The Gaylord Resort in Dallas, TX

Travel Mommy: Blissdom 2013 And Jon Acuff’s START

Thanks to Twitter, last-minute we spotted that some of our blogger friends planned to attend the Blissdom conference in Dallas, TX. We decided to take a spontaneous trip to the conference because we had never attended a blogging conference before and always enjoy new inspiration for our writing.

@blissdom loving #gotsauced @gogosqueez with @tinaseitzinger @ericavoll @broccolicupcake vine.co/v/bDMvF901vg3

— Revolutionarymkting (@skconcepts) April 14, 2013

Vine Video at GoSqueeze Reception with amazing blogger friends

The Conference:

Blissdom was incredibly well-organized with many opportunities to network with fellow bloggers (see the fun vine video above), attend helpful writing seminars, meet with brand marketers and learn from entertaining authors. Blissdom’s One to One suite provided anything a blogger needed from a charging station, a cup of coffee to head-shots and the latest tech tools. What a feast for a hungry blogger–with the icing on the cake of the Gaylord Texan’s beautiful accommodations, fabulous fitness facilities, and fantastic meals.

The Blissdom workshops focused on four major tracks: business, writing, life/development and photography/video.  You could pick and choose across the tracks to find the workshop that best fit your needs or whims. Our favorite breakout workshops were those that taught us key strategies to better build and analyze our blog: Shelly Kramer’s: Writing for the Web:  What, Why and How to Kick Butt at It and Wendy Scherer‘s: Using Data for Creative and Impactful Marketing. We had first discovered the dynamic duo on Twitter over a year ago with their insightful article Mom Bloggers and Brands so we really enjoyed meeting these brilliant women in person.

The brilliant Shelly Kramer at #blissdom on Writing For The Web vine.co/v/bDbuE1t0riY

— Revolutionarymkting (@skconcepts) April 14, 2013

An Inspiring Book:

Wall Street Journal Best selling author Jon Acuff ranked as our favorite keynote speaker. Jon has published three books, blogs and works as a speaker and author for David Ramsey of Financial Peace.  As a special Blissdom only gift, Jon sent us home with an advanced copy of his new book Start. If you want to “punch fear in the face”, escape average” and “do work that matters,” this book can be a helpful tool of practical and tactical steps to find your awesome or “how you define success”.

Jon Acuff Keynoting at Blissdom 2013

Jon teaches us how we can start again and accelerate the five stages of every awesome life no matter what our age or experience: learning; editing, mastering, harvesting and guiding. We found his life stories and quotes from Malcom Gladwell and Andy Warhol extraordinary and inspiring.  In addition, his appendix: 10 ways to accelerate awesome with social media is an excellent guide to take your social media skills to the next level. We highly recommend that entrepreneurs young and old read Start. Check out his website for more information about the book launch.

We also recommend that aspiring bloggers attend Blissdom because the writing and business skills you gain and the connections you make are truly a worthwhile investment. A special thanks to the Blissdom team and all the incredible friends we made at the conference.

Related Articles:

• Can Mom Bloggers Revolutionize Your Brands 
• Blissdom Conference Recap (greenandcleanmom.org)
• BlissDom conference to attract entrepreneurial online publishers to Grapevine (blogs.star-telegram.com)