BritMums Live! A glimpse at blogging for the greater good

The Blogging for the Greater Good panel at Britmums Live with Camila Batmanghelidjh - Kids Company, blogger Kylie Hodges, Claire Hazelgrove - ONE.org, Polly Gowers - Give as you Live and blogger Kate Davis-Holmes

If you havent been introduced to BritMums yet, I urge you to listen up and take note.

This weekend, the online community, formerly known as British Mummy Bloggers, gathered together for BritMums Live, a high-profile conference with over 500 delegates in attendance, attracting members from all parts of the country and with a diverse range of personal stories and blogging achievements.

Bloggers, old and new, listened to inspirational talks from blogging peers, as well as a range of celebrities from the more traditional media world.  Well-known bloggers such as Antonia Chitty, Julia Boggio and Kate Davis-Holmes, sharing programme time with some of the nations well-known faces including Sarah Brown, Cherry Healey, Eleanor Mills, Katy Hill and Ruby Wax.  The topics were just as extensive, from experiences with depression to finding your voice, photography, publishing, video blogging, beginners tips, advanced tips, work loglife balance, food and blogging for happiness.  And the great thing was, it didnt matter about any individuals background, whether it was journalism, TV or blogging, being a speaker or a member of the audience, the atmosphere felt very much a level playing field.

One of the key messages to emerge from the conference was how influential bloggers have become and the evidence was pretty clear, with major names such as TK Maxx, Crocs, Panasonic, Lego, Warner Bros and Butlins being present on the day as sponsors. Brands are keen as ever to win over online voices, using modern-day word-of-mouth to share news of their latest products, through blogging platforms and micro-blogging such as Twitter.

But its not just about manufacturers and retailers getting buy-in. In recent years, there has been an increased trend in bloggers standing up for their passions and working in partnership with the third-sector, raising the profile of charities and key issues.  For example, many of the BritMums community have already voiced support for PiggyBankKids, a charity founded by Sarah Brown, that helps vulnerable babies and children.  PiggyBankKids presence at the conference spoke volumes, as did the fact that fundraising enabler Give as You Live was the events key sponsor, highlighting how online shoppers can raise money for their favourite charity at no extra cost to themselves.

At the Blogging for Greater Good discussion, members of the panel - pictured above - highlighted the power of bloggers in profiling good causes and reinforced the point that charities dont necessarily need bloggers donations, its the blogging that is most important, encouraging support from online followers, as well as friends and families.  Its very much about sharing the personal stories that people have to tell that can connect closely to a specfic cause.

Whether as individuals or a a group, blogging seems to be entering a new era,  It was mentioned on more than one occasion how professionals within traditional media have been turning to bloggers and Twitter to source stories, topical commentary as well as content for programmes and new TV formats.  My own experience can already testify to that, having had several opportunities to contribute towards and influence production content for a range of local radio broadcasts, national radio and a TV documentary.  It now seems to come with the territory and as been something thats taken some time for me to get used to.

Four years ago, it felt like wading in jelly to justify myself as a blogger but things have since changed and both BritMums Live and the recently-held Cybher demonstrated that many other bloggers have noticed the changes.

So, what did I personally gain from this weekends event?

Firstly theres the gratitude that Ive continued to blog about a topic that I care about, despite numerous moments of self-doubt and the odd period of burn-out.  BritMums Live served as a reminder of why I started blogging.  Its about the passion and the sharing.  This blog may be niche, but I do it because I care about my children and the generations that follow.  If I can learn and help shape positive change as a result of my discoveries, I will be happy that Ive done my job as a blogger.

Then theres the awesome support. A hugathon, full of old friends and new aquaintances. I tend to be one for discrete waving than shouting out a total roll-call, so I shall just say, quite warmly and with much appreciation, thank you all, you know who you are. And to my pals who buffered my nerves during the awards evening, and then boosted the flow of wine when I didnt win, an even bigger thank you to your good selves.

And finally, theres that kick up the backside again, the one where I should really pull my finger out and write that book. With great advice from author and mentor Antonia Chitty, I now need to jump those hurdles of time-conflicts, mobilise my resources and get cracking.

Of course, being a waste-geek at a conference that coincided with Recycle Week, I couldnt help cast my mind back to the fabulous contribution the community gave to the campaign, just three years ago in 2009, and I wondered if there could be scope again.  It was much fun with lots of people rising to the challenge and demonstrating tonnes of creativity in spreading the word, so I very much hope it can happen again.

In the meantime, theres no way a rubbish blogger should really end a blogpost about a blogging conference, without demonstrating some evidence about what bloggers are doing to shrink their rubbish.

