The Niche Mommy Conference – Where Quality Trumped Quantity

The Niche Mommy Conference is the newest boutique blog conference on the block and I was lucky enough to have won my way to New Orleans to attend this past weekend. I’d been eyeing the conference website since the dates were first announced by the founder Nadia (@JusticeJonesie) at the beginning of 2012.

LOVE THIS! “You will never have a joyful life without gratitude. Joyful people are extraordinary people” ~ @chookooloonks #nichemommy12

— Ghada Vanderpool (@OMGhada) August 25, 2012

The setting couldn’t have been better – both the conference venue, The Roosevelt Hotel, as well as New Orleans made for perfect places to base this inspiring conference. Though I used to travel alone in my youth, I figure it must be at least 5 years since I last traveled completely alone – kid free and husband free too. So though it was a breath of fresh air to be on my own, the cocktail reception and registration on Thursday night was a perfect way to get to know bloggers I’d met online, in person or others that I was meeting for the first time. They all later became my allies to ramble through Bourbon Street and the French Quarter. The ONLY downside to such a great conference is not wanting to sneak away to soak up the culture. I wish I would have had more time to explore further afield.

Heading out for Nichetinis at local bar Bourbon Heat on Saturday night

The list of speakers had me pretty excited. I felt as if I was attending a rock party for blogger geeks! As Nadia released the names of speakers and sessions over time, I could see that though this was a boutique style conference, the learning would be phenomenal.

Some speakers I had been following for years, thinking that their was no way that I would ever meet them when I was all the way over in New Zealand. So, you can only imagine how happy and excited I was to finally not only meet them, but hear them speak.

Me and Karen (@Chookoolonks) my inspiration for "100 things"

If I had to sum up The Niche Mommy Conference in one word, I would have to say inspiring. Every night (after either beignets and coffee or Nichetinis and Hurricane beverages on Bourbon Street with my fellow bloggers) I went back to my room and wrote out ideas and plans for Mama goes BAM for the coming year as well as action plans for how to implement them.

What I most enjoyed about the speakers was that each was at different stages of their careers. Turning passion into something profitable like these speakers is what I aspire to do. By exploring the concept of understanding and developing your niche, I left The Niche Mommy conference feeling more confident in the direction that I want to take this blog. More confident that it will get me where I want to be without compromising on the quality of my content. I hope you my readers will stick around for the ride – I believe things are only going to get more interesting around here

“Your content is your legacy. Make sure that the content you are creating has value” ~ @mochadad #ContentKings #NicheMommy12 — Ghada Vanderpool (@OMGhada) August 26, 2012

I’ll try not to overuse the word ‘inspiring’, but to be honest, I can’t help it because that is really what this conference was. I particularly like that this conference went beyond basic means of bringing in dribs and drabs of cash through sponsored content, giveaways and other means that don’t always gel with my original intent for Mama goes BAM. I’m not knocking those opportunities, hey I will continue to have these types of posts on my site. But, I do envisage me being able to better use my PR and communications skills to work on social media strategy and implementation with brands.

“You can tell a brand’s story better than they can tell their own” ~ @mombloggersclub #nichemommy12 — Ghada Vanderpool (@OMGhada) August 26, 2012

Their were sessions on the business side of blogging, and the nuts and bolts of the website back end like “Leveraging Brand Relationships for Conference Sponsorships”, “HTML/CSS”, and “Food Photography”. Though to me, what made the agenda at Niche Mommy stand out was the sessions relevant to social marketing and the more human and personable aspect of doing business. To me these elements are what I find most intriguing in successful people.

Love this! “A brand is what you are, a reputation is what people remember” ~ @tedrubin #RonR #nichemommy12 — Ghada Vanderpool (@OMGhada) August 24, 2012

I can’t say enough about the fabulous sponsors that I actually got to speak with like Huggies Latino, Heart of Haiti, Britax, Audubon Nature Institute, and Collective Bias. EDEN Bodyworks would have to be my absolute fave sponsor though seeing as they sponsored the competition in which I won my way to this conference.

Thank you @safeconbritax for making me a winner *squuueeee* #Britax #nichemommy12 twitter.com/OMGhada/status…

— Ghada Vanderpool (@OMGhada) August 24, 2012

Nadia announced that next year’s conference is going to be once again in New Orleans. It is definitely on my list of conferences I have to attend in 2013. For me the business connections, personal connections, personal growth, professional learning and cultural experience were well worth the time away from family. I think the investment next year will be well worth it. The Niche Mommy Conference was just what I needed to push myself and this blog forward.

Don’t be afraid to evolve your blog

- Tracey  Friley (@OneBrownGirl)

Made simple change to mamagoesbam.com ,I couldn’t see forest for the trees, thanks @onebrowngirl for an a-ha moment #NicheMommy12

— Ghada Vanderpool (@OMGhada) August 25, 2012

I have pages and pages of lists and notes from the speakers, but I hope that you’ve taken something away  from some of my best tweets from the Conference. More photos to come soon. See you next year!

Look out for my review of The Roosevelt Hotel New Orleans coming next!

Have you recently found value in a conference/get-together you attended?