Jodi & I cutting the cake (she wouldn't let me feed her a slice!), Photo Courtesy of Angela Tseng at MommyBytes.com

This weekend, I’m tired, swamped with work, but feeling pretty damn good. Jodi and I officially launched Boston Parent Bloggers this week with a fete at the Barefoot Books Flagship Store and Community Center in Concord, MA. This has been such a long time in the making for me that it was all a bit surreal and I was very nervous about everything coming together. The funny thing is that most of the people in my life didn’t think twice about it. Big Guy knew it was a big deal to me (I said it quite a few times), but I’m not sure he understood just how big, and I think my mom kind of got it. Everyone else seemed to think I was just having another party. And, since I do that on a regular basis with friends and family, no one really got how important this was for me.

I can’t speak for Jodi, but I do know that the idea for Boston Parent Bloggers has been kicking around in my mind for over a year and a half. There were other local blogging groups out there in the US that created a sense of community (SV Moms as a perfect example), but none that I knew of that were specifically designed to build community. In-person, face-to-face community. Our PR contacts keep asking us about our website, and I keep trying to explain that, while we do have a website, that’s not what we’re about. We’re about getting together, talking with one another, supporting each other, and having fun. And we’re about engaging with brands, as well. Basically, we’re about engaging with local parent bloggers, regardless of the size of their blog, the style of their blog, or their blogging goals. It’s a dream of mine. And when I dream, I dream big.

Our own personal paprazzi, Photo courtesy of Angela Tseng at MommyBytes.com

In all honesty, I wasn’t sure how it would come together. I had NO idea how many established bloggers are in this area, and I wasn’t entirely sure that other people cared as much about the community aspect of parent blogging as I do. Attending BlogHer Boston in 2008 really changed me. Meeting so many other women who are engaged in telling their own stories was empowering and inspiring. And, I think we all deserve to be empowered and inspired. That planted a tiny seed in me, which blossomed in 2009 when a PR representative said, “I didn’t know there were bloggers in Boston.” I wish I could remember now who said it, because it was the moment that I committed in my heart to Boston Parent Bloggers, even if I didn’t know it yet.

An idea this big needed at least two people and I thought long and hard about who I wanted to work with. I suppose it was fate that Jodi and I decided to take a trip to New York together, despite the fact that we didn’t know each other particularly well. Because when I told her about Boston Parent Bloggers and that I was hoping to tackle it with someone else, she said, “I’m interested!” She didn’t know that I wanted to ask her, but was afraid she was far too busy. And whether or not Jodi had been consciously planning something similar, it’s obvious that she felt the same way about community, and the power of bringing people together. When we started talking about a vision for the group, we were in complete alignment. Our first big task? A big party to welcome our members, give people a chance to meet in person, and announce to the world that we’re here.

With Kimberly, an old friend who I found on Facebook - and who turns out to be a blogger (redshutters.blogspot.com), Photo courtesy of Angela Tseng of MommyBytes.com

I have experience with event planning. In fact, I have experience with event planning when you haven’t yet found the money to pay for anything. That didn’t make this any less nerve-wracking. Jodi and I were trying to plan a really nice party for a group whose initially small membership was growing over time, but who had no history. Better still, we were planning it at the onset of the holiday season when event space was at a premium and budgets were stretched thin. We heard “no” a LOT. Frequently, we heard nothing at all. But we had some fantastic people who believed in us and jumped right on board to help out. Great folks like Laura Tomasetti at 360 Public Relations and Leah Lesser at Barefoot Books. Barefoot Books donated their gorgeous space for us to use and 360PR started reaching out to their clients. Eventually, we found major sponsorship support from Peapod (who provided ALL of our delicious food), Stonyfield Farms, and Isis Parenting. These fantastic brands took a chance on a brand new group and helped us kick things off in style. We can’t thank them enough. We also had some amazing giveaway and gift bag sponsors that I can’t list here (it’s too long!), but you can see them on the Boston Parent Bloggers launch party page. Because of them, our members went home with tons of goodies.

Just a few gift bags...

