My Britmums Live 2017

Since I began blogging over 5 years ago Britmums Live has been the pinnacle of blogging events. 

Based on a 2 day workshop filled, PR meeting event that bloggers attended in their droves.

However last year it was condensed instead packing it into one day. For those of us that could, we arranged as many PR meet ups and blogging chums get together as possible while in the capital. 

Last years event although filled me with instances of inspiration it was starting to lose its shine. 

Not that it wasn’t a worthwhile event. It was. However I was struggling to get enough out of the sessions and with experience I was needing something more. 

The event information for this year was announced later than previous years. It received mixed opinions but I was excited with the change.

This years event seemed to be geared above the new and intermediate level sessions. I for one was pleased this change was happening. The blogging event market was becoming saturated with events that catered to the newer blogger and it made a nice change to have deeper more in-depth sessions. 

Not only was it planned there would be some deep dive sessions there were also some amazing attraction visits built into the weekend too. I opted for my very first trip round parliament but will fill you in on that one later this week.

Britmums Live 2017 had moved venues to and on arriving this weekend I have to say on a whole that venue was better … all on one level, better equipped rooms and the most amazing food … However I did miss the feel of listening to the bloggers keynotes in that imposing and grand room at the Montcalm in previous years.

I opted for the deep dive SEO session with the lovely Judith Lewis from DeCabbit. I have had the pleasure of sitting in on several of Judith’s talks at previous years and other events but I was excited to attend this one as for the first time I was given the opportunity to take on a whole solid morning of SEO enlightenment with step by step ways of improving my sites and the knowledge of where to go and what to look out for to keep improving.

I was a little shocked to see that Judith has even used my site as an example site on her slides so I got to see the bare bones of my site before I even got home! 

I left the morning behind feeling inspired to get myself organised to make a SEO plan on both sites and to start being more proactive with the nuts and bolts of my websites. 

Lunch was amazingly tasty and gave me time to catch up with my blogging buddy Clare from Emmy’s Mummy and Harry’s too. We also visited the super stand from WordPress who were amazingly helpful with some bring WordPress questions along with being able to chat to the lovely folks on the La Roshe Posay and Martinhal stands. 

There were far less PR stands than in previous years and after lunch with so many others going into brand talks it meant if you weren’t going into the individual brand talks the main PR area was fairly quiet which is something that was unusual for a Britmums Live. 

After the quiet lull it was time for the last session and the blogger key notes in the main room and it was then I missed the large grand room of the Montcalm. 

Next up was the trip on the city cruises boat for the BiB awards. 

Having been on a sunset cruise the night before I have to say I was expecting it to be the same but it was a far far bigger boat and it travelled so swiftly I missed the points of interest on route. However again the food was amazing. The drinks were flowing and the staff were immensely polite and friendly and it was there Clare and I got chance to catch up with some of our long-standing blogger chums Nadine, JuggleMum and Kara at Chelsea Mamma.

Final Thoughts
– For me the venue and food at The County Hall were far better in previous years

– The deep dive sessions (SEO) were inspiring and helped to reignite my blogging mojo. 

– I missed the 2 day layout. I am a creature of habit and found the 2 days easier on my noggin to deal with as there is sometimes so much more to take in. 

– There were fewer PR and brands than before. Which on a whole is ok. I did struggle with a few as they weren’t really forthcoming with any info on what they wanted to achieve working with bloggers or how they would do it or even for some they weren’t interested in speaking to any bloggers at all. In previous years PR’s and brands have set up lots of really engaging social media based fun and games which wasn’t done so much this time and I did miss it. 

– Smaller is better. Overall Britmums Live had started to become too impersonal and too big and the fact this conference was based on a more advance level of understanding made it naturally a smaller event which meant we got the ability to take more out the sessions.

– BiBs on a boat. It made for an interesting experience as the boat was great fun but not sure it would be something I would go to again a second time. There was a fair amount of waiting around between the end of the Britmums Live and the start of the BiBs on the boat which made the day longer than it needed to be. But it was an experience.

The Big Question – Would I go again? 

Hell, Yes! With bells on. Change is something I don’t do well but overall the feel of the event and content was good. There was a quiet lull after lunch which I think would be better used for something else. I also liked the events that were set up on the Friday for us to visit (which I will write about later this week) My only real negative was the lateness in which the London attraction visits were organised. I love as much notice as possible and certainly more than a month if I have to organise travel and accommodation. 

I can’t wait to hear more about what 2018 might hold …