3 Reasons Why I Loved the Springboard Boston Conference

Last weekend, I attended the Springboard Boston Conference at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. This was the fourth blog conference that I have been fortunate enough to attend, and it couldn't have been a more vastly different experience than my last conference - BlogHer 2012 in New York City. I walked away from Springboard feeling energized, educated, and enthused about blogging - more so than any other conference I have attended. Here's why:
1. It was an intimate gathering.The conference was co-hosted by a group that I love being a part of - Boston Parent Bloggers, but even if I hadn't known anyone before arriving at the conference, I would have quickly and comfortably been able to meet many of the wonderful bloggers and speakers there. This conference seemed to exude a personal and easygoing vibe that made it easy to talk to people, learn, and connect with others.
2. There was easy access to the experts.Springboard featured a really fantastic group of panelists. I loved that the panelists provided us with excellent information and hung out after the sessions to personally speak with people. There was also a time set aside at the conference where all of the panelists were in one place, so you could easily access them for further advice, questions, and networking. I would like to give a special shout out to some of the experts that were particularly helpful to me: Janet Aronica and Ginny Soskey of Shareaholic, Laura Tomasetti of 360PR, Cat Lincoln of Clever Girls Collective, Stephanie Azzarone of Child's Play Communications, and Cindy Meltzer of The Social Craft. Springboard is the first conference I've been to where you could easily get one on one time with the experts. I especially liked the fact that you could sign up in advance for one on one meetings with Cindy Meltzer for Social Media/Brand/Website Consulting and Debbie Mitchell for Video Critique.
3. The conference was about more than just blogging.Christy Matte and Kim Tolander clearly put a lot of thought into what people would enjoy when they organized Springboard; I felt like they really wanted to emphasize that this conference was supposed to be a special time for you - not just as a blogger, but as a whole person. Between the Odyssey Cruise of the Boston Harbor on Friday night, the early morning yoga class on Saturday, and the post-conference dinner at delicious Maggiano's, I think all of the attendees felt like they were at something much more than your typical blogging event.
Thank you to everyone who made Springboard possible! Although I joked that the highlight of my day was getting to go to the bathroom by myself since it was a rare day sans kids, I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this educational, personal, and inspiring day.
To learn more about other attendees' Springboard experience, visit posts by Busy Since Birth and Random Recycling.