My Take on The Bloggers Bash

Well I’m back home after the second Bloggers Bash and it was a blast. Here I am sporting my tee-shirt. Loved the whole day and evening, it was so wonderful to see old faces (ha ha!) from last year: Esther Newton, Helen Jones at Journey To Ambeth,  Graeme Cumming, Hughs Views and News, Geoff Le Pard, Ali Isaac, Sacha Black,  Sherri Matthews Blog, Julie Lawford, Lucy at Blonde Write More, Suzie Speaks…

This year I had a very nice chat with Geoff Le Pard which was a treat, he really is in his own words:’a big softy marshmallow.’ I’d just like to add that his beard looks a bit like candyfloss! It was also great to be able to meet up with : Judy, Judy Edwina Martin, Ritu at  But I Smile Anyway, and to discover some new blogging friends too: Emma Hello Emma Kay, Loretta Milan,at Literary Lightbox, Ursula at  Confessions of a Broccoli Addict, Ruth, Image and Word, Mary Smith, Mary Smith, Amanda Lyle, at Inside the life of Moi…. If I’ve missed anyone that I managed to talk to many apologies. You were all awesome, so friendly and nice. Here’s Hugh and Sherri having a hug!

 

In the photo below from left to right: Christoph Fischer Books, Hello Emma Kay, Me! and Simon Farnell at Universe of Possibility. Photo credit to Christoph Fischer.

Shame I didn’t get a chance to talk to Christoph and only spoke to Simon briefly.. perhaps next time.

https://twitter.com/EmKRobertson/status/741731316601880577

I have a few regrets which are inevitable with these events:

1. Not taking enough photos, I was too busy enjoying myself!
2. I didn’t quite manage to talk to as many people as I would have liked to… sigh. Shall have to remedy this next time.
3. There was a lot of cake but I only ate a few pieces…
4. I forgot to sign the comments book.. oops. So here’s my on-line comment: It was brilliant, I enjoyed it so much, even more than last year if that’s possible! Thank you to the committee. Keep up the hard work, crack that whip Sacha! ! The idea of having a speaker was spot on, perhaps a little dancing next time?

We had a prebash at O’Neills which was arranged by Graeme, and then the bash itself and the post bash afterwards for those who were still there until the bitter end!

There were winners of Blogging awards in various categories: Sacha Black Winners of The Bloggers Bash 2016

It was great that a speaker came this year. Thanks to Luca, Growthketeer at @automattic for his interesting talk on all things blogging.. and for showing me his amazing photography later on, so inspiring. It makes me want to rush out and buy a professional camera!

The blogging tips from his talk that linger in my mind are:

‘Drive your numbers,’ rather than the other way round. ‘Numbers are sexy’ – we are obsessed with stats but be in control, show those numbers who’s boss.

‘Help other people and be positive.’ The value of the content that you share on your blog is key.

‘Water, shelter, food, and WordPress!’ These are the four things that you need as a blogger!!!! But test other platforms to see which might suit your goals. Different social media tend to attract different followers – Instagram and snap chat tend to be popular with young people. Facebook is for us oldies.

‘Connect to your goals/aims.’

‘Activate as many sharing options,’ as you can on your blog.

During the discussion  Luca Sartoni was astonished to learn that people use the reblog option so much! Now he’s planning to convey this information to the powers that be so that they can make reblog even more snazzy… As well as this he touched upon the merits of the reblog option versus Press it… and his method of sharing others’ content via links, and twitter.

Keep a look out for Sacha’s detailed post about Luca’s talk soon. And keep the date in your diaries for next year’s bash June 10th 2017!

After all that excitement I hardly slept a wink last night, now I really need a coffee ….

Bye for now,

 

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx