I’ve just arrived home from spending four days in Surfers Paradise, on the Gold Coast, where this year’s two day Problogger Training Event was held.
If you read this post, you’ll know how devastated I was to miss (most of) last year’s event.
And when I created my first ever Vision Board earlier this year, this trip to QLD to attend the conference – despite the small issue of my fear of flying!! – was a significant goal that I included on my board.
I DID IT!!!!
My long-time friend and ‘Bestie Biz Buddy’ Jane and I got on our planes on Thursday, met at Coolangatta airport… and it actually happened.
And I have to tell you that it was super-hard to come home. Everything about the conference was AWESOME.
But just to sum it up for you, I really want to share with you 27 of the things I loved about this year’s “PB Event”. (If I can manage to keep it to 27!)
1.
I LOVED Darren Rowse’s (organizer, creator, aka Problogger!) opening talk at the conference. I can’t imagine there’s that many conferences where you’d get someone so authentic, open and honest, generous and so very humble standing up there on stage to kick off the event.
2.
I loved that as the conference progressed, it was clear that Darren had gathered an amazing bunch of speakers and panelists who were also incredibly warm-hearted, authentic, generous and willing to give of their time and their stories to benefit those of us at different stages of our blogging journeys.
3.
I love that the QT Hotel was so colourful and fun, and filled with so many quirky things – that just begged to be enjoyed. And photographed!!
4.
I love that the queue for the lifts in the hotel lobby was so full on Friday afternoon that it was the perfect time to head out the hotel doors and down to the beach – where Jane and I kicked our shoes and walked barefoot in the sand at the water’s edge.
5.
I loved that at 11.30 at night, when we got back from the party at the Hilton absolutely starving, I could just make a quick call to room service and ten minutes later we had Charlie’s green smoothies (with a side order of wedges!!) delivered to our hotel room door.
6.
I loved being surrounded for 2+ days by so many women (and men too – tho’ not so many!) who are starting out on the path or already on the journey, pursuing their dreams.
7.
I love that, at the very end of the second day, in came Samuel Johnson from Love Your Sister, riding his unicycle – with some difficulty, between the rows and rows of seats! – down to the front stage, where he shared some of his story with us. And that by the end of day 2, over $2500 had been raised for Love Your Sister through donations through Shout.
8.
I love that the beds at the QT Hotel were so incredibly comfy. OMGosh, I thought my mattress at home was a good one. I’m rethinking!
9.
I love that despite all the worry-filled moments about ‘what to wear’, when all’s said and done, it just really didn’t matter. We all have our unique and individual style. And that’s OK.
10.
I love that even by the end of the first day, I felt so much clearer about the way forward for me and my blog, and that I could see I need to totally focus on sharing books and resources. Full stop!!
11.
I love that I came home with this piece of wisdom that Yishan Chan from Beauty Swatch shared during the Creating Ebooks session:
“Write 20 pages in 20 days.”
This should really help me to get my Gorgeous Green Smoothies ebook finished sooner rather than later!!
12.
I LOVED (loved, loved, loved!) the Coconut & Kaffir Lime Sorbet from Serendipity that was available in the allergy-free dining room at lunchtime. (So much so that it seriously crossed my mind to take three containers, not just one, on the second day!!!)
13.
I love that this year I didn’t have to go home feeling that I hadn’t met the bloggers that I really wanted to meet – because I did the ’20 minutes of insane courage’ thing a couple of times until it started to feel so much easier. Walking up to a blogger you don’t know but admire can be scary. But being brave… is worth it!
14.
I loved Trey Ratcliff’s awesome talk about ‘Living in the Now’. (Maybe not so much how freaked out I was when he started talking about the internet technology of the future!!)
15.
I loved the gorgeous icecream truck. (And I KNOW I wasn’t the only one!) And all those jars filled with lollies… And although I can’t do dairy (or too much sugar) and stuck to my healthy vegan sorbet, I couldn’t resist the temptation to at least get a couple of photos.
16.
I loved that we stayed in the hotel where the conference was held. I met so many lovely bloggers at the bar on the Thursday night, before the conference had even begun, and really enjoyed being able to relax so much more than I have at previous events. I think even if the PBEvent was in Melbourne again, close to home, I’d seriously consider staying at the conference venue.
17.
I loved that the food at the QT Hotel – both at the conference itself, in the bar and restaurants (and room service!) was just awesome. Although I have to admit to eating so many more wedges over the course of three days than I should have!
18.
I love that Tsh Oxenreider, from Simple Mom, organized an informal meet-up on Saturday morning for anyone who was up and wanted to come along.
19.
And I LOVED (loved, loved, loved!!!) that a girl named Rachel – who wasn’t even attending the Problogger event, but had read on Twitter that Tsh was organizing this meetup – had packed her family in the car at 5am, sent her husband with the kids to McDonalds, and walked in bravely to a group of bloggers she’d never met because she loves Tsh’s blog so much. Wow!!
20.
