On Tuesday 21st July we ran the second Blogosphere Virtual Festival, the July edition. We invited guests to our virtual world full of avatars, bloggers and like-minded people. Throughout the day we had a variety of activities from sound healing to goal setting that covered all bases of industry knowledge.
The success of the day is a testament to the lineup. It was full of unmissable speakers, interviews and workshops, which were split into a morning and afternoon session. The featured brands and those that gave talks or interviews had private rooms where the attendees had the opportunity for avatar-to-avatar live chat discussions.
What happened in the morning
Sara Tasker provided a morning surge of positive energy in her workshop where we learnt the steps to successfully set goals for personal and professional aspirations. Her kitten also made a guest appearance!
In true workshop style, we followed her guidance to concisely set a goal that our inner drive was craving. Setting a goal is one thing but the steps to make it happen are the key to its success. Sara kindly shared a free downloadable workbook as a step-by-step guide on setting goals and achieving them. It was a pleasure to have this motivational and inspiring talk at the beginning of the day.
Next up we had 34SP.com speaking on how to make your website as fast as possible. Top tips and nifty tricks for improving the performance of your site being the hot topic of Kayleigh from 34SP.com’s informative talk. We learnt about the main areas that can slow down a website and how easily 34SP.com can combat these and improve your website’s usability. Hugely useful for many members of our audience and community!
34SP.com’s private room was full of attendees looking to get some further information on how they could improve their websites, as well as those signing up for the 3 month free subscription offered via the discount code BLOGOSPHERE.
Next we had Belle Hutt giving a talk on her story of building a paid community membership site from her instagram following. Not only has she worked incredibly hard to make her subscription a success, she is also a strong example of how to take control of life with narcolepsy.
Belle broke down her strategy in a way that was inspiring, impressive and left you with a sense of awe of what can be achieved. To show her support she kindly offered an exclusive discount for the attendees of the event, we look forward to the Blogosphere community getting a well deserved burst of fitness!
To round off the morning, we had an interview with Stephanie Yeboah all about writing and publishing her book Fattily Ever After: A Fat, Black Girl’s Guide to Living Life Unapologetically. A book that Steph described as a “love letter to fat black women”. It was amazing to hear the ins and outs of writing the book – from getting an agent, to what goes into a proposal. We cannot wait to read it when it’s released.
What happened in the afternoon
Kicking off the afternoon session we had the Fifth Talent agency give a talk on the pros and cons of having management as a creator. They unpacked unspoken truths of how the industry works – and what to look out for.
They also gave advice on when to think about management:
“Management really provides that safety net, so if you are getting to the point where your projects are getting more complex and you are time poor, then that is definitely the time to consider management” said Talent Director Katie Wallwork.
In a gallery-esque setup, Claire Luxton featured in a Q&A with our CEO Alice. Her career and skill set was put under the magnifying glass as she spoke about her editing techniques, preferred lighting and how she plans and produces her shoots (which include the most recent cover shoot of Blogosphere).
It was great to hear her success and her advice on how to stay true to your creative vision.
Vix Meldrew, of Grow & Glow, gave a motivational talk on creating your personal brand. Her tips really made audience members sit back and think about their channels and messaging. One key takeaway was ‘How would other people describe what you do?’. Your purpose should be clear – people should know what they get when they come to you.
The talk was really useful and thought-provoking, and throughout the day there was a flock of people to the Grow & Glow room.
Closing the day we had an interview with education influencer Vee Kativhu, who has just graduated from Oxford. Vee is on a mission to inspire and empower underprivileged and underrepresented young people. After being told by a teacher that Oxford wasn’t for people like her, she didn’t accept it – and got herself a place. Not only that, but she’s now off to Harvard. Vee talked about her career, breaking into YouTube and getting management. She also spoke about her favourite brand campaigns and who she would like to work with in future. The interview put a big smile on our faces! She is definitely one to watch.
The best way to keep up to date with all of our events going forward is to become a community member, with this membership you will get 50% off all virtual events and one free ticket to your first event! We look forward to seeing you in the future.