We spent the day of the party running around and then stuffing 120 bags (2 for each member!) with two of our fantastic members, Kim from Mommycosm and Melanie from TheCouponGoddess. They kindly helped us stuff the mounds of gift bag items for a couple of hours before heading off to get ready for the party. Jodi and I arrived at Barefoot Books a bit later than we intended, and spent the next 45 minutes scurrying around trying to get everything in place on time. We had plenty of help from the wonderful staff we hired from Party Servers, the Barefoot Books staff, and even our sponsor, Peg from Peapod! By this point, I was a bit of a wreck, although I was trying not to let it show. I was nervous about the mix of bloggers and whether everyone would feel comfortable. I was anxious that our members feel properly celebrated. And, having been pampered with goodies at events like BlogHer and Blissdom, I was a bit concerned that it wasn’t enough somehow. Yeah, I’m a bit dorky that way.

There are plenty of recaps of the event from our members and I think they say it better than I ever could because I was far too close to the situation. Suffice to say, the event was a success. The Barefoot Books store is beautiful and browsing through their gorgeous items was a good distraction for anyone feeling nervous or overwhelmed. The food was delicious and in abundance (I came home with mounds of untouched platters!). And our members were… amazing, fantastic, delightful, thoughtful, kind.

At the risk of sounding like a total sap, every single time someone came up and thanked me, I wanted to give them a hug and thank them instead. You can’t have a group without members. And you can’t have an amazing launch party without people who are having fun. More importantly, this was the sort of dream that required other people to dream it, too. And they did. And they still do.

As of right now, Boston Parent Bloggers has 96 members and we’re still growing. We’re getting ready to launch an online space for our members to connect. And companies are starting to take note. I feel a bit like a kid who just found their entire Christmas list under the tree. Not a bad place to be.

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P.S. If you were at the party and I convinced you to become a Barefoot Books Ambassador, here’s my link to more info (it should have my code embedded in it). It’s great timing, because you can save money on your holiday gift buying. =}

Related posts:

1. Yes, I’m a Mom Blogger… and a Boston Parent Blogger!
2. Stop & Shop Invites Boston Bloggers to Enjoy a Little Sibling Rivalry
3. Boston Mom Bloggers Do Good

As I thought back on some of the questions that came up and the discussions that have taken place in other forums, I kept coming back to one basic principle: Don’t waste my time.

• I can’t review a product I haven’t seen/used. If you don’t want to send a sample, don’t ask me to write a review.
• My influence goes beyond the number of visitors to my site, but if you’re looking for a certain amount of traffic, please state that in your introductory message.
• I don’t need you to read my blog before pitching (other bloggers do), but I won’t reply to off-topic pitches. Don’t send me follow-up notes unless you know your pitch is on-topic.
• I won’t consult for your company without some form of compensation, be it financial or other. Reviews provide content for my site. Improving your product/message/corporate image does not.
• Be upfront about your expectations so I can decide if it works for me. I will do the same.

Whatever your ideas on “Mommy bloggers,” know I am an intelligent, educated and professional writer.  I am a business owner.  If you approach me with respect and a product/mission that meets my interests and values, I want to work with you. If you want a quality experience, you want to work with me as well.  Just don’t waste my time.

Related posts:

1. Mom Bloggers, Money and Professionalism
2. Boston Mom Bloggers Do Good
3. Mom Bloggers – Let’s Put an End to Cyberbullying

In addition to the Summer in the City party I’m co-hosting on Friday with EA Sports, Pogo.com and the Wii Mommies, I’ve got another little shindig on my radar.

Tonight I’m hosting an early bird reception for roughly 35 bloggers and friends. It all began when some of the Ford attendees started to talk about getting together for dinner or drinks the night before. I took that and ran with it and now we’re having a small reception at Quartino’s Ristorante in Chicago. It’ll be low-key, but it will also be a nice chance to get to know each other in a small group before the main conference kicks off.

