#Britmumslive. What was it all about?

You may have heard, or seen (apologies for the non-stop Instagram feed), that this weekend I attended a big blogging conference called #Britmumslive. Around 700 bloggers, who cover all sorts of topics from food to travel, and parenting to beauty, met up at a lovely venue in London Town to listen, learn and be inspired.

So what did I learn?

1. Grass skirts are not a good look.

2. Deckchairs are a long way down and it's quite difficult to get back out of them.

3. I will regularly make myself look silly in the name of winning a competition.

4. Spending time with friends and meeting new people is amazing.

5. I'm a sucker for a personalised marketing ploy

6. I definitely need to brush up on my photography skills - and next time, take MORE photos!

Oh OK, it's true there was a little bit of serious stuff too... in fact, quite a lot. Sessions on topics such as better photography, SEO information, techie tips and how to write more eloquently (can you tell I missed that one?!). There was legal advice and a session on Google+ which was so packed I couldn't squeeze in!

Emma Freud kicked the event off with a very witty talk about how much she has achieved for Comic Relief. She is the tiara-wearing queen and must have loved looking out on the sea of bloggers wearing tiaras in her honour. 

My '#bestmoment' was definitely at the start of day 2, listening to Ben who writes the blog 'Life As A Widower'. It's a heart-wrenching story, but Ben is an amazing man who just seems to be able to tell it how it is, and he helps lift that taboo on talking about grief. It made me want to cherish every moment with my girls and remember to ask them what makes them happy so much more often.

Emotions were also running high as we listened to the inspirational Hayley from Downs Side Up (who is one of the most gorgeous people I know!) and Chris from Thinly Spread among others telling us their success stories about how they have made huge changes in the world.
#TeamHonk won a very well deserved award. Those three ladies inspired a whole army of bloggers to make a big change, by working together. We listened to some amazing bloggers read out their own keynote blog posts (I was so proud of my great friend @claireyfairey); there were a lot more tears.

I'm in awe of how such a big conference was put together and run so smoothly by the Britmums team (the Butterflies were fabulous, as ever). 

To me though, as always, it was all about the people. I absolutely loved meeting up with others in this great big blogging community and can't wait to do it all again!

Now it's back to the day job..... 😉