7 Things I Loved About BAMC15

I just got home from an amazing weekend at BAMC15. The Bloggers at Midlife 2015 Conference was like going to a girls getaway weekend with 99 of your best friends in the world. I laughed, I learned, and I was inspired.

I’ve been friends with Anne Parris – Nota Supermom – since before she started blogging. We met online through a homeschoolers forum many years ago. So, when she and her Midlife Boulevard partner, Sharon Greenthal of Empty House Full Mind fame, announced their conference, I signed up immediately. (Sorry about the run-on sentence. I’m excited, y’all!)

I volunteered to help out and ended up spending more time working behind-the-scenes than attending the sessions. Even so, I learned a lot. Despite the issues with travel that a small number of people had (crazy March snow!) the conference was a huge success.

Here a 7 of the things I LOVED about the conference:

1. Leadership Team

Sharon and Anne are always amazing. Anyone who has met them knows that. They brought on new partners Beth Rosen, a leading social media strategist, and Teresa Kindred, author and blogger to be part of the team for the conference. These four ladies have all kinds of gifts and talents that meshed together to create a beautiful weekend experience.

2. Sponsors

The conference couldn’t have happened without them. The price of admission for an attendee does not cover the cost of putting on a conference. A huge shout-out to Stouffer’s who sponsored the Friday night cocktail party, provided comfortable seating for breaks, AND gave out great swag. I also want to thank Collective Bias who sponsored lunch. Yum! Another sponsor was Nissan. I’m so glad to see that the auto industry is beginning to notice that women–midlife women–are influential in car-buying decisions.

I’ve been a long-time fan of sponsor Cabot Cheese who provided cheese samples during a break. (Pssst. Hey Cabot, any chance we can get the single-serve cheese packages in my local market, Memphis? It’s PERFECT for dieters.) Other sponsors like Vibrant Nation, Always Discreet, and Albertini Skincare and Beauty sent people and/or products. We had Goo Goo Clusters, a local Tennessee product, during another break, and received support and goodies from from Grown and Flown and College Financial Aid Advisors, and 1010 Park Place.  Thank you all so much. You facilitated a fabulous weekend.

3. Venue

Gaylord Opryland Hotel was a lovely venue for our weekend. Almost without exception the staff at the hotel was helpful and friendly. These hard-working people were there to lift boxes, help us find our way around the maze (that place is HUGE, y’all!) and keep us comfortable. I particularly want to thank Ragan who helped transport boxes with a smile, the bellman who loaded up 2 luggage carts TWICE early Saturday morning (I didn’t get his name, but he was a long-term employee there and just delightful to talk to) {UPDATE: his name was Pete}, and James from the conference area who brought Julia Robinson and me Pepsi with lime when we were feeling our most harried.

4. Learning

As I said, I missed some of the conference sessions because I was busy, but I still had some take-aways. Tracy Beckerman had some great ideas for managing your social media. I learned how to better manage my twitter feed, and what to do with Pinterest. I can’t wait to implement some of the things I learned.

5. Inspiration

Danyelle Smith Little told her story of overcoming her days as a young, single mom to her success as a full-time blogger. Keynote speaker and BlogHer co-founder Elisa Camahort Page told us about suffering from middle child syndrome and reinventing herself again and again. They both convinced me that challenges and roadblocks are merely there to teach me a new lesson, not make me feel defeated.

6. Laughter

Not only were the speakers fascinating and funny, but during breaks I saw so many groups of ladies laughing uproariously over something that had been said. Finally, I was with a group of bloggers who can make jokes about hot flashes and everyone understands!

7. Love

Buckets of love. Overflowing. It was beautiful.