16 Nov 2012
My friend and fellow blogger Galina joined me and 200 other bloggers, mainly but not exclusively women at the Millbank Tower, on the edge of the Thames.
First to study the programme.
The day had a full programme starting at 9.00am with registration and coffee. The opening keynote speech was given by Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, a woman who knows only too well what it’s like to hold down a job while still bringing up a family.
The first discussion was entitled ‘Finding your voice’ this was something I was really interested in as I have yet to properly find mine. It’s hard when you first start writing for the internet. You know that once you hit the publish button your words are there for all to see. I have asked many people when do you know the piece you have written is good enough to publish. Most have said you just have to do it, write the article, edit and go. The longer you dwell on it or tweak it the harder it is. Alice Hart-Davis the extremely well respected journalist said that blogging is harder than writing articles. I can quite well believe this as the articles she normally writes are based on research.
So you won’t be surprised that I really didn’t learn how to find my voice from the guest speakers as they tended to talk about their own experiences and didn’t actually give any sound advice. The message that did come through is that the more you write the more you grow in confidence.
The day progressed with sessions covering social media, photography and SEO, all really useful to the amateur blogger like me. The lunch was absolutely delicious, trust me to find the highlight of the day to be lunch, another reason for that part of the day being enjoyable was meeting Emma James. Emma and I had connected on Twitter and met briefly at lunchtime over a very good chocolate brownie. Emma has written one of the best reviews of the day here, and her photographs are also much better than mine, as yet again I forgot to take any during the day.
I wish I could remember what Emma and I found so funny!
The day was wrapped up with a discussion between the keynote panel, Liz Jones, Mail on Sunday, Tim Dowling, the Guardian, Zoe Margolis, Eliza Gray and Fi Glover acting as chair. Unfortunately I didn’t stay for this part of the day, as I thought I should get back to the desk and get some work done. I am now of course kicking myself for not staying. Liz Jones wrote a venomous follow up article in the Mail on Sunday the following day. I am pretty sure this was actually written before the event, as she mentions weaving through prams, which is utter rubbish as there weren’t any! There were a few babies and very small children. I think most of the members of Mumsnet were happy to escape for a few hours and find out ways in which to improve their blogs. Have a read of Liz Jones’ article here. I have no idea why she has to go on the attack other than it did create ‘conversation’ on Twitter, which of course sells newspapers – job done.
On Thursday I really did have to find my voice when I spoke at a CEW UK mentoring event. If you don’t know CEW, it stands for Cosmetic Executive Women. 1000 women within the beauty industry are members, and fortnightly they have a mentoring event where usually an industry leader will speak about their journey through the industry to the position they currently hold. My story is quite different because I left the industry 26 years ago and have recently returned with the launch of the website. Caroline Neville, President of CEW invited me to speak about my life, career and what it was like getting back into working, after what, let’s face it was an extraordinarily long maternity leave!
The last time I gave a slide presentation it was real slides, the ones that would jam in the carousel. Thank fully today’s Power Point Presentations are a lot easier. So yesterday I stood in front of 40 women and told my story. I did find my voice and spoke of my life from 1960 to Fighting Fifty.
BlogFest Photo Credit: Anna Gordon
