Highlights from ProBlogger Event 2012

Last weekend, over 300 bloggers converged at Etihad stadium in Melbourne to attend the annual ProBlogger event.

We had dreamed a lot bigger this year. This was the first year that we held the event over two days. It was the first year we had two different “streams” of content, and the first time we uploaded the presentations shortly after the sessions had finished for virtual attendees.

I think it was pretty successful. People loved how many different niches were represented—we had speakers from travel, cartooning, business, food, photography, fashion, parenting, and more. People also enjoyed having direct access to the team that has helped me grow my business revenue over the past two years.

From little things big things grow

This turned out to be the accidental theme of the two days. I started my keynote on Friday by telling the audience about my early experiences as a blogger—including the story of my now defunct printer blog (which I had no passion for … and as a result couldn’t sustain)!

I think the attendees appreciated hearing from people at different levels of success in their blog. We heard from bloggers who were focused on building a part-time business around other responsibilities. We also heard from bloggers who had enjoyed a lot of success within two or three years of starting their blog.

I think Elle Roberts said it best:

It is okay to shift, change, and maybe even completely flip your direction. You need to give yourself permission to stay true to who you are what you want today and stop holding on to what you wanted when you started your business.

Many bloggers told us that they felt reassured after attending as well as having specific “action steps” planned to complete after they had recovered.

One of my favorite moments of the event at the end of Day 2 when we all went out into the 40,000 seat stadium to think about the impact we can have as bloggers – Image by Danimezza

Take small actions every day

Something else that really resonated with people was the idea of finding small blocks of time each day and using them to do an activity that improves your blog.

I spoke about how I created my first ebook by finding and using 15-minute blocks after the birth of my first son. Many people tweeted their own suggestions and followed up with blog posts:

• Bloggie Wednesdays: 50 Things I Learned At the Problogger Event
• The Best 9 Things I Learnt at the ProBlogger Event
• 20 small #pbevent actions that will make some big goals happen.

Chris Guillebeau was one of the standout speakers. He received so many compliments on his kindness and sincerity. It was a real honour to share this event with him.

The PBEVENT Team!

The day 1 networking drinks at Maha were another highlight. As you can see, we had a lot of fun catching up and posing for pics courtesy of Smilebooth Australia.

The Virtual Pass

This was the first year we made the presentations available almost live, and this was something that all attendees really responded to. People loved not worrying about missing information and being able to participate in the conversation virtually.

We also had 100+ others attend the conference from around the world virtually—it was great to see so many tweets coming in from participants in places like Serbia, South Africa, America, Canada, New Zealand, and of course many from around Australia.

It really added an extra element to the event, and is something we´ll look at expanding on next year.

The virtual ticket is still available if you are interested.

It includes 21 hours of great blogging teaching, all the slides used by presenters, and a recording of an hour-long Q&A webinar that I recorded with attendees after the event.

Get your Virtual Ticket here.

Do it in a Dress

I ended the first day by wearing a dress to the final session. Yes, a dress. The goal was to raise enough money for ten girls in Africa to attend school.

Image by Misho Maranovic

We hit our target. You can still donate here.

Our 2013 Event

This year’s event was a real success, but we’re already looking forward to next year. We’ve just finished our debrief as a team and there are some further improvements and new features of the event that we’re looking to add.

Interested in coming?

Leave your email below and we’ll let you know where and when it’s on:

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Reviews of PBEVENT from attendees

There have been a flood of blog posts about the event this year. Here are just some of them—enjoy!

• Badly behaved cutlery, shark penises and moustaches
• Unconventional Blogging – More stuff from PBEvent
• Building an Inspired Community!
• People, Parties and Progress at the Problogger Event
• When rah went to problogger
• ProBlogger Event Roundup – Part 1
• 5 things I learnt from the ProBlogger Training Event
• What I learned from the ProBlogger event… that I didn’t attend
• Will you start your own business?
• ProBlogger Event – I fell in love – fell over and fell asleep
• ProBlogger Training Event 2012 and a Day Spa next year please
• Blogging Helps My Business By…
• I’ve been meaning to tell you… everyone feels small
• Startup Tip 53: How big does your business really need to be? Small may be big enough
• Problogger Event – One Year on
• 2 Years Later – ProBlogger Training Day 2012
• Problogger Event 2012: The Full Wrap Up (Pt 1)
• So, #pbevent happened.
• Melbourne’s Blogging community is strong and passionate
• How to overcome post Problogger Conference blues and struggles
• Never underestimate the power of twitter: @Problogger raises $1500 in 2 hours
• The one where we talk about Problogger
• 9 Inspirational Quotes about Blogging from the Problogger Event in Melbourne
• Bloggers are Real People too {even the famous ones} + a giveaway of The $100 Startup {#pbevent}
• Melbourne ProBlogger Conference: Photos and Recap
• Gettin’ bloggie with it!
• Sketchnotes from ProBlogger Training Event: Melbourne 2012
• ProBlogger and Writing
• Doing that thing that scares me most
• ProBlogger: The Weekend That Was.
• How to get brands knocking on your blog door
• Use your blog to find paid writing work: 5 tips from Problogger panel
• Little Acorns – PBEvent Reflections
• The pro blogger conference, 2012.
• Scenes From A Blogging Conference

Thanks to our sponsors!

Thanks so much to our partners and sponsors at PBEVENT who helped make the event so great!

Lenovo, MYOB, Holden, Yellow Pages, Curtin University, Social Callout, Blurb, Coldflow, Zendesk, and Oz Blog Hosting.

Also thanks to World Vision Australia for helping out at the event with volunteers.