Susan K Mann

Award Nominated Mummy & Parenting blogger. Blogging about the highs and lows of being a working mother of two princes & princess, living out our own fairytale in Scotland.

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Fun And Learning At BlogOn #BlogOnMosi

12th May 2015 By Susan Mann 22 Comments

A few weekend’s ago I went to Blog On a wonderful blogging conference hosted by the lovely Laura from Tired Mummy of Two. The event was held in Manchester at The Museum of Science and Industry. It was an event filled with learning, meeting up with bloggers I’ve known for years and call my friends and meeting some lovely new blogger friends.

 I traveled down on the train on the Friday afternoon with the lovely Jo from Mummy’s Knee and met up with another of my lovely friends Jaime from The Oliver’s Madhouse. We headed to the Hard Rock Cafe in Manchester for some burgers and cocktail making. It was a lot of fun and I made one of my favourite cocktails Amaretto Sour.

 

Cocktails
Making Cocktails

Thank you to the lovely Sian from OffCumden for the photo and it was so lovely to see her again and get a chance to chat. Also got to chat with Erica from 92three30 one of my friends I pretty much chat with every day on twitter, so nice to see in real life and so many others. It was nice to meet some new bloggers in a relaxed environment and speak to Laura before the big day. It helped ease the nerves as did a few of the Amaretto sours.

Amaretto Sour
Amaretto Sour

Arriving at Mosi I met up with the lovely Susanne at Ghostwriter Mummy along with the gorgeous Elsie. There were so many wonderful bloggers I met and spoke to that day. The social aspect of blogging events are definitely the highlight. There were also lots of lovely PR companies and brands to speak to us, with lots of different things to try. It was thoroughly enjoyable. I even caught up with Sandra from Thinking Slimmer, always a pleasure.

The first session was about Time Management by the lovely Nickie of Typecast. She is someone I’ve known for years and it’s always so nice to see her and hear her speak. Time Management is something I am really failing at just now, so this session was right up my street. I loved her parting note “your Blog, you plan, your life”. These final words I have kept with me.  You can read about her keynote session on her blog. This is what I picked up:-

  • Use Google calendar for appointments
  • The IFTTT app is great for oraganising different bits
  • User Evernote to keep track of notes, fave tweet, etc
  • Organise each task into the ease of each one
  • User timers, set a timer for each task and stick to it
  • Buffer is user for scheduling social media and the paid version incorporates Pinterest
  • Chrome extensions are useful
  • Share through bitly to shorten extensions
  • Shedule to google+ using chrome extentions
  • Use your time wisely, by using the time, a diary and don’t over run

Next session was the lovey Jenny from Cheetah’s In My Shoes on photography. Do check out her blog for all her amazing hints and tips on making your photographs better. Her photographs are amazing and she wears awesome leggings. I learnt that it takes time to get a good shot, be patient, get action shots, edit your pictures, frame them and look for pictures around you. We then got to go off around the museum and take some pictures. These are the ones I took below.

Saturn MOSI
Saturn MOSI
MOSI
MOSI

The next session was by Nickie from Typecast, Kate from WitWitWoo and Lisa from Holybobb’s and was on YouTube and Vlogging. This is certainly not something I’ve done a lot of, I know very little about it and think I sound like a Scottish Smurf on helium when I vlog. However, I’m told it’s all about the confidence and the more you do it, the more natural you become. I am not convinced, but it’s something I’d like to try again. I will give this a go, watch this space. Here’s some tips I learnt:-

  • Good content
  • Split your videos into playlists and use specific tags
  • Join the vloggers and bloggers Facebook group
  • 24 hours are the most popular
  • Use tags
  • Timelapse
  • Editing – use imovie or movie maker on the laptop
  • Have your camera at mouth and nose level
  • Use a daylight lamp or daylight bulb for lighting
  • Use Royalty free music like sound cloud

During the break I finally got to meet the wonderful Jenny from The Brick Castle and Sim from Sim’s Life. Along with many bloggers I’ve known for many years and love and some new bloggers, who were a delight to get to know.

Jenny & Sim
Jenny & Sim

Next session was Blogging Advanced with Nick from Bring Digital. This was an interesting session, I’m never really sure even after blogging for almost 6 years whether or not I should be in the advanced section. I learnt a fair bit in the session.

  • Advanced SEO – Google read your blog meta tags
  • Spring clean – never delete, archive
  • Update your about page
  • Chose topics wisely
  • Backup your blog
  • Check Google Analytics to see what’s doing well
  • Become brand friendly
  • Hang out on linkedin
  • Approach brands with something different
  • He didn’t like google and that come across
  • Help other bloggers and ask for help if you need it
  • Grow your audience
  • Tweet a piece out 10 times a week

The last session was the lifestyle session. This was interesting, but I struggled to hear the two bloggers as I was right up the back. I did learn that you should use brand loyalty and work with those you are passionate about. You should think about charging for hosting a giveaway. Comment on other bloggers sites and Google might penalise you if your comments are short.