So heres my old pal and Rubbish Dieter, Tim, author and blogger at Bringing up Charlie, who after a dash of wine, attempts to reveal the fullness of his relatively new compost bin.  He slimmed his bin by 50% you know!

Oh yes, sorry I forget to say, the conference may be called BritMums Live, but in this age of equality, fathers are made welcome too.

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Please vote for The Rubbish Diet in celebration of reaching the Brilliance in Blogging shortlist BiBs

Click the BiB badge to vote.

I am absolutely chuffed to bits to hear the news that The Rubbish Diet has been shortlisted in this years Brilliance in Blogging Awards, organised by BritMums, and especially so because its been included in the Commentary category.

This category features blogs that highlight causes, either through raising awareness or funds, and which are a force for positive change. Topics might be global, local or personal. Whatever the cause, the bloggers shortlisted in this category have been chosen for doing more than their bit, and helping others get involved too.  So to have been nominated alongside so many great bloggers is a real honour.

This news comes at a particular exciting time, having just launched the extension to this blog, i.e. The Rubbish Diet Challenge website, which finally gives people a toolkit to reduce their waste wherever they are, and properly pulls together the learning and experiences of blogging about waste over the last five years.  With over 190 online sign-ups to the challenge (and another 80 offline) in the first 10 days of what has been very much a soft launch, the new site has quickly become the official new home of The Rubbish Diet. 

And its also become a portal for tracking localised Rubbish Diet projects that are taking place around the country, starting with Suffolk, Shropshire and very soon Powys, sharing skills and local knowledge that can help householders reduce their waste by on average 50% in just eight weeks.  With Wiltshire Wildlife Trust having successfully rolled out the Rubbish Diet as part of their waste reduction campaign and the BBC Radio Suffolk Rubbish Diet recently launched in my neck of the woods, this year feels like a real milestone.  Its no longer just me anymore and that makes me feel like doing a happy dance.

So, if you like what were doing in helping to put waste higher up the agenda and empowering households and communities to pull-together to slim those bins, please vote for the Rubbish Diet in the Commentary category.  That really would be smashing!

And on behalf of my new team, i.e. my merry band of Bin Doctors, Id like to thank you for your support.

Of course, should we win...  well be sure to recycle the celebratory Champagne bottle as well as the metal cap, the twisty wire thing, the aluminium wrapping, cork and all!

Voting closes on 12th May.

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Brilliance in Blogging Awards Please vote for this waste busting blogger

Ive just discovered the wonderful news that The Rubbish Diet has been shortlisted for the Brilliance in Blogging awards, which will be hosted by the BritMums Live event in June.

Id firstly like to thank all the kind folk who nominated my blog. The news was a fabulous surprise, especially as over the last two months Ive had my head firmly buried in other peoples virtual bins.

Apparently there were over 12,000 nominations registered across many blogs, so I feel especially honoured to have made it to the top 20 blogs listed in the category of CHANGE.




The public vote has already commenced, and if The Rubbish Diet makes it to the final list, I will personally feel chuffed to bits, but more importantly, it will be a great opportunity to raise the profile of this blog and for bin-slimming habits to reach a wider audience and help embed the change that is needed to help reduce this countrys waste footprint.

I felt too shy to ask for nominations, but today I am actually going to ask for your vote, as I would love the opportunity to raise awareness of waste reduction even wider within a blogging community that has already shown an appetite for such change.

Those who have followed the various campaigns that I have either instigated or promoted over the last four years, have done so with great enthusiasm.  From the early days of the recycling carnival, to Recycle Week, Zero Waste Week, Bagladys Living ASAP, the 1000 bin challenge and finally the Rubbish Diet Challenge 2012, there has been one heck of a lot of support from the parent blogging network.

I now want to capture that energy and make sure the waste-busting message amongst bloggers gathers even further momentum.  Reaching the finals of the awards would most definitely help me empower other bloggers to do more and my brain is already thinking about some exciting campaigns that could capture the imagination of such a creative community, which has an amazing ability to inspire its far reaching audiences.

So if you have a moment to spare, just a few minutes is all it takes, do pop along to the Voting Page and VOTE.

Youll find The Rubbish Diet listed in the third category down, nestled amongst all the other brilliant blogs that have been nominated for the CHANGE! award.  Quite rightly, its going to be tough competition, so your vote really will count. And of course, do vote for others that have inspired you too.

Im off there myself in a mo to check out the other categories. Good luck to all the bloggers who have made the shortlists.  And to anyone who takes the time to vote for my blog, Id like to say a HUGE THANK YOU!  Your support is very much appreciated.


To view all the categories and place your vote, please visit: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/bibs_shortlist Voting closes on 30 April 2012.

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