Baltimore Brain Dump

Wow, what a weekend! Really, what a series of weeks leading up to the fabulous Fitbloggin’ conference.

If you are looking for an intense weekend of bonding with blends (blogging friends), learning about everything from branding to making money to increasing the search engine optimization of your blog, be sure to attend this event next year. I’ve gone two years in a row — this time, I was lucky enough to speak — and each time, I’ve come away brimming with ideas for the blog and the blogging community.

A very special thank you to SurveyMonkey, who helped sponsor my travel — I talked to so many people who use SurveyMonkey for work and really like it, and I’m looking forward to helping bloggers use the tools to learn more about their audiences and make their blogs even better and more badass!

This is going to be a relatively picture heavy brain dump with some basic bullet points of things I did and learned. In the next few weeks, I’ll be taking a closer look at some of the main topics that we covered and that stood out to me. Things like:

• Blogger responsibility, both from the writing and reading standpoints
• Defining and then becoming a leader in your particular niche
• Making money and/or connections with brands
• Staying motivated in an ever-growing world of bloggers

I’ll certainly be asking you for your opinions, and I’ll also be working many of these topics into some upcoming projects with #Fitblog Chats on Twitter — so stay tuned and be sure to sign up for the newsletter at http://fitblogchats.com!

Thursday: Day 1

On Thursday, Lucas and I flew from Orlando to Baltimore, dropped our stuff at the hotel then headed back out. The weather was beautiful, so we stayed in the Inner Harbor for a quick bite then went to the Aquarium. Fun! We walked around Federal Hill until we found a cool little coffee place and then came back for a brief rest.

We ended the night with a surprisingly Detox-friendly meal at Talara, an Asian-Mexican fusion place that doesn’t sound like it would work but it did. I basked in delicious polenta, mushroom flatbread and a roasted beet salad, followed by a stop at a unique bar that specializes in scotch. I observed; Lucas partook.

Friday: Day 2

Friday was actually the busiest of all the days for me, starting with a group 5K Fun Run. I had so much fun, especially being at the finish line as some attendees finished their first 5K ever and others crossed with new PRs and big smiles.

Like that hat I’m wearing? It’s an ibeani, made by one of the event’s sponsors, and has headphones built right in. Cool! New Balance sponsored the run and an accompanying 1-mile walk, and the New Balance team members that led us on the routes and coached us were really inspirational.

Breakfast? The best I’ve ever had at a conference, and that’s a testament to Roni understanding that many of us have specific dietary needs. Since I was trying to stay with my Detox as much as possible (more on that later), I really appreciated the gluten-free cereals that Attune Foods provided. Love Attune!

I dipped into some of the workouts and demonstrations (kettlebells! Zumba!) and also did my first and last rehearsal with co-presenter Jess before getting ready (and nervous!) for the live #Fitblog chat. It was, I think, a success in that it was experimental and I went in prepared for problems. We had some (although the hotel staff could not have been more accommodating — even helping me TAPE my iPhone to my laptop and plugging in about a million audio cables!), most notably when the wireless connection dropped out and I lost all access to the Internet, but the Fitbloggin’ crowd was gracious and the online crowd supportive as always.

After lunch and a few more sessions, I stopped by the Pop Chips Snack Shots wall:

Then I kicked off the Operation Beautiful Flash Mob with my partner in crime Monica and *finally*, I got all glam for the Sears Fit Studio social and spent some time with my new friends.

After meeting Lucas back at the hotel, we shoved some late-night Whole Foods in our faces before passing out in our gorgeous King-sized bed. I thought I’d sleep soundly, but…

Saturday: Day 3

I slept deeply and well, but not for long. At 4am, I found myself wide awake and I knew that I had no hope of getting any more sleep. So I took a walk around the Inner Harbor before getting dressed and set up for the presentation (which you can see online here!).

I think (hope!) it went really well — the video that I labored over was a hit and the group asked some really great questions after we finished our prepared slides. And I was so happy to hear the comments after the presentation, and to read the tweets from people who told us that they’d really learned some things and had some homework to do. That was the goal!

The rest of the day is a blur of hugs, great sessions on photography, SEO, analytics, blogger responsibility and more. I kept saying — “is it over? already?”

It wasn’t, actually. Lucas and I met a college friend for drinks and dinner, then they dropped me off at the club to dance, dance, dance with some of the people that are now and always will be friends. I haven’t partied like that in a long time and it was such a blast!

Sunday: Day 4

Another early wakeup call, but this time for sad reasons. I had to go home! Lucas and I had a yummy breakfast from Whole Foods, eaten by the waterfront, before heading to the airport. An uneventful flight later and we were back home to two very happy doggies.

Misc. Notes:

Overall:

• Last year I called Fitbloggin’ the greatest conference ever, and this year only backed those feelings up. I love the balance of education sessions with networking, all based around the idea that together, this blogging community is better.

Detox:

• I decided to stick to the Detox as much as possible, but to allow myself some room for flexibility if it was difficult or awkward to request and eat special foods. Luckily, every meal that was provided through the conference had lots of healthy options (although I am sure things like sugar and/or gluten may have been present in something, since I didn’t have labels to read).
• I did have one cup of caffeinated coffee that I poured thinking it was decaf. I could have trashed it, but decided not to.
• I made a very mindful decision on Saturday night, after the conference had ended, to take a 12-hour break and have a few drinks with friends. I am shocked and happy to report that not only did being conscious of the action make me enjoy every moment of the “treat,” it made me even more excited and committed to get back on plan after my allotted fun time.

“Outtakes”:

• I came pretty close to a panic attack on Saturday afternoon when I couldn’t find my phone. After running around the hotel looking for it, I finally found the phone — and looked down to realize I had a giant RIP in my (brand new) pants. In a super inappropriate place. I have to assume that I ripped the pants early enough in the day that I did some serious flashing to the crowd of my presentation, and that coupled with the phone search stress had me seriously sweating. But I calmed down, changed into jeans and decided to just get over it.
• While walking back from the restaurant on Saturday night, I stubbed my toe hard enough to see stars. On Sunday morning, I woke up to a toe that is so badly bruised I have to wonder if it’s broken or badly strained. What’s crazy is that I danced on it for hours!

Thanks for sticking with me — more to come as I share some of the lessons learned at Fitbloggin’!