BLOG PODIUM...FROM OTTAWA WITH LOVE....

By now, if you are a Canadian blogger you may have heard of, and in fact read the various posts on The Business of Blogging presented at Blog Podium in Toronto a week ago. If not, I strongly encourage you to do so, especailly if you are considering monetizing your blog.  The recap posts have wonderfully described the event itself and I have nothing to add that hasn't already been thoroughly presented... so my Blog Podium post will take a slightly different angle....

 

It started for me last Friday morning with 3 other designers from Ottawa, in a Yukon heading west, in search of the truth, the real truth .... about monetizing our blogs.  Many hours later, with the GPS taking us to areas of Scarborough previously unknown to me (...I'm originally from Scarborough...) we landed safely at our destination, unpacked and toasted our successful journey and our fantastic chauffeur, Sonya.

That evening, we headed out to a fabulous Italian dinner at Terroni restaurant in Toronto. Approximately fifteen out-of`town-bloggers from across Canada and one keynote speaker from Chicago, Nicole Balch of Making it Lovely all of whom would be attending Blog Podium the next day, were in attendance. You have to understand that at least half of these blogger / diners were completely unknown to each other IRL, yet here we were breaking bread and sharing wine. Our lovely hosts, Lindsay Stephenson of Little House Blog and Jennifer Flores of Rambling Renovators who are the brains and brawn behind Blog Podium very graciously organized the Friday night dinner as well, specifically for the out-of-towners.

from the back: Barbara Matson of  hodge:podge,  Nancy Marcus of marcusdesign,
 Jennifer Flores and Lindsay Stephenson 

When my dinner arrived.....helllooo ooo!!!!  Gnocchi stuffed with something wonderful, I can't remember what and topped with....I'm not sure... cheese. I truly thought I would be taking home a doggy bag and sharing a midnight snack with my Blog Podium weekend roomie gals. Delish Gnocchi = no doggy bag!

The Ottawa contingen L-R: Donna Hargrove - dh-designs, Sonya  Kinkade- sonyakinkadedesign
 Kelly James- jaxdoesdesign   

On Saturday, the Ottawa contingent arrived at Blog Podium along with the other attendees. I won't go into all the details, because you can read a fabulous recap written by Kelly James here . In fact Kelly was one of the Blog Podium attendees who was chosen by Para Paints, a sponsor at Blog podium, to be a member of their Blog Crew ...woohoo Kelly.

Not only did we receive awesome advice about monetizing our blogs while listening to the keynote speaker and panellists,  but later in the afternoon we were fed and wined as well. Check out Donna's slider.

...and with many thanks to Blog Podium's fantastic vendors and sponsors...

.....we went home looking like this.....

I have not determined if I will undertake monetizing my blog, and I certainly cannot answer for the other Ottawa gals, but our quest for the blog monetizing lowdown truth has been fulfilled. We are all now well armed with the necessary tools and information so honestly shared by the speakers at Blog Podium.
For that, many, many thanks to Jennifer and Lindsay for all your hard work.....looking forward to the next Blog Podium
xoxo