10.23.2012

12 Blissdom.....Nailed It

I'm back from Blissdom and although not physically recharged my mind is buzzing with ideas. This was my first blog conference and I knew it could get overwhelming. It was pretty much non stop from the time I arrived on Friday until Joe picked me up on Sunday. They say that going to Blissdom is like coming home for bloggers and it is kind of true. Where else can you sit at a table with 9 other ladies and have them all tweeting while still maintaining eye contact and carrying on a conversation! 

With Sonya and Erica at Richmond Station for a special tasting dinner

Blissdom is what you make it. I chose to spend my time with a smaller group of people so I could really get to know them and develop lasting friendships. I connected with the speakers and what they were sharing with us. I connected with my new friends until my whole body hurt from laughing. I found opportunities to share a bit about myself and took crazy fast notes on my BlackBerry as I learned how to make this blog better. 

I also had a lot of fun.

 Dinner with Erica, Stacey, Tracey, Sonya, Tanya, Nerina and Kirsten

 
 At the kickoff party with Tanya, Kirsten, Nerina

 The rest of my dinnermates: Erica, Sonya, Tracey, Stacey

With Chef Michael Smith thanks to Canadian Lentils!

At the costume party with Jen, Ashley and Jenn (whoa that's a lot of Jen(n)'s!)

 Taking a break from fighting crime! Ashley, Gretel, Kirsten

I managed to make my way through the conference keeping my green values intact. I probably walked away with the least amount of swag! I turned down anything that was plastic or was a brand or product that I would not use.  The biggest impact of my weekend was transportation. I carpooled to the train station with Lisa but opted to have Joe pick me up to go home vs taking the train part of the way. On Sunday I took an excursion to wine country which included a drive to and from Toronto. The winery I found and that is now the official sponsor of wine in the JnJ house was well worth it! (More on this winery to come in a follow up post).

I took my own water bottle, turned down bottled water, took my own coffee mug but didn't have to use it as there were reusable mugs available. I didn't hand out business cards (which Sonya says makes me more memorable!), didn't print any confirmations and took all notes electronically.The conference even donated any unwanted food we received from brands to the local food bank!

The weekend is what you make of it and these guys helped make it awesome! Alex, Ann, Annie (I forced myself to grow balls and go talk to her), Ashley, Erica, Gretel, Jen (my roomie!), Jenn (I did a guest post for her years ago...small world!) Kirsten, Lisa, Nerina, Rebecca, Sherrie, Sonya, Stacey, Tanya, Tracey
  
As an added bonus my roommate didn't kill me in my sleep.

12 comments:

  1. You and your green are inspiring! I can't believe I was with you and I didn't realize it until AFTER. Gah. Next time I'm stealing a green hug.

    Great post!

    http://truthfully.ca

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  2. Glad you had fun! I will be there next year and us greenies can hangout! I was happy that I was able to compost- they had compost and recycling bins everywhere in the convention hall. I didn't have to bring it anything home. I didn't really take any swag either except the organic wild rice from MB, and it was delicious! Already looking forward to seeing you in one year!!!!

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  3. It was so great to meet you face to face! I think next year ill make a commitment to say no to swag...there was so much that I dont need, and so much paper in those bags, that its time to get very selective about what i take home.

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  4. It was great to meet you too! I'm glad you tweeted me to meet up!

    I know that Blogher had a swag exchange room on year. That would be kind of cool to do! I ended up taking the bag from Canadian Lentils and the gift card only from Starbucks (gave the rest of the bag to someone else). I wish I had been able to go through the bag we got a registration and only take some of that stuff too.

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  5. @Shannon - were you all 'HOW DOES THIS CHICK KNOW I GOT ROUTED TO THE US?????'

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  6. @Steph - Composting at the hall is a great feature and I think not very common at all!

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  7. I'm so glad we made plans to carpool -- I may not have met you otherwise, and that would have been a shame! :) I, too, was selective about my swag collecting. Just because things are free doesn't mean we need them. Your blog has me thinking about other ways to become more earth-friendly -- thanks for all of the great information!

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  8. I was thinking about that too Lisa. If Jen hadn't done the Road Rally we all may not have met Ashley. If Jenn hadn't responded to my Dove tweet then we may not have met her and Greta. I like how a series of small things and each of us making choices to step outside our comfort zone brought us all together.

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  9. Great post! Great pics - and a great time had by all. So nice meeting you and sharing a delish dinner with everyone in the pantry. Hope we can organize another get together soon. Pantry girls rock ;)

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  10. Best idea ever Stacey!

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  11. I'm so glad I got to meet you pre-BlissDom. Because I am working the entire time, I don't get much time to have long conversations :) see you around town!!

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  12. Thanks for the shout out! Super glad we met, I'm sure I'll see you again soon. :)

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