The day for me was a complete mix of emotions. I had a bit of a wobble leaving my boys at the train station and I had completely underestimated how overwhelmed I would feel in a room full of over 400 women. It was bizarre. I have been to many conferences in the past but never one where there was quite so many women. I am used to being the minority.
My arrival at the venue was slightly marred by the fact that my phone had completely crashed so I was in a bit of a panic. After being saved by one of the wonderful hairdressers who let me borrow his power socket I started to calm down and made my way back in to the main room. And bang. It hit me.
I had actually come all the way to London, on my own, to a room full of strangers, out of choice. Was I completely mad?? I made my way to grab a cup of tea (sugar always helps!) and in no time it was time for the first keynotes.
The first by a Facebook bigwig was interesting and not the 'sales pitch' I thought it would be. What is there to sell I guess. But to be honest I wasn't really listening and was more interested in scanning the room playing 'spot the blogger'. It was then I realised I hardly recognised anyone. I didn't have long to ponder the thought though as Sarah Brown (yes that one) was next on and was utterly engaging, inspiring and to be honest quite surprising.
Then it was time for more tea and another sugar hit. As I stood enjoying my tea, waiting for the sugar to kick in I glanced around the room and it hit me again. I really was on my own. Suddenly everyone seemed to know each other and already be in pairs or groups. The few people I spotted on their own, and therefore was brave enough to introduce myself to turned out to be PR's. I really was wondering why I was there.
The rest of the day seemed a bit of a blur. A mixture of really interesting and thought provoking sessions and absolutely nerve racking, moments of loneliness. Finally it was 6 o'clock, the main sessions had finished and I thought I would leave early. Stumbling out with all the freebies and getting some dinner before the train home seemed like a good idea but I decided to grab at least one of the free glasses of wine first.
Well that went down quite nicely and gave me a bit of perspective. I had spent quite a bit of money to get myself there and I was actually thinking about leaving early? No, I had to make it worth while so, more wine, deep breath and well, I started to introduce myself to people. Deciding that I didn't care if I seemed like a stalker, after all what did that matter. It was probably my favourite part of the day.
In no time at all it was 8 o'clock and time to leave to get the train. I was ready, but in the end I had had a good day. The highlights for me really were meeting some great twitter and blogging friends (you know who you are!). I am not sure that the sessions have given me the direction I wanted for my blog but I am not sure anyone can do that. It is up to me.
After all it is all about the niche. And well, my niche is I guess me and at the minute this little chap...
All the sessions were live blogged from CyberMummy and you can find them here.
Lucy - would so loved to have met you, I had moment standing on my own, thinking everyone's with someone - You must have been the only person not tweeting if your phone died. I found it social overwhelming, wish I'd spoken to more people, that is my big regret. Felt completely mad introducing myself, hung on tight to the blogging buddies I'd gone with because it was so overwhelming. Did meet some fabulous people.
ReplyDeleteI've realised I have no niche!
Gemma - You were on my 'list' of people I wanted to meet, I think I spotted you once but you were mid conversation :) I felt really weird introducing myself to people. Luckily my phone came back to life so I did just stand tweeting which in itself was ridiculous! Oh well, I did enjoy it in the end, I just needed some alcoholic help! Lx
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