Are you going to Bloggy Conference 2016 this year. I went last year to BloggyCon 15. It was my first in person blog conference. It was my first trip to Cedar Point. It was my first time in Sandusky, Ohio. It was also my first trip where it was just me and my youngest son. My son was 6 when we went. He was able to stay in the conferences with me and then we hit the pools and Cedar Point after. He was so good, I was so proud of him. He’s at the table in the pic below on the far left. You can barely see his head behind the bottle and pitcher on the table.
I consider myself an intermediate blogger. I’ve been blogging for years but I still feel like I have a lot to learn. There’s a lot of things I haven’t tried yet but I want to. And something I just can’t figure out how to do. Like increase my UMVs for instance. This is a nice, affordable conference with information relevant to beginner and intermediate bloggers. I say this because I had heard some seasoned bloggers say they already knew most or all the info and wanted different information. Some of the stuff I knew but I did pick up some good pointers, especially in regard to social media. One of my fave sessions was about videos which I really need help on. It was taught by Sara Mock from Savoring The Good. She also sat by me at one of the conference tables and was so kind to answer some of my questions about videos. Though it all centered around using imovie with mac products I didn’t think I could do it. Then I realized I had an iPhone and sure enough, there was an imovie app.
They provided breakfast and lunch for the conference attendees. It was nice. The staff at Cedar Point were very helpful. There were several tables of companies wishing to connect with bloggers. Including a company called Cow Candy that makes fruit flavored cheese to encourage kids to snack healthier. If you haven’t tried it, you should.
I loved meeting bloggers whom I only knew from their blogs. I liked meeting face to face with sponsors and exchanging cards. It was fun to swap knowledge and ideas about blogging with each other. So that brings me to the real reason for this post. If you’re thinking about going to BloggyCon 16 here are my tips and advice when going.
1. If you’re going along or with a young child that will stay with you I wouldn’t opt for the lake view room. I did but the only times my son and I were in our room was to change, shower, and sleep. Conference starts early and we took advantage of the park until at least 10 pm most nights. So as soon as we got back our head hit the pillow to be up again at 7. Now if you have your significant other or family going with you who will spend more time in the room then by all means get what you want. Or if you don’t plan on going to all the sessions you might enjoy it more. I just felt like I could have saved myself the money and got a non-lakeview room since I couldn’t enjoy the view much anyway.
2. Small children can attend the conference free however older children or significant others will need a ticket if they want to stay in the conference with you.
3. The conference take place during Halloweekend. Super cool and I loved it but some parts of the park are scarier than others. If you think your child (or even you) might not want to be scared by ghosts and goblins in the park you an buy a “no scare” necklace that lets the actors know you want to be left alone.
4. Take hoodies, sweatshirts, or jackets with you. It was fairly nice during the day but at night at the park it got pretty chilly.
5. Take your business cards. I must have exchanged at least a dozen cards with people. I kept them in a business card holder in my purse.
6. Bring something to take notes. Either an old fashion pen and paper or your laptop. I took lots of notes and wrote down a lot of sites that were recommended.
7. I took a waterproof wallet I wore around my neck which I was so glad I did. I was able to tuck it under my shirt during rides, my phone, money, room card, and whatever else was in there stayed dry and I didn’t have to lug a purse or backpack around with me and try to figure out what to do with it on a ride.
8. If you want to see Cedar Point this is a great way to do it at a discount and when it’s not so hot and crowded. My son was able to jump from one kiddie ride to the other. If he had to wait, it was only for one turn.
9. Book EARLY! First of all if you book your conference pass before April 15 you save $10 on the pass. Also if you’re planning on booking a room at Hotel Breakers do it as soon as possible. I bought my ticket in March last year and book my room in May I think. Around August people were finding there were no more rooms left and were trying to figure out where they would be able to stay. Cedar point has a lot of other accomodations but they have special pricing at Hotel Breakers for conference attendees. They only block so many rooms though. If you book somewhere else, you’ll pay full price.
10. Consider checking out an hour early on the last day. My son and I checked out an hour before we had to. Mostly because we had a long ride home but we had no wait at all to check out. You avoid the long lines of people trying to stay as long as possible.
If you have any questions about my experience at Bloggy Con, Cedar Point, or Hotel Breakers please let me know. I’ll try to answer from the conference attendee point of view.
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