Last weekend, as I may have already mentioned once or twice, the geekdaddy and I packed our bags, abandoned the kids and headed off to London for a bit of a jolly serious blogging conference. It was a packed day and a half, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. It also had the effect of sparking all sorts of creative ideas for us both, in particular a desire to work together more on this stuff. I’d like to introduce you all to a new feature for this blog – the side by side post. We’ve decided that when a topic comes up that we both have an opinion on we will present both opinions next to each other. We are kicking off this new feature with a post capturing our thoughts about the conference.
geekdaddy..
I attended Britmums Live with the geekmummy last weekend. I did that because I wanted a jolly and it looked like it might be fun. It was!
Being a guy in that huge crowd of women was an interesting experience. I’m pretty good at talking to people I don’t know but I did find myself gravitating towards the other men there. And talking to them really set me thinking about what makes daddy bloggers different. This was galvanised further when I attended the “meet the daddy bloggers” panel. Almost immediately it was put to the panel that they shouldn’t be called daddy bloggers at all and that daddy and mummy bloggers should be considered to be the same. That perhaps they should all be considered “parent bloggers”. Honestly I was a little disappointed that the guys on stage didn’t argue this point. I think perhaps they felt it might be un-PC to disagree and I’m wishing now that I’d raised my hand and spoken up. But I didn’t because I’m not a proper daddy blogger and I’ve got no profile in that area.
Perhaps that should change. Maybe I should start writing some of my thoughts down. One of the things I’ve always found interesting about parenting is the different ways women and men look at it. The different challenges they face. The different roles they play with their children. And the different feelings they have about what happens. Guys are often coming from a very different head-space when it comes to having kids and I think a parent blog told from the point of view of a dad offers something different and distinct from that of a mum.
I’ve occasionally made videos with the geekmummy talking together about parenting issues. Before the geekmummy blog was started she and I made an audio podcast for a couple of years called Just Relax, It’ll Happen where we talked together about our experiences with parenting. So I’m not a complete newbie to the area. Maybe it’s time I got more involved again. I can’t promise always to say stuff you’ll like but I will always be honest with my opinions. And more than anything else I’ll be writing in the hope that what I have to say is useful to other dads who might be feeling the same way as me and to other mums struggling with understanding their men.
geekmummy..
I must confess, I was a little nervous about the BritMums Live conference. I’ve already attended a couple of other blogging conferences this year, and I was beginning to feel a little “conferenced out”. I was wondering if there was anything new I could learn from another conference. I was also nervous about running my own session, which although not my public speaking debut was definitely the longest I’ve spoken for before. Would anyone turn up? Would they enjoy it? Or would they all just go to the Google+ session that was running at the same time in another room? I was also worried about the geekdaddy, who had insisted on coming along with me, despite not really knowing what the whole thing was about. What would he think of it all?
I need not have worried. From the opening keynote by the very funny Ruby Wax, via the amazing Brilliance in Blogging awards ceremony, all the way through to the closing “Bloggers Keynote” where a selection of bloggers read their own amazingly powerful blog posts it was a completely brilliant day and a half. I laughed, I cried, I learnt and I socialised. And I got to watch as the geekdaddy got gradually sucked into this community that I have been part of for almost two years. I got to enjoy 48 hours without the kids, which was much appreciated even though I missed them both like crazy.
So here, in no particular order, is a list of the things I learned at BritMums Live:
1. I love speaking in front of an audience. The “Introduction to Video Blogging” session seemed to go well, and it was great to get the opportunity to share some of the things I have learned. I certainly had enough content to fill the time, despite some earlier concerns, in fact almost too much – I felt like I was hitting the audience with loads of information, and I didn’t have as much time at the end for my live editing demo. Not that this was a bad thing, as a straw poll early on in the session had revealed that about three quarters of my audience were Mac users, and I was demonstrating a Windows product! To those that attended, thank you very much for coming, I hope you found it useful. The slides are now available to view online.
2. I am an apple. Not just in my choice of mobile devices, but also in terms of body shape. I had a style consultation with the TK Maxx team and found it extremely useful. With just a few changes of clothes my consultant had me considering styles I wouldn’t have looked at twice before, and I learned how to dress for my body shape. Not sure how much of it I will put into practice, but it was definitely food for thought.
3. I love sharing things that matter to me with my husband. It was great to get a couple of days away from the kids, doing something we both enjoyed. We attended different sessions to each other a lot of time time, but both ended up being inspired to do more in terms of blogging. After the conference we went out for dinner, just the two of us, and spent the whole time plotting and planning. On the train home he wrote two blog posts. I’m hoping he’ll be a bit more visible around here from now on.
4. I am as uncomfortable with scantily-clad men being used to market to a predominantly female audience as I am with “booth babes” being used to market anything to a predominantly male audience. The free wine at the Brilliance in Blogging awards ceremony party was lovely, but it was served by topless male waiters, who I found entirely unnecessary.
5. Speakers who are not part of the community will get a much better reception if they’ve done their research first. The worst session for me was the the one about the state of blogging in Britain today, due to the fact that most of the panel didn’t appear to read any British blogs! Thank goodness for Sarah from Times School Gate for showing that she knew her stuff. I was very impressed with Katy Hill who made a great job of presenting the Brilliance in Blogging awards – entertaining us with anecdotes and keeping the evening moving along at a great pace. Then she came back to the conference the next day and just hung out. I didn’t get to meet her, but I can tell from the comments of those who did that she was friendly, approachable and down to earth.
