Bloggy Bootcamp Austin

By
Lynda Giddens
– Fri November 5, 2010Posted in: Blogging

The weekend before last, Mark and I headed down to Austin for a mini-vacation. We drove down Friday afternoon and I was surprised that it only took about three hours to get there from Fort Worth.

On Saturday, I attended Bloggy Bootcamp. It was a small, extremely well organized conference with varying topics relevant to women bloggers. Many of the attendees wrote excellent summaries of their experience at Bloggy Bootcamp Austin on SITS. I highly recommend going through and reading them! The speakers were knowledgeable, friendly and inspiring.

All the women in attendance were truly amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed each presentation. Being in a room full of strangers is not exactly my cup of tea and I think if I would have spent some time reading the blogs of the attendees and trying to get to know them more before the conference, I would have had a lot more fun. I didn’t bring any business cards and generally felt like a gigantic dork in any of my attempts to converse with others. So basically, I didn’t do my homework and kind of felt like a deer in headlights the majority of the time. It was a huge mistake on my part, however as life has been rather busy lately, I’m not sure if it was avoidable.

My thoughts were also consumed by how my kids were doing as it was our first time apart and Mark, with whom I really wanted to spend time. I don’t regret attending the conference, but I do regret losing that day with him. He was really great about having the day to himself, but I know we would have had a lot of fun together. So it was a hard day for me in many ways.

Blogging and Privacy

For these reasons, I don’t feel very qualified to write a thorough synopsis of the conference, but one presentation in particular has been weighting heavily on my mind ever since. Jessica Gottleib spoke about Blogging and Privacy. I’ve blogged since before my kids were conceived and never questioned using their names and images. Since launching Daily Window in May, I’ve found myself hesitant to write much about them. I’m less concerned with outside threats than I am their own personal privacy. Jessica made the presentation available on her blog, linked above, so please take advantage of it if you bring your kids, friends, spouse or anyone other than you into your blog as a character (whether or not you’re using their real name).

I’ve never cared too much for nicknames, especially when they sound fake, however I also don’t like the idea of a future employer or significant other Googling my child’s name and finding their baby pictures and stories. While these stories may be mine to tell now, they also belong to my children. I’ve always tried to avoid publicly writing about anything embarrassing to them, but I’m rethinking now whether or not that’s enough. I’m not sure what I’m going to do about my public archives, however I know there will be some changes going forward. I think clearly defining where my own boundaries are will make blogging a lot easier as well.

Pictures?

I did not get any pictures at the conference. Well, that’s a lie, I got one of the table when we walked in for lunch. The main course was chicken, rice, green beans and some sort of lemon sauce and it was delicious! I’ve always been impressed with hotel conference lunches.

10-23-10 - Bloggy Bootcamp Lunch

But yes, I feel stupid that I didn’t take any photographs when I’m a photography blogger. I won’t lie, I’ve not been faithful in Project 365 lately and the shyness I felt with my camera in Austin goes to show what happens when I don’t practice photography daily.

I did get some photographs the following day when Mark and I went on the Austin Duck Tour, so stay tuned for that entry!

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