Type-A Mom Conference – Blogger Town Hall Meeting

And now we’ve come to it. Last year’s blogger town hall meeting was my favorite part of the whole Type-A Mom Conference, so I’m pretty excited to see how it will turn out this time. We’ve only got an hour this time. I think it was longer last year, so I hope everyone gets a chance to speak!

Here we go. On with the show!

Kelby is explaining how this is going to work. We go to conferences to listen to what a select group of people have to say, and they are like our community representatives. But with the town hall, everyone gets a chance to share. “I’m sure some of you have something to say.” There will be a line forming, and we have to make sure not to block the line of sight for MomTV.

Susan Peyton is on both sides of the fence. Let’s talk about not getting paid. People are not getting paid for giveaways and we want to. On the PR side, companies don’t get it yet. She has paid bloggers out of her pocket because she believes in us and wants us to get paid. You can start with an administrative fee of $10 if you are just starting out. A review or giveaway is a replacement for advertising, so why shouldn’t you get paid for that? Don’t blame the PR firms when companies don’t want to pay, but you can make suggestions to them.

Sarah Pinnix wants to encourage everyone with a baseball analogy. If we’re all on the same baseball field, and someone hits the ball to the outfield, and we all cram in to try to catch it – that’s not going to work. Why not find another ball field where you’ll be more successful? Think outside the blog. You can be national, regional, local, or niche. Think about what you can sell, what sort of value you can offer people.

Laura Bailer (?) started blogging with her sister in June. She thinks we’re all very inspirational and wants to thank everyone. Let’s do positive things!

“I just want to take a picture of the microphone. Thank you.” Laughter and applause. “Never pass up on an opportunity regardless of how asinine you feel.”

Kelby is curious what we think about the sense of celebrity and entitlement in the community.

Carol is a small New York blogger, and she thinks entitlement is huge. She hosted a few events at BlogHer as the “middleman.” She got to see the shady side of bloggers that people are always talking about – the swag hags, the divas, etc. On an elevator, she was bitching about the sense of entitlement that bloggers have, and her friend got really mad. But she said people were making ridiculous demands on her. Her friend started talking to her like she was a PR person, and she had to remind her that she was a blogger, too. Her friend said that “she doesn’t live here, and if she has to come all the way to this event to taste coffee, she’d better be getting a coffee maker.” Yikes. It never said there would be a coffee maker in the invitation. If it’s not worth your time, don’t go! You can ask for things ahead of time, but don’t go there expecting it. When you’re in a position of entitlement, work for what you feel you deserve. If you don’t get it, look for something better.

Megan went to Blissdom last year as her first conference ever. She felt completely lost. A woman got off the elevator and asked if she needed help, then said, “Do you know who I am?” And she couldn’t believe Megan didn’t know who she was because she was such a “big blogger.” It was so intimidating for her, feeling like she was such a nobody. Fist bump for all of the first-time conference attendees here.

Don’t You KNOW Who I Am? by twilightsun

LittleTechGirl says that the sense of entitlement comes from PR people. If we go to an event with good swag, we get excited about it and write about it when we go home. But when we go to the next event and there isn’t anything awesome for us, we feel let down and don’t feel like writing about it. Companies need to think about this. If they extend invitations and expect something in return, they need to make sure they give us something.

Lee from My Sentiment is currently working as an ambassador with Creative Playthings. It was so hard for her when she had to select only 12 bloggers from hundreds who applied. It was heartbreaking for her. And afterwards, when she’d selected the 12 bloggers, she received at least 15 emails from bloggers who  didn’t get chosen – telling her that she made the wrong choice, that someone who did get chosen didn’t deserve it, and here’s why. “Don’t you know who I am?” She saw the ugly side, and said we’d be surprised at who these bloggers were – and they’ve now made it into her special file of people she’ll never work with. Bloggers do want to see their name in lights, but there’s no reason to be ugly about it. Stay positive!

Jim is crossing this off his bucket list, speaking in front of a room full of women. How many of us have a husband who says, “Where’s the paycheck?” Lots of hands in the air. His wife asks the same thing. “Where’s the mortgage payment?” Daddy bloggers are entering the sphere with a business plan because we blazed the trail for them. We’re at a crossroads, and this sort of conference is like the founding of a great thing.

Cecily Kellogg struggles with the issue of entitlement as her blog has become better known. She needs clarity, especially when she gets invited to events. How many tweets are they expecting? What outcome are they hoping for? Sometimes there are no expectations. That’s nice, and she tends to be generous with people like that, but it’s easier for her to lay it out in the beginning. She does feel entitled when she gets an “off” pitch that isn’t good for her. “Thanks for the pitch, but this isn’t a good fit for me because my boys are dead.” She thinks she does deserve to have PR people at least read the first paragraph of her about page before firing off a cold call pitch. She expects a little bit of effort. After being on the business side, she knows it doesn’t take too much effort on our part as bloggers to thank PR folks for their pitches even if they aren’t a good fit.

Alli Worthington wants clarification about a shoutout comment where people have been asked to include keywords in their reviews. “Is this really happening?” It is. Kelby jumped up about Google and paid text links. For the record, my PR review policy states that I nofollow text links. I’ve written a post about this: Do Bloggers Even Know They’re Breaking Google’s Rules? I’ll tell you about nofollow.

Angela England says that “Don’t you know who I am?” shouldn’t exist in our vocabulary. At the end of the day, we’re changing diapers. (And if we don’t have kids in diapers anymore, she has two of them. Take your pick.) She thanks Jim the dad blogger for his earlier comments. Men are often better marketers. Using affiliate links to monetize is a service for your readers, so don’t feel guilty about it. Off-topic? She loves this community. “You are amazing.” Her kids don’t appreciate what she does for them, but we feed her soul.

Catherine from Postpartum Progress wants to talk about elitist bloggers. She is a shy person, and it’s hard for her to make friends. She congregates with people she knows because it makes her feel safe. When you see groups of people together, it’s probably because they feel safe and comfortable, not because they’re elitist and aloof. Most people she’s met have been very gracious even when they’re big names and don’t necessarily care about what she blogs about.

(Taking a break to make a comment.)

And now we’re at the end, because it took so long for me to get to the front of the line. And I’m shaking like a leaf. I will be linking to the MomTV video when the archive is available, and adding a written summary of what I missed if I have the time.

Thank you, ladies and gents! This was a great town hall!

Christina Gleason (976 Posts)

That’s me: Christina Gleason. I’m a writer, editor, and disability advocate. I'm a multiply disabled autistic lady doing my best in this world built for abled people. I’m a geek for grammar, fantasy, and casual gaming. I hate vegetables. I cannot reliably speak, so I’ll happily conduct business over email or messaging instead.