I love that I had my own brave fan-girl moment when I went up and asked Samuel Johnson if I could get a photo with him to take back home for my 11 year old. And that Sam was so incredibly gracious and obliging – despite my camera being totally unco-operative. Fortunately the camera on my mobile phone was enough in the end.
21.
I love that there were so many options of sessions to attend and always at least one (usually two!) of the three that I really wanted to go to.
22.
I love that I now have virtual access to the audio recordings and slides for every session of the event, so I can re-listen as many times as I like to all sessions, including those I didn’t get to.
23.
I love that Clare Bowditch sang her beautiful song Amazing Life (after reminding Offspring fans that Patrick is “not.really.dead! He’s an ACTOR!!!”) And these inspiring lyrics: “You don’t have to do just one thing… But you have to start with something”.
24.
I loved that Black Coffee Lyrics was exactly as described in the QT Hotel review: “a cafe on the Gold Coast which feels like it has been picked up from a little lane way in Melbourne, like Dorothy’s house in the Wizard of Oz, and transported to the centre of Surfers Paradise”. And that a small group of us chose to stay there over going dancing, and had a lovely night making new friends until the furniture was being moved and floors swept around us!!
25.
Um. What was I there for again?? Oh, yep… I love that I learned so much about Facebook marketing (thanks Amy Porterfield!), about creating ebooks, about affiliate marketing, about building a blogging community and social media networks, and really, just about being a better blogger.
26.
I love that there were so many nuggets of wisdom that I’ve come home with in my notebooks and that were shared on Twitter throughout the course of the event. Like these:
“Sometimes our suffering leads us to the thing we’re meant to do in the world” – Clare Bowditch
“The more you live in the now, the more your universe will unfold exactly as it’s supposed to” – Trey Ratcliff
“Inspiration without implementation is empty” – Darren Rowse
And this:
27.
And lastly, I love that I’m already looking forward to next year’s Problogger event…
because isn’t that the sign of a truly awesome conference?!?!
Now, I’m off to put into action everything I’ve learned…
Brigid
If you were at Problogger, what were some of the things that you loved? Feel free to share a link to your own PBEvent post in the comments!
Not a blogger? YET!! Maybe you will be by the time next year’s Problogger event comes around. It would be awesome to see you there!!
Oh Brigid, what a great list and thank you for including my tweet!
It’s something that my kinesiologist used to say and I was reminded of it when reflecting upon how much crying I did this conference.
So great to see that you made it down to the beach – one of my only regrets this year was that I didn’t make it over.
Thanks so much Cheryl!
I’ve heard something similar before too – and I’ve definitely experienced it myself many times, often when I’ve been reading or listening to anything about pursuing your dreams & passions. (There’s a very good chance your tweet could be the inspiration for a blog post. I’ll let you know!)
Hope you have a chance to get to the beach closer to home. So great to ‘meet’ you here and on Twitter – and hopefully at the next PBEvent!!!
Loved reading your love list! Thanks for sharing Clare Bowditch beautiful song Amazing Life – I couldn’t seem to find it on youtube when I did a quick search. Such an amazing, inspirational song. I cried.
Thankyou Sia! It’s such a beautiful song isn’t it? It did take me a while to find. I had to do a search of the lyrics, as I wasn’t sure of the title.
A few tears were shed at this year’s PBEvent. But as Cheryl tweeted yesterday morning, I really think that is when something resonates so deeply with us, when our soul is ‘finding it’s truth’.
I really like that.
“When something resonates so deeply with us, it is our soul finding it’s truth”
Namaste.
Sia x
Sia, I think I just reworded Cheryl Lin’s tweet, so credit to Cheryl and her kinesiologist for that one!!!
great post – love it!
Thanks for sharing your experiences!
Love that you love it Darren!!
Thanks so much to you and to all of your team for the amazing behind the scenes work that must have gone into putting the event together. This year’s PB Event is going to be a hard act to follow. Everyone involved did an amazing job. Well done and thanks for initiating that first event four years ago that has grown into something so big!!!
What a lovely list, Brigid.
It was great to meet you and spend some time chatting over lunch on Day One. Los like I’ll be adding your blog to my list!
Thankyou Susie! Great to meet you and spend some time with you as well.
Look forward to seeing you here on my blog, and maybe at the next PB Event too!!
What a great list! I loved so many things, especially that the sphere of personal blogging was so well addressed at this year’s event. And I loved meeting you, of course!
Thanks Dorothy! Great to meet you on Friday night. I have a couple of fun photos of you and Louise which I’ll email to you.
Hope to see you at a bloggers lunch/meetup in the very near future!
How great was that little session with Tsh! Rachel was the best 🙂
It was fantastic wasn’t it Stacey! Lovely to meet you in that session.
I was weighing up sleeping in a bit longer or getting up to be there. So glad I went! And Rachel was amazing. Very inspiring!
Loved the wrap-up Brigid. Such an amazing conference. Feel so privileged to have picked up a last minute ticket – it felt like fate for me. Sorry we didn’t get a chance to meet, but i’ll see you next year!
