About 4 weeks ago, my family ventured up to Walt Disney World for the Niche Parent Conference. We’ve been back for a while now, but it’s taken me a while to figure out exactly how I was going to write this post…because Niche Parent was so, so much more than I ever could have expected.
Originally, I wasn’t even going to go to Niche Parent. I mean, I’d heard about it, but since I went to BlogHer14, I figured that was probably going to be it for blog conferences this year. And I was okay with that. Other than it’s close proximity (let’s face it, I’ve stopped doing Disney posts on my blog because we’re there so often) I didn’t give much thought to Niche Parent.
But, you see, I have these friends – Evelyn and Erica – who were going to Niche Parent…and they weren’t liking the fact that I had pretty much ruled out going. After a bit of convincing, some arm twisting (okay, not really), and a giveaway where I won a ticket (thanks Bloggin’ Mamas!), it was settled, I was going to the Niche Parent Conference. A few days later, my husband – no doubt out of fear that he’d be left with all three kids by himself – announced that he wanted to make it a family trip.
Held at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, Niche Parent promised to focus on content, and wow, did they deliver. There were sessions on SEO, organization, Pinterest, monetization, media interviews, vlogging, affiliate programs, and so much more. With all the choices it was actually difficult to decide what sessions to attend. Going into the conference, I decided to focus on my weakest areas – SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and monetization – and primarily picked sessions on those topics.
And I definitely learned. I learned about search engines. Did you know that there are only 2 search engines out there? It’s true. Google is Google, and everything else – yahoo, ask, etc. – is Bing. More importantly, I learned that I need to tell the search engines about my blog so they can send crawlers to check it out. I kinda always though they’d just find me? Not so. I learned that I’m not using my old content effectively. I rarely resurface old posts on my blog or social media, and I really need to do that. And while I’m at it, I need to SEO old posts. I learned about all the different media services bloggers can provide and even got a peek at a price sheet for things like sponsored posts, media events, social media management. With real price ranges. As someone who has sat through oh-so-many sessions on this exact topic in the past where dollar amounts were never even mentioned, I was impressed. 
The speakers were real bloggers, social media professionals, entrepreneurs, and technical gurus. Not only did they know their respective fields, but there was a professional transparency that was refreshing, to say the least. Plus, the conference wasn’t huge, at just a few hundred bloggers, as opposed to a few thousand at other conferences. Due to the size of the conference, it was easy to walk up to speakers and talk to them about their session or any other topic. Everyone was so approachable. I even got an opportunity to meet Kim Garst, who’s been inspiring my twitter feed for years (seriously, if you haven’t heard of her, go follow her on Twitter now)!
But at Niche Parent Conference it was about more than the sessions and speakers, and that’s what made it special. On Thursday night, we were treated to a special dinner at Animal Kingdom, complete with Mickey & Minnie meet and greet. My girls had such a good time getting their pictures taken, I think they went back 3 times!
On Friday afternoon we had the opportunity to participate in a Painting with a Twist activity where people learned why I rarely craft with my kids. I’m pretty sure my yelling “no”, “stop”, “wait” over and over drove my table mates crazy, and for that, I sincerely apologize. Again, there’s a reason that most of my kids’ crafting is done at school. Regardless, my older daughter (who probably didn’t even hear any of my pleas) had a fabulous time and immediately hung our picture up in her room when she got back.
Later that night, we got to see Blue Man Group at Universal. While it freaked my 3 year old out a little, my 5 year old really enjoyed it (probably because it freaked my 3 year old out a little). To top it off we got to meet the Blue Men after the show.
Yes, it’s required that they look that “alert” at all times.
But my favorite activity was our trip to Sea World on Saturday night. What a treat! I haven’t been to Sea World in over 8 years, and so much has changed. After photo opps with Shamu, a fabulous dinner (seriously, those chicken nuggets were divine), and some animal encounters, we were free to explore the park and trick or treat at their Spooktacular event. Erica and I rode Manta. The kids got to go on Antarctica. And Greenleigh absolutely adored getting to watch the dolphins. I only wish that we had more time there – 2 hours wasn’t enough! Luckily Sea World works with bloggers, so hopefully we will get to go again. Be looking for a full review in the future!
In reality, it’s hard to summarize Niche Parent in just one post because it was such an amazing weekend. My daughters made friends at the Kid Zone. A HUGE shout out to whoever decided to provide free childcare. Seriously, the ability to leave them in the caring and eperienced hands of the ladies from Kids Night Out, made this conference for me. I was able to learn because they were there. I made friends with the Boston Market food truck that showed upon Friday afternoon. All I can say is, wow, their holiday menu this year is amazing… My husband drove a Corvette in the Chevy Experience. And a hundred other wonderfully random things that I could ramble on about forever all because my friends convinced me that I really needed to go to the Niche Parent Conference.
So I’ll summarize the trip like this, the whole trip was a whirlwind. A fun, family friendly whirlwind with some concrete blogging takeaways and wonderful friends. I’m already planning for next year!