6. High quality freebies will always make a great impression – huge kudos to Lego, Warner Brothers and the BritMums team themselves for some great goodie bags. I was also lucky enough to win one of the prize draws for a Butlins goodie bag, which explains why we headed home with at least 4 more bags than we arrived with, despite my insistence that we “pack light” and make sure there was some space in each bag!
7. I have AMAZING friends and family. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the friends who looked after our kids for the 48 hours we were away. I am looking forward to returning the favour and taking their boys off their hands for a weekend to make up for it. I also loved spending some quality time with my good friend Ruth from the Minibreakmummy blog. And when I got home I discovered that my Mum had popped in whilst we were away and had finished my washing up and done two loads of washing for me. Wonderful 
8. No matter how much you resolve to meet up and talk to everyone at one of these things, you will come away and spend the next few days discovering all the lovely bloggers that you just didn’t see. It’s like waking up the morning after your wedding day and realising that you never spoke to half the guests. I am still discovering people who were there who I simply didn’t see at all.
9. That old cliche about it not being the winning or losing but the taking part that matters – it really does hold true. I didn’t win the “video” category at the Brilliance in Blogging awards, which is exactly what I expected because the videos I produce at the moment are very simple and very infrequent. The winner of the category was the very lovely Penny from Alexander Residence who has produced some excellent videos and is a very talented lady. I was delighted when her name was called! The whole attitude at the awards ceremony was excellent, with huge cheers for all the winners – a real celebration of blogging.
I hope you’ve enjoyed our first side by side post – we’ve got some more planned, and this is just the first of the ideas we had whilst at the conference so watch out for other interesting developments too!
{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
Get blogging Geek Daddy! It was great to meet both you and Ruth again on Saturday and have a chat. And don’t forget that children’s book!
Thanks Tim, was lovely to meet up with you again too. The geekdaddy and I definitely have some plans that we’ll be working on over the next few weeks, so it won’t be too long before you hear from him again!
Great to see you both again, see you in a couple of months x
northernmum recently posted..Trying to win back a lost love ~ Northernmum
Lovely to see you too, and yes, it’s not too long until I see you again
Ruth: I didn’t realize there were still people that were using Google+.
John: I think a geekDaddy blog (or by any other name) would be awesome. I’ve actually been listening to the back episodes of Just Relax (husband & I are now in our 8th month of trying). The shows still make me laugh, you two are a hoot to listen to. I thought the “Daddy diaries” you did after Catherine’s birth were really interesting.
So often parenthood is just seen as a mother thing, I think it’d be neat to hear from a dad’s point of view.
Thanks for the comment Kelly. Yes, there are still people using Google+, and with Google linking it more and more into their search facility, it’s going to become more widely-used I think. So pleased you’re still enjoying our old shows – we actually have quite an ambitious plan to try and start podcasting again together – it wouldn’t be Just Relax again, but something new. We’re trying to find an easier way of recording so that we can make the time to actually do it! Watch this space
Was lovely to finally meet you guys! Great post, love the “side-by-side” post idea, looking forward to reading more of them x
It was lovely to finally meet you too – it’s always good to be able to put a face to the avatar
We’ve got a few more topics we’re planning to cover in this “side by side” style as well as some other plans of things we can do together – there was a lot of inspiration at BML!
It was great to see you both – and I’m pleased to hear you’re going to be creating more content together cos you are a fab double act
Ruth @ Minibreak Mummy recently posted..So that was BritMums Live!
People keep telling us that, and we enjoy doing stuff like Just Relax together – the skill is in finding a way to minimise the time needed to produce that kind of stuff, and we think we have a way…
Great idea for a post and the feedback is really helpful. So glad y’all had fun and that the conference provided food for thought and some inspiration. Looking forward to seeing more of geekdaddy around. Being part of the community doesn’t necessarily mean always writing about mum and dad stuff – being a parent and being a blogger give us all a connection together, no matter what we write about.
Enjoyed the post!
Thanks Jen – I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed BML and how much inspiration I got from it. The geekdaddy and I have all sorts of plans!
So lovely to have you both there. Look forward to your blogging john (ahem)
Susanna recently posted..Behind the scenes at BritMums Live!
Thanks Susanna, we both really enjoyed it
Love the way you have done this.
Pleased you had a good time.
Kate On Thin Ice recently posted..How To Be A Groovy Mum – The #BritMumsLive Edition
Thanks Kate – it’s an idea we’ve been kicking around since our early podcasting days, but BritMums Live gave us the inspiration to see if we could actually do it, thanks to the geekdaddy’s CSS skills, we made it work, and definitely have more posts like this planned.
Wonderful to see you both again and I now have blog layout jealousy
Thanks my dear, was lovely to see you again too
Great post – love the side by side idea. It’s so interesting to see different perspectives on a topic and I’ll look forward to more of these. Look forward to hearing more from Geek Daddy!
Molly recently posted..An open letter to my daughter, on her birthday
Thanks Molly. The geekdaddy’s always had an open invitation to post on my blog, but has only taken me up on that a couple of times until now. I really hope the inspiration from BritMums Live will stay with him so that we can do more stuff like this
Great to see two different sides and I agree with Geekdaddy that ‘Daddy Bloggers’ should embrace what makes them different
the mummy adventure recently posted..So is he disabled then?
I love this idea! and it was great to chat to you both!
See you at the MADS!
Emma @mummymummymum recently posted..Blogging, inspiration and Britmums Live!
I agree with you about the waiters. Didn’t like that. I did enjoy the rest of the conference though and think I’ll be going again next year.
Erica Price recently posted..Saturday is Caption Day: No Entry?
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