Thoughts from Fitbloggin10.

by

(Kinda late, way too long & all in bullets because that’s the way I feel like rollin’)

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This was indeed my reaction to being at Fitbloggin. I adored meeting my peeps.

  • Our community rocks. I’m woman enough to admit I was terrified a little apprehensive about my trips to BlogHer & Blissdom. The former I feared due to its size & the latter because I knew one woman attending (out of almost 600).  I envisioned fitbloggin being like one big PJ Party/Family reunion (made of family members you’ve never actually met before) and it totally was. There are no words for the amazing men & women I (finally) met (in person).  We are a group filled with uplifting energy & unconditional positive regard.  It bears repeating: OUR COMMUNITY ROCKS.
  • Together we are greater than merely the sum of our parts (sure this is an extension of bullet one but it’s my blog & you’ll have that). If there were a thread or sentiment of competition/bloggers denigrating others to elevate themselves I never saw it. What I did witness was OGs reaching out to help newbies. SEOIdiots (*raises hand*) receiving patient explanations from self-identified computer geeks & avowed nonrunners being cheered on and encouraged as they wogged the 5k.
  • My Twitterstream & blog reading feel entirely different now. The ability link a face and a *voice* when reading a post/a tweeter’s words has made a profound impact on me and I already felt pretty damn connected to our healthy living community!  Unlike other conferences Ive attended (blogworld and non) everyone I met was as kindlovingamazingsupportive in person as they are online.  Ive found myself more excited than ever to follow everyone on their journey.  This is the biggest thing I got out of Fitbloggin, pretty much why I went, & 100% why I encourage everyone to attend at least one blog-conference. The face-to-face connection is fantastic.
  • There’s room enough for everyone. One person’s mindblowing success (from tv show to book to video to stunning!weightloss!story!) does not preclude the rest of us from being successful.  This has been my mantra for years & all the men and women I met at Fitbloggin served to reinforce that feeling.
  • Be yourself.  You are enough where you are and the way you are in this moment (and YES. I do realize Ive beaten this horse to death—but it was brought to mind again this past weekend). Prior to Fitbloggin there was the inevitable discussion with regards to dresscode.  Did the conference demand business casual? Blogger business casual (which to me is akin to ‘Texas formal’— I’ve nary a clue what it means)? Sporty? Cocktail attire?! The answer, of course, was yes. There were suits (track, professional, & in my case jump) hose & heels, and flip flops (*again raises hand*).  There were blazers & yoga bottoms.  There were as many variations in attire as there were blogbrands present.  The answer was as Id intuited: dress in whatever fashion allows you to project your most authentic self.  Yet another reason why our comminuty & its conference rocks.
  • There’s never enough time. As excited as I was for Fitbloggin I wasnt sure after a weekend Id not be ready and HAPPY to return home.  I wasnt sure that 2 days with people I liked from afar wouldnt be enough for me.  Happily (& sadly) I found that 48 hrs only left me wanting more.  I didnt have enough time to talktalk with many bloggers whom I wanted to meet,  I discovered not only did I like the products there but I liked the company reps. & could have chatted with them for hours.  I adored being on two panels—-but was bummed to miss out on so many words of wisdom while I served on mine. The entire experience left me wanting more which, I guess, is the sign of a well planned/executed event.

**wipes brow*

That’s me and that’s only the the beginning of my thoughts on the conference.

No photos (I tweeted some but kindasorta dropped the photoball. Did you snap a bunch? PLEASE link your post in the comments!).

Semi-disjointed.

All misfit.

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Saturday morning before the 5k. Bonus points if you can find my tired ass self in the picture.

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Comments

  1. I LOVE that photo of you – you are too cute!

    It sounds like you had an amazing time and I am now infinitely more jealous than I already was that you got to go! I love what you wrote about the experience and it helps someone like me – who has never thought too much before of attending such an event – to form more of an opinion on the “YES” side of the fence. I will definitely be looking for an opportunity to attend one of these conferences!

  2. OH MAN great recap. Sounds great. And the small size sounds particularly brilliant… I went to BlogHer in 2007 and the sheer numbers were overwhelming; I’m sure it’s three times the size now. I sure hope there is FitBloggin11 🙂

  3. Great post, Roni! You probably don’t remember me, but I met you in the elevator a couple of times. I too wish, that we could have spoken more! The weekend truly was not long enough to talk to everyone. Although I did encounter a few snobs, I think that is just a reflection of the total population, nonbloggers included. The most part, it really was like going to a family reunion and meeting people who you had heard wonderful stories about. The reps were amazing, and so nice! I could have sat and talked to Jeff from POM for a long time! Thank you for putting together a great conference, and I look forward to going to more because of this one! The food was absolutely wonderful too!

  5. I really like the notion of together being greater than the sum of our parts.
    All my HEALTHY relationships are like that.

    If there’s an 11 I will be there!

  6. I have to add how fun it was to meet you in person.
    I am the one who gushed all over you before the race (yes I am embarrassed now).

    The weekend w as fantastic.

  7. I loved meeting you. You are just as nice in person as you type. It’s amazing really. I was sad to go too, but it’s been fun to meet new blogs now after seeing the person. And it’s always fun to relive it.

  8. Be yourself is so true for this conference and in life.

    I got really dressed up every day and that’s how I feel most myself.

    Loved your jumpsuit Mizzy and it was clear that’s what made you most confortable too.

  10. Ditto. And have I mentioned in the last few minutes how glad I am to have met you? How I adore you? How I plan to rock a jumpsuit next year?

  11. Great picture.

    I really had a fun weekend too.

    I htink I was surprised (in a good way) how accessible everyone was.
    You stopped and chatted with me for a while and I did not feel like you were looking over my shoulder for bigger people to talk with (make sense?).
    I overheard you say that you may not be blogging soon.

    I hope that isn’t true.

  15. it was so nice to talk to you for the moments we had together! sorry we were both so busy. but it was a serious pleasure to meet you!!!

  16. I missed this year and while I pretended it was because it was sold out I waited because I was a little afriad to put myself out there.

    NEXT YEAR.

    Thank you for being real.

  17. Just what I thought it would have been. Even without going I agree this fitness/weight loss blogging community is simply amazing. It is different in such a wonderful way. So many wonderful people and I just can hardly wait another year to meet them all including you!
    XO

  19. Seems like it was SUCH a fabulous experience. I really hope to attend one of these blogger conferences someday! Hope you have a great weekend MF!

  20. Sounds like a lot of fun. I always feel like I’m missing out on part of the whole blog community experience because I simply can’t afford to go to these conferences.

    Maybe some day…

  21. I would have LOVED to go to FitBloggin, but due to finances and the time of year (right at the end of classes, so close to exams), I couldn’t go. It sounds like a really amazing time. I’m super excited to go to BlogHer this year, though, and meet lots of bloggers there!

  22. I have a feeling that if there is another Fitbloggin it will be Big Fitbloggin. Lucky you that you were at the inaugural conference and got to really experience the small community family feel.

  23. I have a feeling that if there is another Fitbloggin it will be Big Fitbloggin.

    I think the same thing. Entirely why Ive reached out to Roni and offered to work all year if need be to try and maintain the FEEL of this one even if the numbers grow.
    I know we can do it.

    (positive much? 🙂 I know…)

  27. What a great recap! I hope to attend a blog conference someday! I planned to attend FitBloggin but then everything in my life went nuts (divorce, moving, new job) and I realized I couldn’t take a vacation day for the Friday cause the rule at my new job is no vacay for 3 months and I’ve only been here 2!

    Hopefully next year!

  28. Very nice recap, and like the others, I totally agree.

    I was nervous when I got there (I had never met anyone face to face, and had only ever talked to you on the phone)… I knew the male population would be few… but the community embraced me and accepted me as one of their own, and for that I am thankful.

    And it would have never happened without your encouragement!

    In my best Ox voice (from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure)…

    “FitBloggin 2010 Bloggers Rule!”

  29. Thanks the the wrap-up. I wish I could have gone. I can’t believe you were terrified/apprehensive. I’d have thought you would be psyched being Miz and all. Part of what holds me back is the fear of being accepted by people who have no clue who I am. Glad to hear everyone’s so open and kind.

  32. Wow, that sounds like an incredible experience. I can feel your enthusiasm through this blog post. It’s terrifying and intriguing at the same time. lol.

    Fab pic. Are you at Fells Point? Did you try Bertha’s Mussels?

