Proudly display your Twibbon!

Thursday, 10 June 2010


If you're on Twitter and coming to CyberMummy, you need to get your Twibbon. I'd always seen these little icons at the bottom of Twitter pictures and assumed they were difficult to put on or required some kind of Photoshop finesse. Wrong.


Just go to this link on Twibbon, put in your Twitter info and it will paste one over the top of your Twitter avatar (that's picture, to you and me). Simples.


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Be a live-blogger for CyberMummy!

CyberMummy is getting closer and we need some folks to officially live-blog from the sessions. You would be writing about the session as it happens, providing a real-time record. We're looking for volunteers for these sessions:

Live blogger 1: Content session
Live blogger 2: Influence and Stats session
Live blogger 3: Working with Sponsors session
Live blogger 4: Libel & Design CyberLabs
Live blogger 5: SEO & Book-to-Blog CyberLabs

You publish the post onto your own blog then we'll link to it from the official CyberMummy blog.

Interested? Email Susanna at AModernMother (at) gmail (dot) com.

Not sure what live blogging really involves and how to do it? Check out the guide below, graciously submitted by Jessica Rosenberg, an expert live-blogger who has done it for BlogHer, among others.


***
A live-blogging guide by a real live blogger

The first event I live-blogged was a football game. American football. I grew up in France, know nothing about football, and was woefully unprepared for what was going on. I sat there, Idiot’s Guide to Football in hand, and tried to follow along, blogging my thoughts on the game every few moments.

I can guarantee that my thoughts had precious little to do with the actual tactics or fine points of the game. They might have had a lot to do with surprising properties of certain uniforms.

While I didn’t learn much about the game, I did pick up some live-blogging tips that served me well when I had my first official live-blogger gig at BlogHer in 2008. I took notes, you know, in case the uniforms had the unexpected effect of causing me to be so distracted that I forgot.

1. Name your post and type a short paragraph explaining that you’re live-blogging, what you’re live-blogging, and that you’ll come back after the fact to clean up your spelling, grammar, and cohesion.

2. #1 can be done ahead of time and saved as a draft. In case of live-blogging for conferences, I’ve often found it helpful to paste the blurb about the session and to hyperlink the names/sites of the speakers ahead of time. Saves precious time later.)

3. Select all. COPY. Save. Publish.

4. Open a blank Word (or equivalent) document and “paste” what you have “copied.” (Save this document to your desktop. This will allow your computer to auto-save.)

5. Go back to your web browser, click “Edit blog post” and add the next paragraph.

6. Repeat #3.

7. Repeat #4, #5, and #6 until session or event is over.

8. It’s probably a good idea to decide ahead of time if you’re going to post every X minutes or when you feel there’s a clean break in the action.

9. Trust me when I say you should NEVER forget to “select all and copy” before you hit either save or publish. Ask me how I know this. Or rather don’t. I don’t think I can relive it.

10. When the session or event is over, take a minute to go back into your post to clean up grammar, spelling, and typos. Read over what you’ve written to see if you can make sense of what you wrote. Edit for clarity and flow. Once you’re happy with the way the post reads, delete the apologetic intro paragraph and save the post one final time.

Despite the stress of sometimes playing “Where’d the wifi network go?” live-blogging is a really fun way to share a conference or event with your readers. It’s fun to let them see what’s going on through your eyes and in your words. You know, as long as you remember to copy what you write before you post.

Jessica Rosenberg is an aspiring novelist and freelance who blogs almost daily at It's My Life... and posts frequent(ish) reviews at The Lemonade Stand. Join her Facebook fan page to follow her journey to becoming a published author! You can also follow her mad tweets at http://www.twitter.com/kikarose.



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Lunchtime hostess: Diane Hayman

Tuesday, 8 June 2010


Joining our volunteers leading table discussions at lunch is Diane Hayman, talking about Using Humour in Your Writing


Diane is a co-founder of PowderRoomGraffiti, an online community for women that brings honest irreverent insights to a global audience. A mother to three challenging children, she will be chatting about using humour in your writing, so come and have a laugh, and share what has worked for you – and what has gone horribly wrong!


Have a laugh with Diane at her table at lunch.

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Congratulations to Vonnie, winner of a free ticket!

Monday, 7 June 2010

A while back PowderRoomGraffiti was giving away a ticket to CyberMummy along with a wedge to help cover expenses for one lucky blogger. Vonnie from blottedcopybook.com (Adventures of a Lady in Training) won!

She's coming all the way from Glasgow so the money for expenses will really help, and PRG tells us she's really looking forward to it. See you at the sessions, Vonnie.

We're so excited that so many bloggers are able to attend because of the generosity and community spirit of sponsors, sites and other bloggers. We've tried to keep ticket prices low but even so, the money from delegate tickets doesn't cover the costs of putting together the day of sessions, activities, food and drink. (We can thank our sponsors for helping make it all possible!)

The fact that so many folks have thought about bloggers who want to come but can't afford to shows the kind of community spirit that runs through this group. It makes me proud to be part of it.

Sian, who has been trying to find sponsors for individual bloggers, has written on her blog about bloggers helping bloggers and resources for those who want to come but need help. Check out her post and donate to help a blogger (no amount too small) if you like, or put youself on the list to win a ticket. Get more info on Sian's blog now.

Better hurry - it looks like we will soon be sold out!

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Lunchtime hostess: Iota


We're pleased to announce another blogger leading a lunchtim table discussion: this one about Identity and Anonymity led by Iota.


Iota is a mum of 3, a Brit in the US, and increasingly feels able to describe herself as a writer.


“Blogging has changed me, and the way I think about myself. What about you? At my table, we might talk about creating a blog identity, or boundaries, or whether anonymity is feasible, or the phenomenon of cyber friendships. Mine is definitely the chill-out table, where you can ponder about blogging.”


You don't have to sign up in advance. Just grab a seat at Iota's table and join the discussion at lunch.

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Speakers at CyberMummy: Robin Harvie

Sunday, 6 June 2010


Our speaker dance card is practically full at CyberMummy and we're delighted about the latest addition - the person who will tell us all about how to turn our blogs into books.


Robin Harvie is a publisher at HarperCollins commissioning non-fiction print and digital projects across both the 4th Estate list and The Friday Project. The Friday Project was originally conceived to take the best of the web and put words between covers.

Since Harvie joined HarperCollins, it has since expanded to take the printed word back to the web in the form of interactive eBooks, community-created content and apps. Recent projects include the mathematician Marcus du Sautoy’s The Number Mysteries to be published in print, eBook book and app formats and It’s All Their Fault the UK’s first web-based interactive eBook: http://www.itsalltheirfault.com/, allowing the Facebook generation of first-time voters to contribute their own content.


Catch Robin's CyberLab at the 14:00 slot.

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Last chance to book a hotel room at the special rate

Wednesday, 2 June 2010

Booked your ticket but haven't yet secured your hotel room for the conference? Pick up the phone and book now.

There are special rates for single or double occupancy includes breakfast and Wimbledon is on at the same time. Snag your spot now.

More information here on the Attendees page. The rooms are released by 5:30 Thurs 3 Jun and after that you'll have to pay whatever rate is available at the time.

Sleep tight!

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