Meet The Blogger 2012

I think if I don't share my weekend with you, I'm liable to explode with creative excitement!

I have three fabulous words - Meet. The. Blogger! And what a meeting it was. Last weekend I flew to Amsterdam with fellow bloggers Kelly and Sam and their other halves solely for this event.... [and to catch some Amsterdam culture]. I've never been to a bloggers conference, meet-up or shindig so I was all geared up and excited to get cracking! As the official LIVE blogger I got to the event super early, so managed to get a sneak peek, taking a brief tour of the hotel prior to the start. From the moment I walked through those grand doors I could feel the creative energy and more to the point, see the exquisite interior for what it is - drop-dead-gorgeous! 

With an inspiring venue we were thoroughly educated and inspired by the Keynote speaker Frida Ramstedt who gave us such an in-depth talk on how she has lived her dream of becoming a full time blogger (and then some), subsequently becoming a millionaire and her top ten tips on how to start that journey. So from the top here they are; 

1) Find Your Passion 

2) Find Your Focus 

3) Build A Brand 

4) Work To Become A Specialist 

5) Make Sure You Get Paid 

6) Search For Business Opportunities 

7) Keep It Legal! 

8) Encourage Competition 

9) Ignore The Pessimist 

10) Write Your Own Future 

Frida, utilising all the opportunities that came her way, has taken her next big step by successfully launching her first digital iPad magazine, which went live at the event - Trendenser is now live and available on iTunes. Whoooooooooo! We also got a live preview of the magazine, which blew me away! It's so interactive as there is so much more that you can do with an iPad mag than a digital publication. With so many features catching my eye I really liked the How to spot a fake column where we get the opportunity to learn how to spot a Charles & Ray chair from a Charles & Jay chair - Hah! You can see more of Frida's top tips here.

After Frida's talk there was a great panel discussion led by the lovely Kristen Jassies featuring Frida Ramstedt, Pippa Jameson, Yvonne Eijkenduijn and Danielle De Lange. It was so refreshing to hear each one of their individual stories and to also learn from them, allowing us to ask the real questions we've all been dying to ask!

There were a few breaks in between and time to recharge those creative batteries over a few nibbles and a lovely cuppa tea - Aahhhhhhhh. It was also a golden opportunity to catch up and mingle with the many bloggers that attended too. I met lovely fellow bloggers Nathalie Paak and Melanie El Haddad who came to learn and gain from such an engaging experience. It was so nice to make those genuine connections with fellow passionate and creative people. I also spotted male blogger Partick Kooiman - the only fabulous male blogger in the Meet The Blogger village (loved his style and his blog)! 

After our mini-break we then went on to our workshops *rubs hands with glee* The workshops were really fun and enlightening. The first of my workshops was Pippa Jameson's Blog-Styling. Pippa discussed what our images said about our blogs and whether they told a personal story. What I enjoyed about the workshop was that we got the chance to talk amongst ourselves and ask each other, which blogs we really enjoy engaging with and which blog posts in the past have been successful in providing positive feedback/responses? What was great about it? Why did we think they were successfully? Pippa gave us some handy tips on how to engage more with our audience and tap into producing more of a personal, engaging story with our blogs - Thanks Pippa!

After Pippa's talk we then entered the wonderful world of Yvonne Eijkenduijn and working with sponsors as well as product photography. I can honestly say that because of that workshop I have now, for the first time taken my camera off program and have started to experiment with....manual - Whoooooo! Thanks Yvonne! Yvonne went through how to contact sponsors, her own experiences of working with sponsors and also how to photograph products for reviews. It was so enlightening to see Yvonne style a shoot live by styling one of the Brabantia products, showing us first hand that you don't need a state-of-the-art studio to produce stunning images. You can see a round-up of Yvonne's workshop here.

One of the new additions to Meet The Blogger 2012 was the vtwonen Meet The Blogger Awards. Vtwonen is a publication not familiar to the UK however, it's huge in Amsterdam and they even have their own range of homeware (gosh!, imagine if Living etc did that). The awards ceremony was devised to give recognition to talented bloggers for their originality and content. With 75 gifted bloggers nominated I couldn't begin to imagine how they chose the winner however, the lucky runners up were April & May and 70% Pure with the talented Irene Hoofs of Bloesem winning the award for 2012! Congratulations everyone!

There was also an EXCLUSIVE announcement too! Meet The Blogger is going global and there will be a Meet The Blogger Stockholm event later this year! Hoorah!

After such an indulging bloggers event and having met so many friendly people, a large group of us all went for a celebratory dinner at Wagamama. Here I got to meet and talk to some great bloggers including the lovely Iris and Caroline (and the rest of the party) who made me feel very welcome. They advised me on what interior magazines to take back to London and it was nice to get to know each other on an informal, chilled level. 

I just wanted to thank all the bloggers I've met in Amsterdam, you were all so lovely and I hope to stay in touch. If I haven't already added you to twitter please do add me! Thanks to Liselore and Janneke for making me feel so welcome and for giving me the opportunity be part of such a great event! And to all the sponsors for an great day and gorgeous goodie bag.

So did you attend Meet The Blogger 2012? What did you think about it? Did you enjoy it or did you expect more from the event? Do tell...

Images credited: Me and Meet The Blogger - Photographer: Jurriaan Hoefsmit 

Look out for my upcoming post: I {Heart} Amsterdam