#BLOGGERCONF
Walking up to the main entrance of The salubrious Five *Marker Hotel on a chilly but glorious morning in Dublin my heart skipped a beat. I was overjoyed and slightly overwhelmed by the sense of achievement and just how far I have come in the blogging world – here I was walking into the biggest Blogger Conference Ireland has ever seen and I was featuring on a Showcase Panel.
I paused, casting my face upwards towards the winter sun, closed my eyes and let the feelings wash over me, settle and spurn me on to taking another step in my writing and blogging journey.
The Location: The Marker Hotel, Grand Canal, Dublin.
The Date: November 22nd 2015.
The Event: BLOGGERCONF
BLOGGERCONF is Ireland’s First dedicated Blogger Conference and has solidified itself as a credible, major player and hugely respected conference based on its reputation, incredible feedback and sell-out success on this, its ‘maiden voyage’.
Founded by stellar business woman Emma O’Farrell and welcoming all influencers in tech, business, blogging, social media and digital the conference gives Bloggers and Brands the chance to connect, network and engage in a relaxed environment.
BLOGGERCONF was held in conjunction with Life’s2Good and saw a host of other fabulous sponsors join us such as Canon, Rachel Dalton Communications, Fáilte Ireland, Evoke.ie, Deliveroo and The Marker Hotel.
Xposé also attended in the afternoon to cover the conference and interview some people, including Founder Emma O’Farrell.
Our MC for the event was the delightful and often hilarious James Butler, stylist and Fashion Ed at MFI Magazine and blogger at Jus de James.
The Line-up:
The line-up was phemomenal with not one but Two Showcase Q&A Panels –
○My panel Fashion /Beauty/Lifestyle and a
○Travel/Fitness/Food Panel.
○Presentations included: those from businesses and brands such as Rachel of Rachel Dalton Communications, Jenny Taafe from I-Zest Marketing, William Fry Solicitors and Blogger Anouska Proetta Brandon.
○Masterclasses came from Simeon Quarrie of Canon, Google and The Tweeting Goddess, Samntha Kelly.
{Meeting the lovely Anouska, fellow content creator – predominantly Instagram focused (for good reason, her Insta is gorge!) We had some fun after hours with Simeon Quarrie of Canon and Anouska loves my laugh…which I’m known for. What a compliment, thanks girlie!}
The hype surrounding the highly anticipated BLOGGERCONF was intense and it wasn’t long before #BLOGGERCONF was trending on Twitter!
My Q&A Showcase Panel:
The Showcase Panel I was on speaking on about Fashion/Beauty/Lifestyle took place in the morning and consisted of:
☆James Butler of Jus de James.
☆Sinead of Beauttruth.
☆Tara of TarMarz YouTube channel/blog.
☆Niamh Webb O’Rourke of LoveLife Blog.
Time to Shine:
I was the newbie blogger on the panel (I’m blogging 11 months) but the respect from my fellow bloggers on panel and in general has been amazing. To get such validation as an influencer and content creator to speak at such an event has been incredible and I truly appreciate it every day!
I’ve had a tremendous amount of positive feedback at and since, BLOGGERCONF regarding the fact that in a year I’ve gone from being an attendeè at a previous conference for bloggers, to being an Award Nominated Blogger and on the bill at Ireland’s First Dedicated Blogger Conference this year! I cannot fathom what an incredible achievement that is for me!
Just some of the positive feedback I got after panel: delegates and fellow bloggers approaching to congratulate me and say that:
○they loved my blog and style of writing, loved hearing about everything I’ve accomplished in this short amount of time and admired my attitude towards blogging.
○ They liked that I was included on panel with some high profile bloggers.
Delegates approached me and said they admired the fact that such an acclaimed conference had “acknowledged an up and coming blogger (such as myself) who is relatable and inspiring” to them – relatable in that I am in the process of building my blog and brand and that they were in the audience and thought, “that could be me, I could make something of my blog.”
I cannot tell you the impact these words had on me, only to say I was floored and quite emotional on the inside which I struggled to conceal.
It’s so lovely to meet people you don’t know/haven’t met before and hear they read your blog content, it is such a humbling experience!
To hear that your passion, dedication and actions inspire others has a powerful impact and will stay with me forever.
{Pictured: with fellow Panelist and Blogger James Butler. I’m wearing Penneys/Primark Soft Knit Embellished Sweater and Burgundy Suede Wedge Ankle Boots, River Island Faux Leather Snakeskin skinnies and jewels from Accessorize and Arnotts. Make-up is predominatly Urban Decay. I gotta get this ‘posing’ stuff down guys…people make it look so easy!}
Showcase Panel 2: Travel/Fitness/Food included Fitness Bloggers Sarah Murphy and Rob Lipsett and Food Blogger Niamh of Gourmet Grazing Blog whom I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time!
A networking lunch provided a fantastic opportunity for brands, businesses, industry related folk and bloggers to connect, complete with delicious food from The Marker Hotel, even catering for various food requirements!
Several brands had stands at the event allowing delegates to casually peruse their wares during intervals, such fabulous brands as Caravelle New York, Beutifi, So Fragrances, Declare, Connector.ie, MeeMaw Bags and Athlone Town Centre.
{Caravelle New York: I fell in love at BLOGGERCONF – with Caravelle New York and this Rose Gold beaut…}
{BEUTIFI.com stand were I was kindly gifted this Redken Shine Spray – love this stuff – thanks guys!}
{The Canon stand at BLOGGERCONF were I perused the best of the best camera equipment – every must have in a Blogger’s arsenal of tools! I have my eye of some nifty gadgets thanks to some YouTubers I watch, as well as Simeon Quarrie and Anouska!}
{Declare’s newest release their “Essential Eye Lifting Serum” was showcased at BLOGGERCONF!}
{A great selection of clutches and a beautiful “Dreamcatcher” chain, caught my eye at the Mee Maw stand at BLOGGERCONF.}
{So…? Fragrances – Sponsors of The Fashion/Beauty/Lifestyle Panel also had a stand, to the delight of delegates and were on hand to offer guidance on their new Couture Range of scents. I was lucky enough to attend the launch of The So…? Couture Range earlier this year!}
A truly fantastic event from the organisation, to speakers and masterclasses, to the panels and Q&A sessions, a chance to meet like minded people all with lunch and a jam-packed goody bag included!
If you attended BLOGGERCONF tell me I’d love to know!
Comment below or:
Tweet me: @DublinGail or Tag me on Instagram: @littlegforce leave a comment on the GlamForce blog by Gail O’Connor Facebook page!
Thank You Notes:
A massive thank you to organiser and founder of BLOGGERCONF Emma O’Farrell for believing in me and my abilities. I can’t thank you enough Emma and have loved being part of the BLOGGERCONF Family!
Also thank you to: Life’s 2 Good for being our headline sponsor.
Our Masterclass speakers Google, Simeon Quarrie of Canon and Samantha Kelly, The Tweeting Goddess.
All of our other phenomenal industry related speakers.
Thank you to So Fragrance for sponsoring the Beauty/Fashion/LifeStyle Showcase Panel.
All delegates who attended brands, businesses and bloggers for making it a truly memorable experience.
Thanks for stopping by guys!
I hope you enjoyed this post and are excited for BLOGGERCONF ’16 – I know I am!
Gail. Xx
Photography: All images © of Gail O’Connor, Nicolette Spelic Photography,
Patrick O’Leary Photography and
BLOGGERCONF.
GlamForce - Gail O'Connor 