Brigitte, so good that you did pick up that last minute ticket!! You were meant to be there obviously!
Looking forward to meeting you next year. Not sure how the Problogger team will top this event (that may be way too much to ask!), but I really am looking forward to next year already!!
Hello lovely Brigid – it was lovely sharing lunch with you on the second day. And thank you for being part of the impromptu workshop to figure out the strap line of my book!
Hi Kelly, it was so lovely to meet you after reading so many beautiful posts on your blog and seeing the amazing work you’ve been doing!
That would have to be #28: I love that I was part of your impromptu workshop so that when your book comes out I can say “I was there…!!!” And your book sounds fantastic, so I look forward to reading it when it’s published. Enjoy the process in the meantime!!
I love every point on your list 🙂 I got picked up by a friend & their friend (who I sort of know) after the event and on the drive home I found out the friend has just started blogging– guess who I’m dragging along next year!?
Thanks Vanessa! It shouldn’t be too hard to drag your friend along next year – just share some photos and all the highlights of the conference. And there were so many, weren’t there?!
Sorry that we didn’t meet at the event. We’ll have to meet next year though!
Thank you so much. I desperately wanted to go to Problogger this year, but was unfortunately unable to go. I have been searching through #PBevents for bloggers to tell me a few things they experienced and learned. While I feel gutted I wasn’t able to go, I am encouraged by what I am learning through blogs such as yours. So thank you….Keep remembering and writing for people like me who weren’t able to attend. xo
Sarah, thanks so much for stopping by, for reading, and commenting. There are so many great posts that attendees have written this year, so hopefully you’re learning heaps from those!!
Not sure what your circumstances were this year, but I really hope that you do get to be there next year. Make a vision board and put it on there – then it HAS to happen!!
Honestly thanks so much for your beautiful comment. I’m so glad that even though you weren’t able to be there, mine and other posts about the event are helping you to feel that you haven’t missed out! Really hope that we’ll meet at next year’s event!! x
Hi Brigid!
How wonderful you made it to this year’s conference after such a terrible time with pain last year. I just read your post about the pain from last year and I’m going through a similar confusion right now with painful joints, having had a ton of blood tests and other tests and awaiting some sort of diagnosis. My own Dr.Googling points to fibroidmyalgia??? who knows! I even took 3 months off social media and work in order to rest up, but it hasn’t improved. 🙁
ANYWAY… I wanted to let you know I really enjoyed your wrap up of the #PBEVENT.. it captured everything perfectly. I was on the tweet-team and also did a talk with Trevor Young about gaining Speaking Engagements from blogging but I still, in amongst all of that, managed to soak up a ton of inspiration and motivation about blogging and I gained a new enthusiasm for my family blog http://www.fivehive.com.
You invited us to share our #PBEVENT wrap ups, so here is mine:
http://thereachkit.com/pbevent_wrap/
and here is Trevor’s :
http://prwarrior.typepad.com/my_weblog/2013/09/problogger-training-event-2013-recap-all-is-well-in-the-australian-blogosphere.html
Nice to meet you virtually and I hope to see you soon! x
Hi Yvonne! Great to meet you virtually too, and sorry we didn’t meet at PBEvent (although with such a huge crowd, meeting everyone was not really a possibility!!).
Thanks so much for sharing yours and Trevor’s wrapups of PBEvent. I haven’t gotten ’round to listening to all of the audio of the sessions so look forward to listening to yours – and learning more about what you’re both doing with The Reach Kit, if you cover that, and about your family blog.
I hope you find out quickly what’s causing your painful joints, and that it’s something that you’ll be able to manage. It’s awful when your work and life is affected by pain, and when a solution doesn’t come easily. I still struggle with mine, but seem to manage it better these days. Fortunately it’s not getting any worse, and life is much better than it was at that time last year.
Hopefully we’ll meet at next year’s PBEvent – if not before then. (There’s a good possibility that I may develop a blogging conference addiction following the amazing Gold Coast experience!!!!)
Hi Brigid,
I wasn’t at the Pro-Blogger event, but it sounds likes some of the same crew and definitely the same vibe as Clare Bowditch’s Big Hearted Business (BHB) conference I attended earlier this year.
She sang Amazing Life there too, and the room full of 198 odd women (and 2 men!) were in tears too!
I loved your list, and if you’re interested in my summary of BHB have a look at:
http://talinaedwards.com/2013/03/26/the-first-day-of-the-rest-of-my-amazing-life/
Cheers,
Talina
Hi Talina. I love the sound of the BHB conference, and would love to get there in 2014! Thanks for sharing your summary of the conference. Those ‘Ingredients for an Amazing Life’ are a great list of reminders for those of us pursuing our dreams!!
Great to meet you recently, and hope that we may see each other at BOTH conferences next year!!!
Thanks for the shout out & lovely to meet you at PB event last year!
A pleasure Yishan! Hope you’re having a great year of blogging and biz, and hope to see you in Qld again at this year’s event!!