Cybher 2013

After all the hype, Cybher is over for another year, but was it worth it?

YES, YES, YES!!

I firmly believe that these conferences are what you make them, and I learned from my mistakes last year and had a clear idea of what talks I wanted to see this year.

I was less worried about clothing this year, but was sent a beautiful shift dress by Crave Maternity to wear, which drew lots of admiring comments.

I was a little late turning up, so missed the morning coffee and some of the more exclusive Leather Satchel Bags, but I did get a fabulous luminous yellow one that has now been adopted by my 12 year old son as it’s cool!!

Other goodies I managed to collect on the day came in the form of a (frankly gorgeous) Kaftan from Freya, the cutest little bottle from HomeBarn, the utterly brilliant Dodo pads and some yummy chocolate biscuits which I have had to hide!

I was, however, in time for a chat with @Eliza_Do_Lots and Fi from @Childcareisfun before the welcome by Sian and the Keynote speech by Zoe Margolis.

Unfortunately, I had attended Zoe’s talk the year before, and it was much the same this year so I spent the time pulling silly faces at the babies who had a formed a small creche on the floor next to me and watching @cosmicgirlie performing impressive army style commando moves to get the perfect picture of them.

It was then time for a coffee break, where I caught up with some more of my favourite bloggers and even got a photo with my namesake, fellow bump mate and friend Kara – @innocentcharmer.

Dress by Crave Maternity

The first talk I attended was called “Ditch the Fugly”, with Amber Venz and Chloe Watts.  It was really informative and I learned that Facebook is still the Number 1 place to share posts and G+ has surpassed twitter already!!

Alot of what they talked about made sense – use the same design / badges / pictures / font across your Social Media sites so people can easily identify you.  This I don’t really do, so you may see a change in design soon.

The next session was “Someone Once Photographed Me!” with Mario Cacciottolo.  Having heard rave reviews about this session I was determined to attend and he did not disappoint.  He was energetic, fun and had lots of suggestions about how to make your photographs better – even if using a phone.

Next it was time for lunch, and I was a bit gutted I missed out on time to mingle, as Eliza came back to see me as wanted Mummy.  By the time I got downstairs the food had pretty much gone, but I did get to sample some delicious chocolate mousse whilst I caught up with Maria from @feistytapas and Maggie from @RedTedArt.

I did manage a small amount of mingling, but it was at this stage I felt most lost as I was on my own and didn’t have my wingman with me as she couldn’t make it at the last minute – thanks Charlie (@themummyblogger).

Once lunch was finished I headed back to the Ballroom to see Sian To and Claire Archbold talk about “Sh*t you didn’t know that will make your blog better”.

Although it was aimed a beginners, and I had attended the blogger workshop with Nickie O’Hara the previous year, it was a fabulous workshop.  I actually understood what they were talking about this year, as I was too much of a newbie previously.  Some of what they talked about I was already doing, but needed to tweak.  I need to do some serious blog housekeeping, but at least I have a place to start and I now know how to improve my SEO!

Next up was the “From Auto to Manual Photography Session” with Jay Mountford.  Now, I admit I do not currently own a DSLR camera, but I always look on enviously at those that do and have lusted after one for years, so it was more to see what the fuss was about and learn a thing or two.

Like Mario, Jay was energetic, fun and eager to share her knowledge.  She explained everything in layman’s terms and even demonstrated what she was talking about, using a large screen and a temperamental computer!

I now understand what ISO, Aperature and Shutter Speed are and have been inspired to buy myself a new camera and experiment with it.  Jay didn’t lecture that we mustn’t use the automatic settings, they can be useful after all – but you can create some wonderful, individual and inspiring pictures just by knowing the basics and having a decent lens!

Next up was Maggy Woodley and “The Art of Plus Size – Google+”.  I probably got the most out of this session as G+ scares the hell out of me.

Maggie was able to explain the features of G+ in simple terms and made it sound easy.  I now understand the difference between circles and communities and know how to make G+ work for me.  Like any social media platform, it will take time to master but I am determined to make a conscious effort to use it more and get the most out of it – plus Maggie has promised that she is at the end of a tweet to help if I need it lol!

Sadly it was now time for me to leave as I had to get back to pick the boys up, so I did miss the last couple of sessions, which after reading the tweets sounded amazing, if a little controversial.

I must also extend my apologies if this little lady tripped you up, or got in your way at Cybher – she didn’t like being apart from Mummy for too long!