Self-Made Mom

If you’ve even paid half-attention to my blog in the past two days, you’d know that I was at Google Chicago today to sit on a “tech savvy mom panel” at event called “Mothers Know Tech.”  By the end of the very well-coordinated afternoon, I felt like I knew everything there was to know about mommy online behavior.  The trade off?  I think Google and the rest of the consumer package good free-world probably knows a little more than they ever cared to about me. 

Google Chicago office sign. If you can tell me what “Eng” means, I’ll give you a lava lamp.

It all dates back to the moment I was even asked to this event in the first place.  Someone from Google actually found my blog, probably thought I had a huge following and possibly liked some of the things I wrote about.  Maybe they even thought I was a “blogebrity.”  I didn’t realize it at the time, but the event invite was just a start to the pseudo-celeb-status.  From the moment I walked into the glass-doored lobby of Google’s Chicago branch, I was treated like the ultimate VIP.  Coat hung for me, a “green room” to sit with the other mom bloggers, free lunch, a “swag” bag.  It was cool. I mean, the event organizer and moderator had even read my blog.  (I don’t have much contact with folks who’ve read my blog in advance of me meeting them so I get excited about things like this.) Our gracious hosts at Google even told us how happy they were to have us moms there.  (Who, meee?)  Speaking of which, in attendance for the panel were some of my very esteemed local mommy bloggers including Stephanie from Adventures in Babywearing (how does she wear the baby all the time? Love it!), MJ from the awesome I Want Sugar (she had a baby 8 weeks ago, hello??), Amy from LadyBug Picnic (adorable daughter), Madeline, who doesn’t have a blog, but is my neighbor and is cool, and Jessica who has like a zillion computers and is hilarious so I’m left wondering, why doesn’t she blog?

The Google swag bag. Celebrities, back off.

While chowing down on some great Chicago deep dish pizza we went over the agenda and questions for the mom panel. All resulting conversation, however, was lost on me because on the sheet of notes I was handed read the ALL CAPS instructions that the panel questions were staring with ME. (My trip to Los Angeles came flashing back to me in a blur. Why do I always have to go first? Is it because I wore the same suit?)  After I got over the initial shock of trying to come up with something witty to say when they started off the panel with ME, I got back to gabbing with the ladies about fun things like Steph’s cute Crocs flats and Madeline’s insights into Chicago public schooling. (Madeline- I’ll be calling you in a few years. Or, as it goes here, tomorrow.)

Jealous?

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end, and as such, we made our way to the main event. This is where I attempted to “live blog” the data we learned from the marketing experts. And I got a huge giggle from the fact that the dude from Buzz Metrics put the mastheads from three of my favorite mommy blogger friends on his “Mom Bloggers are cool” slide. (Liz, I’m trying to get it for you.)  Luckilly though, there was a good handout at one of the booths during the “showcase” portion of the event that profiled the “Ten Mommy Blogs Worth Bookmarking.”  They all made the list and I got a copy. Yay!

A list of women who should have been on the panel in place of me.

After my giggling (and e-mailing) fit, we got a break.  Or as I would have labeled it on the agenda: Gorge-fest.  Too bad I was too busy gabbing to enjoy the spread. Wow, I missed out.

Google Gorge-fest. Yum.

Then, the break ended and it was my turn to shine.  Unfortunately, my mouth (which was not full of good food) got in the way again.  While I’m pretty sure I said that I have a blog and and I’m a blogger and I’m a mom blogger (I realize this is repetitive, but at least it’s benign) I’m fairly confident I also said the following:

• “I’m really selfish” (when asked how much time I spend online researching things for myself)
• “I ran an errand at work and got caught by my boss” (when asked about the things I blogged about)
• “I’m online all the time and my husband’s ready to kill me” (sorry honey that I dragged you into this)
• “I like to shop a lot” (when asked what websites I visit)
• *nothing* (when asked what advice I had to marketers about tech savvy moms)

So clearly the people in attendance had to think I was one of the following: a moron, severely narcissistic or a very bad wife. Or worse, all of the above.  Truth is, I may display some of these traits at times, but when I’m speaking to random to a crowd of 100 people it appears that I must highlight and underline it for effect.  Unfortunately for the attendees, they really didn’t need to know all of this. My blogebrity status had been eroded.  I’m pretty sure somewhere, behind a nifty cube, somebody was whispering, why did they invite her?

 

I see whispering people.

But then as soon as it started, the panel was over. I could breathe again and try to regain my composure.  But, as luck would have it, I got positioned next to the “blogging” booth during the cocktail hour where I very quickly realized that, yes, I’m a blogger, but I don’t use Blogger as my platform. Whoops. Great call using WordPress, Sara.  But the baby saved my butt.  I looked at my watch and realized that I should be halfway home by now. It was way past my worktime.  So I grabbed my free parking voucher (thank you Jen!) and hightailed it back to the real world.  Back to bathtime and bedtime.  My day as a blogebrity was over, and we were all a little more knowledgeable as a result. For better or for worse.  But I’m trying to stay positive here.

Tags: Google, blogging, mommy bloggers, marketing, marketing to bloggers, blog celebrities, Chicago

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