I really wasn’t going to say much about Northern Voice. I only attended for a brief time on Saturday before my own little speaking event. It seemed nice, none of the panel subjects leaped out at me, but I enjoyed the two I did attend.
It was fun seeing lots of familiar faces from Twitter and the various blogs I ‘try’ to read and from the odd local meet up that I have managed to attend.
NV markets itself as a ‘Personal Blogging’ Conference. …but it has ‘Social Media’ tacked onto its descriptor…and if you have seen anything while perusing twitter streams, etc…Soc Med is BIG BUSINESS.
And while they had panels on various types of blogging from sex to knitting…there was topics covering getting published, arts and social media, the Olympics and social media, etc etc.
And from a glance around the folks hanging out on the lunch break on Saturday, there were lots in attendance who make a living in some form through social media, writing, blogging, design…etc.
It is all way more about the ‘personal.’
Blogging is big business. And I get the sense that NV is hesitant to admit that.
I think NV may be having a bit of crisis of identity due to its ever growing popularity and type of people who want to attend such an event.
Hence the arrival of “Mom Bloggers” on the schedule AND attending the two days. And not just MOM bloggers, but as I said on Twitter, women who use Social Media and blogging and so forth as part of their business who also happen to be moms.
So you knew something would be said about the scant few children in attendance at the conference and the ‘incident’ at the key note.
And yes, a baby can be distracting. And so can small kids.
And yes I am using And way too much here. …..and yes most conferences couldn’t give a crap about your child care situation.
However, again, I was under the assumption that NV was this crunchy groovy “Unconference” that wanted to focus on the personal and huggy feeling about blogging and social media, and therefore more than a “NAP ROOM” to abandon your children in would be considered ‘child friendly.’
I guess not.
Once again…another soc med event in Vancouver that is for the child free techies.
AAAAND before one more person says that me having kids was a choice….yes, thank you for pointing that out to my uterus. It noticed that.
But so did my brain, which was not shut of by my act of procreation.
Nor was my need to search out and seek not only friends, contacts, like minded individuals, but also perhaps future ability to help me raise those children that I chose to have.
So no, a person is not being selfish when they bring their kids to a more adult oriented event…they are making a choice.
You might not like it or agree with it..but it is there prerogative. Or their need…you don’t know.
Their choice.
They paid to attend the conference too.
And probably for all the same reasons you did.
So once again, it seems that Northern Voice was a pretty gathering place where people gathered into their little sub groups of people they all ready knew to discuss things they all were pretty well versed and blogged on in the first place.
TKIAM says
I wasn’t able to attend the conference and was feeling bad about having missed it…not so after reading your post. Child care/child friendly is not an issue for me most days (my daughter is 12), not nearly as much as chauffeuring and chaperoning seems to be now. It was your comment about attendees congregating in “little sub groups of people they already knew to discuss things they all were pretty well versed in and blogged on in the first place” that disappointed me. It’s hard to be the new kid on the block. I thought an event like this was a missed opportunity to branch out. Guess not. Guess I saved myself some time and money.
.-= TKIAM´s last blog ..Kreativ Blogger Award! =-.
Marilyn says
I attended Northern Voice and I heard the little baby crying, and the child asking a question. I wasn’t bothered by these occurrences. It may be because I’m also a mom and know how kids are. They make noise from time to time. But what’s interesting is that the people who disturbed me the most in those two days were a couple of adults who sat behind me in a session and carried on a conversation. Now that was annoying.
.-= Marilyn´s last blog ..In Which I Give My Husband Parenting Advice =-.
harrietglynn says
Hey you are probably right about the identity crisis and the desire to be a bit like an Ultimate Frisbee tournament with cute kids on the sidelines. I made a genuine effort to meet people other than mom bloggers and I did but overall, it did seem to break down that way. That said, I really enjoyed the mix of personal, academic and real life sessions. And, of course, I liked hanging with the Mighty Crunch!
.-= harrietglynn´s last blog ..“Family Matters: Blogging the Parenting Experience” =-.
Amber says
I was sitting at the back of the keynote, and Arieanna and Ianiv were walking back and forth, directly in front of me, with Aiden. It didn’t bother me AT ALL, and I was quite happy to see it, actually. Aiden is still very young and I saw him breastfeeding at one point, so being away from his parents would be difficult. However, I will concede that as the parent of two small children myself, I am probably more immune to kid noise than others without kids.
I share your opinion that there was a lot of hanging out in groups who already knew each other. I have mixed feelings about it. I also share your view that there is some weirdness surrounding business and blogging. I felt that it came up in our panel, for sure. I think that the blogging world has changed a lot since Northern Voice started, and ignoring the business side means that it is becoming increasingly out of step with the blogging world as I know it.
.-= Amber´s last blog ..Moms, Blogging, Marketing and Respect =-.
Mama in the City says
I liked TKIAM point of view on this and your honest reports about how things unfolded.
Mama in the City says
oops! I wasn’t done commenting…anyways, I too quite dislike the small groups that congregate together and love just exactly how you put it. It is too bad that this is even an issue.
.-= Mama in the City´s last blog ..An Evening Soiree In My LBG =-.
Michelle says
I agree with you mama in the city!