and i still don't feel like I'm well known but it was great to see so many much more well-read bloggers say hi and remember me from last year. Those who know me know one of the biggest issues i create for myself when blogging is my "get up and go" take on life. I seem to spend more time at a tweetup or a social media party than i actually do blogging and i felt that was why i didn't belong at a blogging conference. But then i realized Type A is not just about blogging. When i sat in the great sessions like Affiliate marketing from Brian at ShareASale which i can apply to my blog i also sat in social media ones like the kick-ass Google+ session by Lynette Young. I was reminded that email is not! dead and i do love my email box, probably because i hate the Facebook one, while sitting in Phil Hollow's session. There were sessions for Tribes so you can share info and ideas with your niche, which Nicole will tell you does not rhyme with bitch but she calls me her favorite bitch.

OH!! And there's networking, they did a great cocktail hour this year. No DJ, no dimmed lights or someone talking while you type away just high top tables, drinks and business cards.

Then there's the parties which you know are at the top of my list. Sure the learning is all fun and good but I'm all about getting out. i really enjoy these things because at the end of the day I'm a social butterfly trying to turn into a social media butterfly. Hmm maybe i should start event planing? Anyway. The parties meant i got to laugh, drink and snap pictures with some of the people who i previously only knew by their twitter handles as well as connect with those who because there are several sessions at once i happened to not see during the day. That means i got to hope a ride with Anissa on her wheelchair and maybe cop a feel. (I'm nothing if not inappropriate).

Me and Robin got to act silly in a photo booth, then danced to Baby Got Back, as you do.

Thats lemmons with a P.

I did pop rocks and champagne on a dare and got one other person to do it with me. I spend the nights after the parties ended hanging out at the bar with Robyn who was always there when i heading down the escalator barefoot. Yes i still have all my toes.

I approach conferences as parties with daytime learning. It works for me and i wouldn't change a thing. Now to figure out how to get myself to Blogher 12.

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Social butterfly hits a conference

I am back from Type A Parent and i i just had to post about it. I tried to get it all into one post but yeah it was getting a little insane so the 2nd part will be tomorrow. 
My biggest fear was that I wouldn't get anything out of the actual conference and only enjoy the parties. I was hoping desperately I would be wrong. Praise flying spaghetti monster I was wrong.

I learned so much and i will never look at my blog the same again.

Some other observations? While many things changed in the blogging world since I started in 2004 some did stay the same. I need to make changes and I learned what I need to do it. Blog parties are tame compared to other industries but still a shit ton of fun.

I met tons of people who are social butterflies

Type A schedule loaded on my nook

I decided to not get to bogged down in my schedule. I woke up and selected which sessions I would attend that morning and set alarms in my iphone. Some overlapped so I set them all so I little ping would let me know when I should get up and move to a different session. It was a lot easier to move back and forth and feel like I was getting as much in as possible. I socialized during breakfast seeking out people I didn't actually know yet, if I got to a session early I sat at a half full table and made conversation, if I was late I sat near the door or at an empty table. Repeat at lunch and afternoon sessions. Dinner was not provided so it was find a companion or 7 and head out. I met some of the best people at dinner. It was so much more relaxed, louder, and full of laughs. 

I did find a point where a session block had nothing of value to me. This isn't to say it wasn't of value to others just not applicable to my blog and online presence. In comes the dodge relaxation room. I spent so much time in there. Chair massages drinks snacks and this foot massager and It was bliss. I had a blast and met lots of really great people I hadn't seen at all in sessions. If you were at Type A you probably met me in the relaxation room. I never wanted to leave. You know you've been there too long when the massage therapists know who you are. 


This isn't to say the sessions weren't good. I went to some really interesting and engaging sessions. Sessions of email newsletters, Social media campaigns, the hard to understand facebook pages (which i missed but read the twitter stream where people were learning a ton). I listened to Patti Digh give a really inspiring opening keynote and went to her session of writing exercises later. Hard interactive session which forced me to think outside the box. Definitely a great session. Blog conferences have a thing called tribes. new concept to me but its basically a round table discussion on a topic. Thats just some of the lineup. There really is something for everyone but the downside with tracks is sometimes you really want to see 2 or 3 sessions that all happen at the same time.  

The parties were interesting and nothing like I expected. Every night was 2 parties, one in the conference hall the other on the patio. While I had bought a change of clothes for the parties the dress code was so laid back the only change I made most nights was from short sleeve to long sleeves. Sure some people were dressed up but neither looked out of place at the parties. Some of the parties had drink tickets, at a normal conference i'd look for the recovering alcoholic or diabetic, at Type A I looked for the pregnant women. People get really happy at these things. It is nothing like a corporate conference. People get fall out drunk and roughly but at type a it was mostly talking and hugging. Event he drunkest person there has nothing on a corporate conference.

I also spent more time then I thought I would at the sponsor tables. I really treated it like the vendor shows i've gone to so much over the years. I finally felt like some part of this conference wasn't foreign to me. I learned about brands i knew nothing about and found out new things about new brands like Ovaltine. Hated it as a kid, but it tastes pretty good now. They made smoothies. 


I know there are people who have never gone to blogging conferences that still think "I'm ________ blogger and i don't think i should go to a blogging conference." Well i've learned that regardless of what you can put in that blank you need to attend at least one. it could be fore the after parties, the sponsor connections, the personal connections and putting a name to a face, which i will say more then once i heard several people talk about yet another blog where it turned out to be fake. Even if you think you have all the right stuff, you may want to go so people know you actually exist.  


A conference by any other name still has vodka. I'm glad i went. 

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