Recap Of The Blog Societies Conference 2017

 

Photography by Jules Kennedy

Recap Of The Blog Societies Conference 2017

#TBSCON 2017

A month ago I attended The Blog Societies Conference. Lucky for me it was in Chicago. So the travel plans getting to the conference were hassle-free! This was the first blog conference I’ve ever attended in the 3 years of my blogging career. Crazy, I know. But in the past, the timing just didn’t work out. So when I knew I was free for this conference I jumped on it.

I’ve heard so many mixed reviews about different blog conferences that I honestly did not know what to expect. I was also nervous! I didn’t know who was attending and meeting new people in general just makes me so nervous. I’m not a good small talker haha. Guess that’s the introvert of me.  Without further ado, here is a recap of The Blog Societies Conference 2017. Also known as TBSCon.

Who and What is The Blog Societies?

The Blog Societies is an online community specifically for bloggers. Their primary goal is to help build traffic on bloggers’ sites and provide resources for them to help to continue to grow their blog. It is also a great place to connect with other bloggers and genuinely help each other. PR Companies and Brands also connect with The Blog Societies to provide opportunities to collaborate with bloggers.

Location: W-Lakeshore

The Blog Societies Conference 2017 was held at the W-Lakeshore. This is an incredible hotel and if you’re ever visiting Chicago, I highly recommend it. I have friends that stayed there and loved it. It has a chic, modern vibe with amazing amenities and views of the city.

Photography by Jules Kennedy

Day One: Welcome Party

The first day was the welcome/cocktail party hosted by Vera Bradley at the Sugar Factory. It was a great way to meet other bloggers and brands that were attending the conference in a relaxed environment. Everyone I talked to was so nice and friendly and it put my nervousness aside. The food was also delicious! Yum! I kept going to the hors d’oeuvres table for more haha! Vera Bradley also introduced their new product line and I was obsessing over their silk scarves!

Photography by Jules Kennedy

Day Two: Workshops & Networking

Day two was the meat of the conference. The day was filled with workshops, networking, and of course building friendships.

Photography by Jules Kennedy

The workshops were by far my favorite part of the conference because I learned so much! A lot of stuff that you just can’t google. You have the opportunity to attend 3 workshops that are back to back in the morning. Each workshop is an hour long and I’ll be honest I wish they were more than an hour. There’s so much information and an hour is not enough. Below are workshops I attended.

 

SEO Strategy with Lindsay Humes

I found this workshop so beneficial. I’m currently working on improving my SEO (Search Engine Optimization). I had a general idea just by googling, but Lindsay did an awesome job breaking it down. Some I knew and some I was surprised that can hurt or benefit my blog. I was definitely wanting to learn more. This class motivated me to dedicate time to fixing up my SEO.

Tailwind Tutorial with Melissa Megginson

If you guys aren’t familiar with Tailwind, it is a tool that can schedule and analyze your Pinterest. Ever since I was introduced to Tailwind, it has been a game changer for me. My blog has grown because of Tailwind. It makes scheduling my pins so much easier. So attending this workshop helped me understand all the tools and resources Tailwind can provide. So glad I attended this class because I did not fully optimize Tailwind. It is a paid service, I pay $14.99/month, but you can definitely try it out for free. That how I knew I wanted Tailwind, by trying it out for free and I immediately saw the benefits. Use this link to get the first month free.

Turning Your Blog Into A Business with Amy Northard

Another super helpful workshop. This workshop broke down what it means to be a business and how we should be treating our blog if we want it to be a business. Love that this class reassured me what I’m doing is right and what else I need to do. Amy also broke down taxes for bloggers, when is the right time to become a sole proprietor, Limited Liability Coporation, and S-Corp.

Photography by Jules Kennedy

There was only room to do three workshops but they also provided Lightroom with Stephanie Drenka. I heard great things about that workshop too. Since I edit my own photos and use Lightroom quite frequently, I had to make the executive decision to rule this out as a workshop to attend. Although I will admit, there is still a lot I need to learn!

Marc Fisher Luncheon

After the workshops was lunch time! Lunch was hosted by Marc Fisher at The Boarding House. I’ve been to The Boarding House several times and I totally did not expect our lunch location. It has 2 other floors dedicated to private dining and those spaces are beautiful! The chandelier, decor, and ambiance was stunning. The food of course was delicious! We also had the opportunity to learn more  and see Marc Fisher’s Fall collection.

During lunch, I was able to connect even more with other bloggers and build more friendships. It was awesome knowing how we all come from different backgrounds and experience yet finding something in common. We shared stories, laughters, etc. It was a good time.

Photography by Jules Kennedy

Networking Suite

After lunch was the Networking Suite and it was an opportunity to network with all the brands that sponsored this event.  Basically each brand had a station, and they shared more about the brand and their products. It was also an opportunity to connect with the brand and provide my business card and media kit. I loved the networking because I like putting names to faces. By the end of the Networking suite, my arms felt like they were going to fall off from all the swag! If you plan on attending this next year, I highly recommend making sure there’s room in your luggage for swag!

After the Networking Suite, I was exhausted. It was fun, but it is a lot! Me and some of the bloggers headed to Hampton Social for dinner.

 

Day Three

This was the last day of the conference and the first thing we did was have breakfast which was hosted by Charming Charlie. The breakfast spread was amazing and delicious! We also learned more about the history of Charming Charlie and their Fall Collection.

After breakfast, it was time for the guest speaker’s presentation. Jessica and Cathy kicked off the presentations. They did an amazing job putting together this conference! I also really enjoyed hearing from the guest speakers.

Guest Speakers and Presentations

Photography by Jules Kennedy

Danielle from Shop Dandy and Grace from A Southern Drawl shared how to add travel content to your blog. They talked about how they integrated it into their fashion blog. I really like how they worked as a team and shared how they pitch to different travel destinations.

Rachel Martino spoke as our keynote speaker and I really enjoyed it! She was a blogger that I followed even before I started a blog and it was awesome hearing her journey and her advice to other bloggers. I love how her advice and thoughts about blogging were realistic and it was refreshing to hear coming from a top blogger.

Brittany Stevens from Lawyer Lookbook spoke about the rules & regulation, FTC guidelines, and contract agreements related to blogging. It was so helpful to hear all of this coming from a lawyer.  She broke down all the law jargon in terms we can understand. Again, this stuff you can’t just google so I benefited a lot from this.

The last part of the presentation was the brand panels. The brands gave their thoughts on the blogging industry, their marketing strategy with bloggers, and what they know has been going on with blogging & social media. It was refreshing to hear their thoughts and their perspective. They also did a Q&A session!

After all the guest speakers finished we had an outdoor picnic at one of the W-Lakeshore’s rooftop spots for lunch.

It was just a great way to end the conference. It was relaxed and the view was beautiful!

Photography by Jules Kennedy

Overall, I enjoyed The Blog Societies Conference. It was a lot going on for 3 days, but every single day was beneficial. I definitely would recommend it for any blogger. Because I had a great time, it is definitely a conference I will consider going to again!

xo RD