2011 Central Florida Bloggers Conference Recap

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend the 2011 Central Florida Bloggers Conference, and I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am that I went!

Turns out, there is a plethora of amazing bloggers in Orlando, each with different viewpoints and stories to tell.   Yay for new friends and new blogs to read!  I-4 bloggers representin'!

First things first

I had a 16 mile run that could not be avoided, so I hauled it out of bed at 4:00 a.m. for our 5:00 a.m. start.  Norma came along for the run, too, that #$%!.    The run went well.  Our last three miles were the fastest, and we had a nice negative split.   Also, Lululemon came out and gave out free shorts.  I didn't snag a pair, but Paula did.

The Conference


Thanks to my run, I unfortunately missed the keynote address.  I got there in time to hear Ben of Adeventures With Ben, who talked about cross-promotion and growing your audience.  Ben is training for a half marathon, so I totally think we can trade expertise, right?  ;-)

Next up was Meghann of Meals & Miles, whose blog I regularly stalk.  Meghann said she was nervous, but I didn't see it.   She spoke with Missy Ward about affiliate marketing, something I knew absolutely nothing about.   Seriously, my brain is going to explode with all this new information.

Lunch!


Big Wheel Food Truck provided lunch.  

The long line provided the opportunity to chat with a few other bloggers.

Left to right:


Me (no, I am not leaning on Katy's shoulder, I swear it); Katy - The Singing Runner,  Carolina - Peas in a Blog,  Meghann - Meals and Miles,  Michelle - Crazy Running Legs, and Jacki - Mom Jovi (we are neighbors!)

Feed me

Delicious.   After lunch, we broke up into blog types.  I sat with the fit bloggers, including Katy, Carolina, Meghann, Carissa at  Fit 2 Flex,  Katherina at Zephyr Runs,  and Christi (who blogs and tweets for the YMCA of Central Florida.   We didn't get a picture of our group --> blogger fail.

After that was the panel discussion.

Free cookbook from our host, Park Maitland Elementary School

The Twitter hashtag was #CFLBlogCon.  Yep, the most I've ever tweeted in my life.

We finished up and headed to the Enzian for Happy Hour.  After a run and no nap, a Peroni was most definitely in order.

Carolina agreed.

Lots of networking going on here...

 We hovered around J and picked her brain for fashion tips.  She also spoke today and did a fantastic job.

A couple other bloggers I met but did not get any pics with included Julie at Peanut Butter Fingers Kelly at Moments That Make a Life.    I've been following Kelly for a while and also had the chance to meet and run with her daughter Cate when we did the  Girls on the Run race together.   It was great to meet Kelly in person!


Thanks, Bess for putting together such an amazing conference!