We are fortunate to have a few really great sponsors. Our first sponsor is RIDEMAKERZ. For those of you who don’t have one nearby, it’s sort of like Build-a-Bear, but you’re designing  model cars instead. We had the chance to play around with one of the remote control versions and it’s a big hit in our house. The RIDEMAKERZ folks are not only sponsoring the event, but they’re sending some nice giveaways as well. Plus, we’ll have some RIDEZ on hand to assemble and play with. Fun!

Our other primary sponsor is 360 Public Relations. I’ve had a chance to work them quite a bit and am always impressed by their professionalism when it comes to working with bloggers. They work with some high profile family-friendly brands, including PBS Kids, Stop and Shop and Safety 1st and maintain the 360PR MomSquad (of which I am a member) to provide frontline feedback to their clients. They’re heading to BlogHer Business and will also be representing Safety 1st  in the Expo area. They’ve given us some great giveaway items, too, including a new carseat which utilizes the new Air Protect technology for added protection in side-impact collisions. If you see them around BlogHer, please give them a warm hello and tell them I sent you!

Lastly, not so much a sponsor as a generous donor, we’ve got Eli’s Cheesecake. Andie, from the mail order division saw a plea from one of our attendees for some cheesecake. She kindly offered to send us a cheesecake tower. Yeah, pretty fabulous!

So, that’s the “Enjoy the RIDEZ” reception. It’s fitting to kick off our time with Ford by playing with toy cars and giving away an amazing new car seat.

Related posts:

1. Party With Me at BlogHer ’09! (and try Word Whomp, too)
2. Stop & Shop Invites Boston Bloggers to Enjoy a Little Sibling Rivalry
3. Measuring My Influence

This week, I was notably absent from a number of invitations to upcoming blogger marketing drives. I’m not surprised, really, as this blog is relatively new and small and I don’t have the same obvious influence as some other bloggers. I don’t blog as frequently as some, and I don’t have as many readers as others. You know the drill. I’m not one of the Nielson 50 or what-have-you for the same reason.

Every so often, I get mildly upset that I’m not on a top 50 list somewhere. Today was one of those days. But, as I was feeling kind of bad for not posting on my blogs, I decided to take stock in how I spent my day and capture it for other days when I feel like a slacker.

Today, while I wasn’t blogging here, I was:

• Working on my site at About.com (where I am fairly influential, if I do say so myself)
• Promoting the party I’m co-hosting next Friday with my sponsor POGO.com, EA Sports and the Wii Mommies
• Finding last-minute sponsors for the party I’m hosting next Wednesday (Thanks, 360PR and RIDEMAKERZ)
• Scouring Chicago (virtually and on the phone) for a restaurant the RIDEMAKERZ/360PR
• Creating an invitation for the aforementioned party
• Promoting the new plug-in my husband wrote for e-How writers (yay, Big Guy!)
• Writing an article on the new Air Protect technology and side impact crash safety
• Helping a variety of other people with random Internet and technology-related issues
• Preparing for BlogHer
• Then all that *other* stuff like email, voice mail, blah, blah. I don’t really count that.

Basically, I was busy wearing a lot of hats and making things happen. That’s what I do.

So, here’s my resolution to myself (and the point of this point, which I’ve decided to share with the world): I am going to remember that I am influential – especially to my children, husband, family and friends. It’s easy to get caught up in the high school drama of who’s in the “in” crowd, so I’m also going to remember that I am not necessarily an “in” crowd person. And, I’m not going to make myself feel bad for DOING rather than blogging about doing. Lastly, I’m going to keep my feet more firmly on the right path (see my post at MorethanMommy). I love writing, event planning, creative brainstorming, learning new things and problem solving. I’m going to do more of it, even if it means that I only blog once a month and never get invited to Disney World (sob).

To the companies that are looking for a creative voice, a quality writer, and a loyal brand advocate, you can drop me an email. I’ll try to fit you in if I have the time.

P.S. As I was writing this, a friend pointed out that my picture is on the masthead of BlogHer today and that the lovely  (and highly influential) Liz Gumbinner (who I think I met in person years ago) quoted me in a blog post. Is there such a thing as influence Karma?

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