8 Problogger Event Highlights, 26 Pearls of Wisdom & a pair of very hurty high heels!

The first day of the #PBevent was here and I was excited! What would I learn? Who would I meet? What would I see, hear and feel?

I’m sharing my 8 HIGHLIGHTS and 26 PEARLS OF WISDOM (PW) from the day!

Highlight #1

The 2015 #PBevent started off with a bang as Darren Rowse (founder of Problogger) entered the room on a Segway! The room erupted in laughter. We were off to a great start!

Highlight #2

Darren’s keynote address. I thoroughly enjoyed it and agreed with every word. He spoke on 3 Ways to Make your Blog Shine but you could apply what he said to whatever you do, regardless of whether you blog or not.

The 3 ways to make your blog shine that Darren spoke on are:

1. How are you?
2. What is your why?
3. How are you using your time?

I got value out of each of these three elements that he spoke on, but none more so than the first!

• PW1:  How are you? Darren said that the health of your blog is directly correlated to the health of yourself. He encouraged us to move each day, eat a healthy diet, rest when needed, fill our cups, and look after our spirituality and mental health.  This was all music to my ears as this is what I talk about on my blog all the time so I was so happy to hear Darren share his thoughts with over 700 bloggers. It’s so important because as bloggers we spend so much time in front of a computer and on social media. It can become all-consuming to the point where the lines between when we work and when we don’t can get very blurred! We need to be careful not to let it consume us to the point where our health is at risk. This is why I decided to do my Digital Detox series and why I post regularly on topics relative to Self Investment – to remind people that looking after yourself and getting the work/life balance right is critical to all aspects of your life!

• PW2: “Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines practiced every day”

Highlight #3

Listening to Jadah Sellner (Simple Green Smoothies) speak. Jadah spoke on ‘How to grow your on-line following through engagement, list-building and word-of-mouth’. She had a beautiful stage presence and a smile that lit the room! She took us through her failed business attempts and told us that it took 7 years for her to find success.

The many favourite pearls of wisdom from Jadah (in addition to the glowstick quote above!):

• PW4: I loved that she shared her failures and that she didn’t look upon them as failures but rather as ‘feedback’. She says – put it out there and let the world decide!
• PW5: We need to say our dreams out loud and take imperfect action
• PW6: You can’t outsource authenticity!
• PW7: Attract + Nurture + Serve = fans
• PW8: Who is your dream client and/or reader? Think about it and write up a profile. Then, imagine that in all your posts you are talking to that person.
• PW9: You can’t automate connection
• PW10: Don’t try to be perfect. Be real!
• PW11: It’s not about how great you are, it’s about how great you make people feel!
• PW12: No comment should be left behind – respond to all!
• PW13: What value are you adding? What are you offering your readers? Are you entertaining them, being useful, teaching them something, inspiring them? How do you add value to their lives?

Highlight #4

Some pearls of wisdom from Ruth Soukup (Living Well Spending Less) who spoke on Pinterest Marketing 101: the three elements of the perfect pin

• PW14: Pinterest is the ONLY social media channel that was created for the sole purpose of sharing content
• PW15: Pinterest is the ONLY social media channel that allows its users to immediately expand their reach through the use of collaborated boards
• PW16: The perfect pin has:
  • Fantastic content – helps the reader solve a problem; makes the reader want to read right now!
  • Eye catching photos and graphics – improve your photography or use good stock photos; use bright warm colours (light & bright) over cool monochromatic photos; use vertical images rather than horizontal (at least 600 pixels wide); avoid faces in photographs used and close crops are more effective than far away shots; put borders around photos with a white background; create space for your text; get a consistent look.
  • Compelling description – compels your reader to act; make it conversational (around 200 characters); avoid hashtags; make sure it is helpful; make it immediate – eg how are you going to solve the problem right now.