I got to speak to very sweet Nisbah  from Five Adventurers who had been very nervous about going, she seemed to have a great time and hopefully felt at ease by the end of the day. I also go to speak to my dear friend Tas from Not My Year Off, unfortunately not for long enough, but it is also lovely to see her . We managed to fit in a quick selfie.

Tas
Tas

The day was rounded off with a yummy dinner with Jo, Jaime and the lovely Jo from Jo’s Kitchen at the train station, just a shame Kirsty from Hijacked by Twins had to leave for her train. Then it was the long journey home.

I really enjoyed BlogOn and think Laura did an amazing job. The venue was excellent, great sessions and the brands were lovey too. With the event being smaller than the other ones I’ve been to, it gave you a chance to chat. I just wish I didn’t live so far away from so many lovely people.  Now to put it all into practice and find the time to get it all done. Thank goodness I have new time management skills. What are your top time management skills? I need all the help I can get. See you all again next year.

Brilliant blog posts on HonestMum.com

Filed Under: Lifestyle Tagged With: Blogging Conferences, lifestyle

Comments

  1. Kate Sutton says

    12th May 2015 at 9:04 am

    Great roundup Susan and it was so lovely to see you – just a shame I had to dash off! It’s a great conference and I’ll definitely be back! x

    Reply
    • Susan Mann says

      14th May 2015 at 2:06 pm

      Thank you lovely, it was so nice to see you. Thanks for all the tips and hope to see you again soon xx

      Reply
  2. Kirsty Phillipson-Lowe says

    12th May 2015 at 10:21 am

    A fab round up. It was lovely to finally meet you and we must make sure we catch up at the next event x

    Reply
    • Susan Mann says

      14th May 2015 at 2:05 pm

      Absolutely and hopefully get to have dinner this time xxx

      Reply
  3. Jo says

    12th May 2015 at 10:47 am

    It was lovely to see you too. We must meet up again soon xx

    Reply
    • Susan Mann says

      14th May 2015 at 2:05 pm

      Absolutely. It was great to finally meet you xxx

      Reply
  4. Kahanka says

    12th May 2015 at 8:21 pm

    You look amazing lovely, just glowing. Hope you are all doing OK xxx

    Reply
    • Susan Mann says

      14th May 2015 at 2:05 pm

      Aww thank you lovely. xxx

      Reply
  5. Nickie says

    12th May 2015 at 10:05 pm

    It was SO good to see you – we don’t get enough chances to catch up, do we? And you do NOT sound like a Scottish smurf on helium on your vlogs – get back on that horse and ride!!

    Reply
    • Susan Mann says

      14th May 2015 at 2:05 pm

      We really don’t, it was awesome to catch up with you and give you a hug. Even though we didn’t chat Dancemoms it was great to chat. And thank you, I will give it a go xx

      Reply
  6. Lisa says

    13th May 2015 at 8:05 am

    It was a pleasure to meet you Susan and now I can finally put a face to a name! X

    Reply
    • Susan Mann says

      14th May 2015 at 2:04 pm

      Thank you Lisa, and thank you for the great tips xx

      Reply
  7. Erica Price says

    13th May 2015 at 8:54 am

    So lovely to see you too. A great weekend.

    Reply
    • Susan Mann says

      14th May 2015 at 2:04 pm

      It was great to see you Erica xx

      Reply
  8. Sim @ Sim's Life says

    13th May 2015 at 9:52 am

    I love how intimate BlogOn is, it gives you the opportunity to chat to everyone yet still learn! It was fantastic to see you again and fully appreciate the picture and mention! 🙂 Jenny did wear some awesome leggings, I honestly thought they were running tights at first! Sounds like you had a fab weekend – it would be great to see you again next year! 🙂 Sim xxx

    Reply
    • Susan Mann says

      14th May 2015 at 2:04 pm

      It really is perfect for that isn’t it. I hope to see you soon and those were awesome leggings. It was great. Hope to see you soon Sim xxx

      Reply
  9. TheBrickCastle says

    13th May 2015 at 11:12 am

    It was amazing to see you, thank you so much for taking the effort to come all the way down here – even if I do look like a shotputter in that photo! 😀
    It was awesome to get to know you in person, I hope it’s not another 2 years until the next time xx

    Reply
    • Susan Mann says

      14th May 2015 at 2:03 pm

      You do not, you look gorgeous and sweet like you are. It really did make my day to get to meet you and give you that long awaited hug xx

      Reply
      • TheBrickCastle says

        14th May 2015 at 5:15 pm

        It was a good hug 🙂 xx

        Reply
  10. You Baby Me Mummy says

    14th May 2015 at 9:33 pm

    It sounds like such a fab event x

    Reply
  11. Helpful Mum says

    15th May 2015 at 7:16 pm

    It was absolutely lovely to catch up with you again. We’ll have to try and arrange a meet up as you’re not too far away really!

    Reply
  12. Tired Mummy of Two says

    16th May 2015 at 11:10 am

    It was so lovely to see you and I am so glad that you came down. I look forward to seeing you again soon

    Reply

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