Photo from BlogHer.com
I’ve been lucky to attend several blog conferences and they are one of my favorite perks of blogging! I love to travel anyway and then throw in meeting some fantastic online friends and you have a winner. The two that stand out most for me are BlogHer and Disney Social Media Moms Celebration. Probably the largest and the smallest conferences for bloggers. They both had benefits and even though they were very different, there were things that I did (or wish I’d done better!) to prepare.
1. Find out who else is going before you leave home and make a list of people you want to meet. The time will just fly by and usually you are busy from the time you wake up until the time you fall, exhausted into bed. It’s easy to go to event, hoping to meet someone you’ve been reading for years, only to forget and run out of time. How do you find out who else is going? The easiest way is to find out the twitter hashtag for the event and start searching those tweets. For Disney Social Media Moms, is is #DisneySMMoms. That’s where you will see who is going and get great advice for your trip.
2. Order your business cards well in advance, don’t forget to take them, and don’t forget to hand them out. Okay, there are a lot of “don’t-forgets” in there. But you do! It’s exciting and fun and you tend to lose track of some of the things that seemed so obvious at home. What do you put on your business card? Well, you want it to be unique, interesting, and memorable. If your card reflects your own personal style and the style of your blog, people will remember. Having coordinated and cohesive marketing tools matters. You are a brand and you want that branding to be consistent. And when you are consistent, you are memorable. As a blogger, obviously you want to include the name and url of your blog. If you have a tag line, you also want to include that – by it’s very nature, a tag line is designed to communicate who you are, quickly and clearly. Also, we are queens of social media, no? Absolutely include your twitter and facebook links.
3. Perfect your elevator pitch. “So, what is your blog about?” That’s the second-most asked question at a blogging conference, right after, “Where did you get those shoes?”. Get used to explaining your blog and your niche in just a few sentences. Self-deprecation is funny, but this isn’t the time or place. Sound as interesting and as fascinating as you truly are!
4. Dress for success, then have fun! Be comfortable, but also dress to make a good first impression. Be yourself and express your bloggy personality in what you wear. This is a very fast opportunity to meet companies and fellow bloggers, take the time to plan what visual statement you want to make. Then forget about and have fun! Enjoy meeting and playing with new friends and old. “And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance…I hope you dance!”
When you are shopping for business cards, discover the Tiny Prints difference. Tiny Prints creates high quality, unique printing projects and their business cards are no different.
About Tiny Prints: Tiny Prints provides stylish, modern and unique stationery that cover all your paper needs. You’ll find summer party invitations, personalized greeting cards, thank you cards, business cards, and even custom wedding invitations. Come try the easy card personalization, powerful preview engine and top-notch customer service and paper quality for yourself! With Tiny Prints by your side, commemorating every holiday and momentous occasion is a cinch!
Disclosure: I wrote this post as part of a campaign for Tiny Prints and will receive 50 business cards. If you’d like to find out if you can also participate, fill out the form here.
Great post Kelly – Perfecting the elevator pitch is definitely a key – there are no second chances for first impressions!