Highlight #5

Some pearls of wisdom from Carolyn Makepeace (yTravel Blog) who spoke on From Blog to Business – The Steps You Need to Take to Create a Profitable Business Online:

• PW17: Set the culture of your community (tone, content, leadership, rules)
• PW18: Lean into the future. What do you see? What is your vision?
• PW19: What’s your Mission? What’s calling you? Who are you serving?
• PW20: In the end, it’s not the tools, systems, content, connections or star power that determines your success. Your ability to manage the mind is the deciding factor!
• PW21: If you’re not willing to act despite your fear, then you’re not willing to win.
• PW22: Rejection teaches you how to refine
• PW23: Overwhelm says your priorities are wrong
• PW24: Frustration is a sign something needs to change

Highlight #6

Pearls of wisdom from Heather Armstrong (Dooce) who spoke on The Courage of Compassion: Transforming your experience with criticism

• PW25: “No-one gets to come into your living room and poop on your floor. Delete negative comments!”
• PW26: “Defensiveness steals your energy and demands that you explain yourself to people who will deliberately and maliciously misinterpret you. It’s a waste of time, like screaming words into a vacuum.”

Highlight #7

THE BIGGEST HIGHLIGHT OF MY DAY – Meeting lots and lots of bloggers who I had previously only known online and bloggers I had not yet come across. I can’t remember everyone that I met on this day but some that stick out include the following people:

• Leah from Leah V Loves who I met online back in 2012. I was so happy that she finally spotted me at the shine party (we’d been trying to find each other since Thursday). She’s exactly as I thought she would be. Love her!
• Steph from Steph’s Joy – we found each other in the blogosphere through a shared love of photography! She is so smiley and lovely!
• Sammie from The Annoyed Thyroid – love Sammie’s blog, her dedicated engagement in the blogging community and the always thoughtful comments she leaves on posts! She is as lovely as I imagined she would be!  No more FODP ok Sammie! 😉 
  [if anyone would like to know what FODP is just ask me in the comments and I’ll be happy to explain]
• Kathy from YinYang Mother – I love Kathy’s blog! We’ve known each other a while on-line so it was fabulous to meet in person. She’s exactly as I thought she would be too – so, so lovely!
• Nicole from The Builder’s Wife – I’m so happy that we got to meet, even though it was so briefly and in a crowded and noisy room!  I was honoured to guest post on her blog not long ago.  Nicole was just as lovely as I thought she would be.  I hope next time we will have longer to sit and chat!
• Krystal from Perfect Enough for Us – we nearly met in March at the Brisbane Problogger day but her son was sick so she couldn’t make it in the end. Krystal is such a delightful bundle of energy and passion for blogging! She’s a powerhouse of knowledge about Pinterest! Check out her blog if you would like some tips!

…and so many more wonderful bloggers. Wish I could list you all!

Highlight #8

The ‘Shine’ themed Poolside Networking Evening. Honestly, the whole set up (ambience, music, food, service) was outstanding! Huge thank you to those Problogger staff that organized this and hats off to RACV Royal Pines Resort for an outstanding job done!

One very painful lesson I learned on this evening was that I can no longer do the high heels thing big sigh.  Maybe if I’m going to be sitting down at a dinner table for most of the evening but certainly not for a stand up party situation!  Oh my hat my coat – I was in so much pain!  I had intended on wearing my black boots for ‘the shine party’ but had thrown in some other options in case I changed my mind (I do this often!). As I’d worn my boots on Thursday and during the day on Friday, I decided that perhaps a different look was in order. I decided to wear my sparkly silver high heels because they suited the ‘shine’ theme.   Never mind that I haven’t worn heels for ages, apart from medium chunky heels!!  Very, very silly decision!

Shhh!!

THE SECRET 9TH AND ABSOLUTE HIGHLIGHT OF MY DAY:  At around 9pm I was back in my room after having limped my way back there in those dreadfully torturous heels.  I know – 9pm – Party Animal (not)!!  The RELIEF of FINALLY TAKING THOSE SHOES OFF was the absolute highlight of my day and really should have been my 9th highlight BUT I had already completed the feature image for this post (which clearly states 8 highlights) so instead it is my secret 9th highlight!

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Keep watch for my wrap up of Day 2 of the Problogger Event. In the meantime, if you haven’t yet read them, I’ve written about My Top 3 Dorky Moments at Problogger Event 2015 and Problogger Event 2015: Orientation and Networking through the eyes of a newbie attendee!

Were you at the #PBevent ? What were your highlights from Day 1?  Any Pearls of Wisdom that I missed?

Ciao for now,

Linking up with Essentially Jess for #IBOT