  33. hmmm yes… I think? (about the fells point being the specific name of location 🙂 I know I didnt try and mussels…)

  34. Has Fitbloggin been going on for many years? I feel so out of the loop – like all of the cool kids knew what it was and were going and I was just hanging on the outside like usual. It really looks like it was such a fun experience – and here’s a dumb question, but what is “SEO”?

  35. When I read OG all I could think of was to start humming
    “damn it feels good to be a gangster…”

    🙂

    Sounds like it was a great experience. It was a wee bit too far for me to consider…

  37. So awesome. I lovelovelove this picture of you. Someday I will have to go. I think I would have felt the same terrified conference feeling you did – always do… there’s something terrifying about meeting a bunch of people you know from the internet. Although… it would definitely be refreshing to be the one CRUSHING on the big bloggers instead of being attacked as the “famous one” as a game dev.

  38. Yes yes yes…everything you said I could have said too! One thing I wanted to point out was that I never felt that anyone was denigrating others to elevate themselves but that there were some who might be denigrating themselves in order to elevate others…see the difference? That’s what I have a tendency to do…to downplay my own achievements or to compare my body/blog/story/weightloss/fitness to someone else’s and feel less than… As you well know, we are best when we are ourselves 🙂

  40. Well put MizFit! Once again it was a pleasure meeting you 🙂 Hopefully our paths will cross again. And I agree with you in not having enough time. I sure did not. There were so many people I did not get a chance to speak with!

  41. For the merest second, I thought that pic of you was of you using the Go Girl and I was going to be really impressed with your chutzpah! And I would lovelovelove to go to a fit blogger conference so I could meet everyone. I already feel like so many of you are my friends – it would be awesome to be friends in RL too!

  42. I’m glad you enjoyed it.

    I find the community of writers, in general, supportive. For us newbies, someone willing to fill us in is invaluable.

    Someday, when you have time, I could use a tutorial on the proper use of Twitter and the like. I’m starting to do a little better. I think. 😀 I’m working on it.

    There’s just so much to know. It’s not enough to write a book and to research what I need to know for that. Nope, there’s the whole business side which is 2 full time jobs in itself.

  43. Oh man, I felt exactly the same way!!! I was so apprehensive about going – “I’m not FIT (yet), I don’t really know anyone, yadda, yadda, yadda…”
    I’m so glad I did, though! Like you, I have a whole new experience in reading blogs after meeting so many wonderful men and women.
    I can’t wait until next year!

  44. Miz, thank you so much for this post! Man, how much fun was that! I got to say, the whole blogger conferences scare the sh*t out of me. I guess my old self talk comes up about not being as good or good enough. If I can ever afford it in the future, I will definitely think about it now! THX!

  47. I’m a little late to the party so I missed it this year. I cannot believe what a great support system of bloggers this seems to be! I am SO glad i started my blog. I think with the blog and the support plus all of the things i’m learning I will be healthy soon. Not saying it won’t be work but I’ll do it!

  51. It sounds like Fit Bloggin was a blast, I cracked up laughing at you using the term OG…I wish I could have been there, and I plan on going next year. I found your page through Roni’s, and I’ve already linked you to my page. Thanks so much for your great words.

  53. Your energy is so contagious I feel like going out to run for miles and miles! I hope I’ll be able to attend one of these events in the future. Glad you had such a great time!

  54. How fun to hear about the conference. I hope they will have it again, and I hope it moves a little closer. Austin, TX maybe, Miz???

  55. Seriously, anyone who could stomach being called “rude” by a complete stranger is the bee’s knees in my book. : )

    I thoroughly enjoyed everything about Fitbloggin, I just wish I could’ve been there for the entire event. Here’s to next year!

  56. Great recap! I wish I went. I hope there will be one next year…:-) I love your message about we are all good enough. Right now.

  57. Miz — It was great to meet you at FitBloggin’. Roni did an amazing job and I look forward to next year. You’ve forged quite a solid path for us fitness bloggers to follow. Thanks for all your work, time, writing, and sacrifice. I’m a mother of 3, personal trainer, nutritionist, and blogger — and know that, well, this take a heck of a lot of time. See you next year! Good luck with all of your writing, projects, and inspirational volunteer work. Very rewarding. @trainermomma

  59. I was just thinking about how great last weekend was – and your post sums up everything I loved about it! Can’t wait till next year!

  60. I enjoyed seeing you and chatting SOOO much. I wish I had been able to hang out more with your cool self. I can’t wait until next year (oh man, I hope I get to come still!).

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