On the Road in Phoenix with Disney Social Media Moms

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This week I attended the 2014 Disney Social Media Moms On the Road event.?

I did a Tiger Woods-style fist pump and some celebratory laps around the living room when the announcement came that they were coming to Phoenix.? I was lucky to score an invite to this event last year and knew I wanted to attend again.?

What is #DisneySMMoms?? Besides magical and pixie dusted and awesome? It’s a fantastic event that brings together mompreneurs & social media influencers for a morning of delightful networking and discussion.

And Mickey Rice Krispie treats.? Of course.

On a personal note, I looked forward to reuniting with some of my favorite blogger friends.? DisBroad Suzanne flew in from Oklahoma to hang out with me!? Moms Panelist Lauren Holt came in from Colorado to share in the festivities. ? My friends from last years event in San Francisco also showed up and it was a mini-reunion.

When you can combine blogging with your friends (who also love Disney!) you know it’s going to be an amazing day.

It wouldn’t be Disney without a little bit of Disney magic and tradition.? We started off the day with Pin Trading.? I took this adorable Dumbo themed anchor off a fellow friends hands in exchange for my small Mickey pin.

We loved the photo-booth & props that were available for us to show our #DisneySide.? I might have gone a little over board.

Soon we settled in for the business aspect of the morning.? Our event was a touch different than the Chicago and Philadelphia events.? Our Disney representatives flew in from both coasts!

Disneyland sent Michele Himmelberg, Disneyland Public Relations Director, and Erin Glover, Lead Blogger and Disneyland Social Media Director.? Walt Disney World shared the lovely Leanne Jakubowski O’Regan,?Disney Parks Director of Social Media, with us.

Michele spoke to us about the exciting plans for the Disney Parks this year, with a special emphasis on Disneyland.? Did you know this ol’ girl is turning 60 in 2015?

[Tweet “Yoo-hoo- big summer blowout birthday celebration next year! #Disneyland60″]

Be sure to keep an eye on the Disney Parks Blog for a sneak peek of the plans on July 17 at 10:00am PT.? I seriously can’t wait to celebrate #Disneyland60.

Erin has the heart of a story teller.? Her presentation gave us so much to think about in regards to using social media to share our own message.? Disney’s social media presence is ginourmous, y’all.? I’m sure you guessed that.? But did you realize Disney Social Media channels reach 38 MILLION PEOPLE?!? As my friend Emelia said: Holy #Hashtag!

I loved hearing Erin’s story of Grumpy Cat’s visit last year.? Lesson learned from Erin: [Tweet “”What you envision, may not be what happens. Embrace it. That’s where the magic is.” @GoPluto”]

My favorite part of her presentation proves there’s a story to be found in everything.? Including instructions for standing in line.? Hilarious.

 

We next heard from Lori Lorenz with Hewlett Packard. I gleaned so many incredible gift ideas from this presentation! I was also lucky enough to receive a gift from HP myself: a water bottle showing my #DisneySide.

It’s pretty much the perfect gift for this active runner girl- thank you HP!

I think I’ll save Tracey Clark’s presentation for a separate post.? Quick rundown: she’s fun & brilliant & gave my favorite presentation of the morning on mobile photography.? She’s one-third of the Disney Sisters (the other two are also adorable!)

At the end of the day I gave one of her suggestions a try myself: find a different perspective.

There was this time time I flopped on the floor and gave the camera a purposeful tilt to grab this shot:

Errr… so not exactly what she meant.? But it’s a start.? (Thanks for letting me borrow the picture Mindy!)

ETA:? Mobile Photography Inspired by Tracey Clark post can be found here.

Maria Baily, CEO at BSM Media, moderated the panel of mompreneurs.? They were inspirational and gave me a lot to think about.? I never thought about inventing a product, but hey, why not? Have an idea? Need some help getting it started?? Check out Huggies MomInspired for your chance at winning a $15,000 grant.

Our last speaker was television personality and writer Nadine Bubeck.? She shared her interesting life story and reminded us to always keep believing.

As luck would have it, I won a copy of her book as one of the last door prizes of the day!

In true Disney fashion, we had one more surprise.? While many were expecting a visit from the Head Mouse, I had a suspicion we might be seeing a cat instead.? A particularly Grumpy one.

When you bring Erin Glover to Arizona, well, it just seemed natural that her good buddy and Arizona native, Grumpy Cat, might stop by.? I have lots of pictures with Mickey, but only one with the Real Grumpy Cat!

The day wrapped up with hugs, more pictures, business card exchanges, and promises to follow and keep in touch.? I have my stack of contacts that I’ll be culling through this week and hope to run into many of them at the Type-A Parent Mini-Conference at Disneyland next month.

UPDATE 6/29/2014: I was a guest on Episode 79 of the Mouse Quest Podcast this week!? We talked about our experiences at the conferences this month.? Be sure to listen in on the fun!? All three locations are represented.? Thanks, Marci & the Mouse Quest team, for the invite!

 

Would you like to go to #DisneySMMoms on the road event?? Which cities do you hope host in 2015?

Time to Link-Up!

[inlinkz_linkup id=420743 mode=1]

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