Learning and Growing at #SoFabUOTR Dallas

I received a grant in order to attend SoFabU On The Road Dallas. I am so thankful for this opportunity to grow and learn. This grant was  provided to me by Collective Bias, Inc. All opinions are mine alone. #SoFabUOTR #CollectiveBias

This past weekend I headed up Dallas to attend the SoFabU On The Road. I enjoy so much working with Collective Bias as you can probably see by the many posts that they are tagged in here and on social media. I have learned how to weave storytelling in to my sponsored posts so that it isn’t just me telling you about a product, but really seeing how that product can be used in my daily life and tasks. The more I work with them the more I learn and try to improve my blog so I was excited when I learned that I was chosen for a grant to be able to attend their one day conference.

The morning started out with a delicious breakfast sponsored by Mueller Yogurt. It is nice that there were options to have fresh fruit, coffee, juice, and of course yogurt. Since it was an early start I sure needed the coffee part of it. After a quick morning dance to Uptown Funk thanks to Debba Haupert. Not many people danced just FYI. I think we were all asleep.. haha

Shell was the first sponsor to speak. I worked on one of their Penzoil campaigns a little while ago sharing 3 Secrets to Save Time and Money on Errands. It was nice to hear how impressed they were with what they were expecting as far as social media reach and views and what was actually accomplished which way exceeded their expectations. As bloggers you sometimes never know if a sponsor is happy with your work or not.

Next we got a quick overview of what exactly is SoFabU. If you didn’t know it is a place for bloggers to go for free learning. I have learned lots over the years to improve my blog, but I know I have way more things that I need to learn. Sometimes I feel as though I am still a newbie blogger trying to find my way. My plan is to start going through all of the courses they offer and see how I can implement change and growth for this blog.

Rebecca Parsons was the next speaker where she challenged us to use new words, find a different way of telling our stories, bring our audience in and have them feel as though they are right there with us as we tell them a story. Since I started working with Collective Bias I have seen my writing style change and I can only imagine where it can go from here. I want my readers to feel like they are a part of my life.

The highlight of the day was hearing from a very successful blogger, Randi Dukes of Dukes and Duchesses. If you have never read her blog…what are you waiting for??!! She shared her tips and tricks for getting more engagement, growing your audience, and ways you can tweak each of the social media platforms. It was so much information that it will take me awhile to be able to implement it all, but I am looking forward to trying and seeing where I can go with this little blog of mine. I enjoy blogging so much and the opportunities it brings me and the small income it brings in to my family. My hope is to grow and learn more so that I can bring you, my readers, content that you want to read, recipes you want to make, cars you want to drive, travel that you want to go on, and races you want to run.

Lastly we were given some invaluable information from Josh Hicks from Drive Shop. I never realized there were so many gadgets that you can buy to help with photo and video shoots and they don’t have to all cost you an arm and a leg. He shared great tips on ways to light your subject and more. I thought I was doing good with just buying a real DSLR this year.. Looks like I have much more to learn. Like how to use my camera more than just on Auto…

We then went on a tour of the Gaylord Texan to hear about different parts of the hotel, foods they offer, as well as drinks. The Gaylord Texan is huge by the way. With Josh Hicks as our guide we were able to learn so much and find ways to improve our photo and video game with just our phones or cameras. The day ended with a lovely happy hour thanks to Shell. It was a day loaded with learning. They sure fit a lot of information in just one day. I am so happy that I was able to go. This is my year to grow my blog more and see where it takes me!