Look, it’s great for the ego to have marketers thrust their wares at you.

It’s also great for the mum “cred” to come home from “work” laden with gifts (especially when they’re free).  But what I really enjoyed about the Bloggers Brunch, held in Melbourne on Friday, was the opportunity to talk to other bloggers and the inspirational messages from the panel of speakers.

Yet, so many of us got caught up in the Brand aspect of the event that perhaps we didn’t talk to each other as much as we could have.

The Message

I was blown away by the six women who spoke to us on Friday.  They spoke articulately, with passion and had a powerful message to deliver. We are not “just” mums.  We are individuals.  We are women, we are strong, we have a voice.  We also often lack courage and can be our own worst enemies. We need to believe in ourselves.  We need to replace our old limiting beliefs with limitless thinking.  We need not be afraid of speaking up, of being ourselves, of not conforming.  It may be a man’s world we live in, but I strongly believe that it’s time for a revolution.  A women-led revolution.

The Women

I’ve met Amanda Cox and Renee Mayne a few times before, in much more informal circumstances.  This was the first time I heard both of them “speak”.  I am now even more in awe, knowing a little bit about their stories and the types of adversity they overcame.  They are confident, passionate, inspirational speakers who love what they do and they love to help others.  They are also both published authors.  I strongly encourage you to check out their websites and their stories.

Nicole Avery is the Planning Queen.  I first heard her speak at the Australian Bloggers Conference in May, but didn’t get a chance to talk to her or to learn her story.  Nicole is now also a published author, thanks to Twitter and was able to reassure us that Twitter time is in fact work time.  I was inspired by Nicole’s approach to life, her energy, her engaging manner and her planning skills, of course! Alli Price, the Motivating Mum, impressed us all with her chutzpah, having talked her way into speaking at this event!  Despite professing extreme nervousness, she spoke passionately about her business experiences in the online world and about overcoming our biggest obstacles – ourselves. (I’m sorry, Alli, I didn’t manage to get a photo of you!)

I didn’t know Catherine Cervasio or Bronny 

Fallens until yesterday.  It turns out the Catherine is the woman behind Aromababy, a brand familiar to just about every mum in Australia, while Bronny has been responsible for a few online ventures, the latest being Bronny’s Books, a series of books about non-traditional families.  I am particularly keen to learn more about “My Super Single Mum”.  Bronny began ventured into the online world for the same reasons many of us bloggers do – to connect with others, to seek inspiration and challenges.

The Brands

The range of brands represented at the Brunch typified for me the broad brush stroke with which “mummy bloggers” are painted.  There was lots of pink, there were toys for young children and Disney.  I will publish a separate post about these brands in the next day or two, as well as my own thoughts about working with brands.

Some initial points I wanted to share with you today are:

• our readers love free stuff,
• we don’t like paying postage, even for free stuff,
• readers respond better to substantial prizes in competitions,
• most bloggers will blog about stuff they love, even when they receive no compensation.

Was it fun?

Yes.  I enjoyed it much more than the Australia Bloggers Conference.  It was a smaller crowd, I  already knew quite a few of them from earlier events and I felt I had something to contribute.  I am slowly finding my feet in this blogging business and am constantly thinking about my vision, my message and my opportunities.  Events like this feed my brain and inspire me to keep going.