My ShesConnected Conference 2011 “Fab 5”

I was extremely honoured to attend the ShesConnected conference for digital women last week. I’m still on a high! Here are my conference “Fab 5″…

1. Amazing Attendees – I knew I’d meet some great women, but I was completely blown away by the insight, knowledge and authenticity of the amazing people I met. (There are simply too many to list, but you know who you are… 🙂

2. Inspiring Stories – This is an important part of why I wanted to go to this conference. To hear other people’s stories and what inspires them to share their lives via social media is a great motivator for me!

3. Opportunity to Learn – This was my chance to glean knowledge from best-in-class speakers. Elisa Camahort Page (@ElisaC), the co-founder of BlogHer, was a highlight; I was also impressed with the many panelists who shared their experiences and know-how on a number of topics – social good, a blogger’s worth, how bloggers & brands can work together. A big thanks to Andrea Tomkins (@missfish) for telling us newbies what we really wanted to know!

4. Opportunity to Recharge and do something for me! – I’m a stay-at-home-mom of 2 that runs a business from home. ‘Nuff said!

5. Make Great Connections with Brands & Other Bloggers – I can’t tell you how vital this is! I’ve already started dialogues with other bloggers on how we can team up to amplify our reach, making us more desirable to brands. Being able to interact with brands at the conference – and hearing from them first-hand what they are looking for – has helped me to better understand what’s required of me to step up my game and take my blog (and personal “brand”) to the next level.

I wanted to take this opportunity to give a big shout-out to all the fabulous sponsors who made this conference a success! Please take a moment to check them out!

The day and a half I spent at the conference was a great experience… one that I won’t forget for a long time. To sum it up, in 140 characters or less…

Lessons learned from #SCCTO – be authentic, work hard & ask for what u want. Be realistic w/your expectations but don’t undervalue yourself!