Type A Mom Conference Recap & Links to Live Blogged Sessions

Find more photos like this on BitMoms
After the madness of BlogHer, Type A Mom in Asheville, North Carolina was a breath of fresh air due to its small size, ability to learn from brands and bloggers who were respectful towards each other, and for the many new faces that I met. I went to Type A representing BitDefender for the work I do on BitMoms.com and while I have moments where I feel very divided as I try to represent the brand and my blogging self for this site, I was able to be both in a very natural way while at the conference.

One of the great things about Type A was the interaction between brands and bloggers. Brands were nice. Bloggers were nice. Everyone peacefully coexisted in this space. Brands and bloggers presented harmoniously on panels throughout the conference and even shared perspectives about the culture of entitlement that can run rampant through the blogging world at the Blogger Town Hall Meeting on Sunday. The harmony and positive interactions I had during the conference made me feel at peace as I straddle the line between both worlds.

It was a pleasure to meet a new circle of bloggers. Many of these bloggers are people I’ve known virtually through our tweeting and their avatars over on BitMoms but it’s always nice to meet people in real life and have time to talk. While BlogHer was a series of accidental meetings in the bathroom, waiting for an elevator, or catching each other on the escalator as one went up and the other down, Type A lent itself to real interactions. Conversations over a Chik-Fil-A lunch, on the treadmill at the hotel gym on a rainy Sunday, while sampling Biltmore Wines, in the hall while munching on Little Debbies, shopping at the Mom Market for products made by blogging moms in attendance, late night talks in a friend’s hotel room, or out on a photo walk were meaningful and allowed me to get to know people previously known only virtually as the fascinating individuals that they are.

Type A was certainly memorable for so many reasons but the high quality sessions (and the fact that I fell in love with Asheville!) make me want to return next year. I learned so much throughout the weekend that I am still trying to process all that knowledge now, even a week later.

As promised, my goal in attending and representing BitDefender was to live blog as many sessions as I could to share on BitMoms.com. I know that not everyone who wanted to go could attend Type A so I made it my mission to bring back what I learned to share with you.

Here are the sessions that I’ve shared on BitMoms so far. Links to the posts of the individual sessions will be live as they go up so please keep checking back and enjoy!

Sunday:

• Morning Keynote- Finding and Building Success with Maxine Clark, CEO of Build a Bear (@ChiefExecBear)
• Keynote Panel- It’s All About Respect: Professionalism in Blogging featuring Kelby Carr (@TypeAMom), Deb Ng (@DebNg), and David Griner (@Griner)
• Closing Keynote- Looking Back, Looking Forward: Women’s Journeys Across the Web by Aliza Sherman (@AlizaSherman)

Saturday

• Practicalities Track- Creative Ways to Monetize Your Blog: Thinking Outside the Widget with Debbie Bookstaber and Angela England, moderated by Kim Moldofsky (@KimMoldofsky)
• Dad Track- Privacy and Security in a New Media World featuring Ryan Boyles (@TheRab) and Jim Turner (@Genuine)
• Practicalities Track- From Blog to Book: Using Social Media to Land a Book Deal with Mary Ann Soellner, Hollee Temple, Becky Beaupre Gillespie, and Sarah Pelz, moderated by Heather Solos
• Practicalities Track- Using Your Blog as a Platform to Get Gigs featuring Kim Moldofsky and Jessica Rosenberg (@Kikarose), moderated by Carol Cain (@NYCityMama)

Friday

• Business for Companies- Marketing to Social Media Moms featuring Amy Bair (@ResourcefulMom) and Dina Freeman (@BabyCenter)
• Business for Companies- Integrated Marketing: Maintaining Your Brand Across Media and Channels with Ilina Ewen (@IlinaP)
• Business for Bloggers- Legal Issues for Bloggers by Hollee Temple (@holleeinbalance)
• Business General Session- Social Media Success Stories with James Jarman of Avery, Andrea Scott of POM Wonderful, Kathleen Mosher of Biltmore Estates and moderated by Janice Croze (@5MinutesforMom)

More sessions will go live as I clean up my notes from each session!

I am a paid consultant working for BitDefender on BitMoms.com, a free site for parents who want to learn more about keeping their family safe online. Join me!
Special thanks to Mabel’s Labels who printed up special Chief BitMom labels for me to ensure that my stuff will never get lost at a conference and TinyPrints who randomly selected me as 1 of 20 Type A attendees who won business cards! I’ll be using both at Blogalicious next week!