Top Five Things About Shes Connected #sccto

Shes Connected 2011 panel on monetizing your blog

Alright awesome readers who couldn’t hop in my pocket to make the trip to Shes Connected, I hope that I helped you follow along with the tweets, photos and Facebook messages. Right off the top I want to say a huge thank you to all the brands, the Sheraton on Queen Street, the team of Shes Connected who set everything up, Donna Marie Antoniadis and Mark Grindeland. It was a great experience last year and an even bigger experience this year. I have to say there were moments of really great insight, huge connections were made and friendships were solidified.

                           FordChantelB showing me the hands free park assist. Loved that feature.

Those of you who know me and read my know that I love lists lately. They are succinct and therefore easy to read. So here are my top five things about Shes Connected.

1. Probably even greater than all the swag and the learning experiences at these things is this: blogging and writing a web site are both very solitary activities at times. So when we get to meet some of our friends, the other bloggers who support us when we are struggling and send us virtual hugs when our child is being bullied, or who tweet with us when we are bored, who comment on our blogs and enter our contests, well it is often magical. Really and truly. Like meeting the awesome @chancesmommy. She is so sweet on her blog and every inch as wonderful in person. She brought several of us Manitoulin Island chocolate products. Darn they were delicious, and how sweet is that? Finally seeing @Listen2lena and @sassymodernmom and @missfish was a treat.

2. Learning that companies are starting to get social media. There are some that are so there already. Life Science Nutritionals. Brilliant. Maple Leaf. Smart. Molson. Getting There. Ford Canada has accelerated so fast from a place that let’s be honest was not very promising just a couple of years ago. Impressive.

3. Sharing. Listening to the bloggers who are more experienced at selling ad space and savvier at working with brands. Excellent! Sharing is good. We often teach our kids this but cannot do it ourselves. It doesn’t make any of us less powerful or less valuable. We are all stronger for it.

4. Being Part of Such a Strong Network of Women. Thank you, Donna for being the biggest connector of them all.

5. Ford Canada, period. They set up such an amazing series of centres for learning, hands on displays and their Futurist Sheryl Connelly was remarkable. I loved that Ford has been thinking how to modify cars for people with arthritis (the third age suit) or for seniors, and making quieter vehicles and cars that sense the key on your body and open fast so you don’t have to set your baby down and drop your 18 bags of groceries. Every company could be learning right now from Ford and also they could be projecting with Futurists just like Sheryl. Oh and of course caraoke!