Birmingham Blognix

Last Saturday, I headed over to the Custard Factory in Birmingham with my partner in crime, Sara for a blogging event with a bit of a difference. Blognix was organised by Elizabeth who wanted to host an informal blogging conference with an indoor picnic. Tickets cost £20 (£10 if you were quick enough to catch the early bird sale!) and I must say that the price of the ticket was definitely justified.

Blognix was hosted in Birmingham's Custard Factory in the heart of Digbeth. Digbeth is an area I don't usually go to unless it's for the cheap parking and I'd only ever been to the Custard Factory once before so I didn't realise just how much there was going on there. On the Saturday we were there, there was also a vintage and antiques fair (where I found the most gorgeous opal ring and also an amazing fox) and a charity abseil going on. The whole place was buzzing which made for a great atmosphere.

When we arrived in the room which was filled with gorgeous bunting and picnic blankets, we were given our name badges and told to help ourselves to tea, coffee and pastries. I did as I was told and had a croissant (or three!) and then we sat down amongst all of the other bloggers and waited for the talks to start.

The first talk by Jen of A Little Bird Says was on the topic of working with brands and PRs. As well as being a blogger, Jen also works on the PR side of things and so works with bloggers on a daily basis which means that she really knows what she's talking about. She explained that brands don't just want to work with the more well known, established bloggers but also the newer bloggers. She also gave us a handy list of Dos and Don'ts when working with PRs.

The second talk was given by Emma who told us all about social media tools and techniques. I didn't realise exactly how many different types of social media there is out there apart from the obvious Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Since the talk I've been tempted to join Facebook again just for my blog and I've even joined Pinterest!

After a wander around the Custard Factory and then a picnic lunch with a cake competition, it was time for the workshops we'd signed up to at the beginning of the day. The first one we went to was all about web design and was led by Kim. We then headed over to Colleen who taught us a bit about monetising our blogs.

The talks and workshops were all really insightful and they opened my eyes up to things that I haven't considered before. Elizabeth really did a great job of organising the day, it was just as good as I thought it would be and I'm so glad it all went to plan.