Irish Blogger Conference

On Saturday May 30th I attended the second Irish Blogger Conference that was organised by Emma O’Farrell and Fiona Reid of Cool Events, held in the Goldsmiths Hall in the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Dublin. It was a stupendous event hosted by my good friend comedian & DJ Marcus O’Laoire whose brilliant hosting skills kept everyone giggling, that delivered what it promised; an afternoon of insightful talks by Ireland’s leading beauty, fashion and lifestyle bloggers. I attended with my favourite gal pals and blogger friends Filomena of Enhance What’s Yours, Mei Ling of Darling Buds of Mei, Lisa Mc of Lisa Lists & Goss.ie, Lorna Duffy of Fashion Boss, Gail O’Connor of Glam Force, Damien Broderick of Damien Broderick and Niamh O’Donogue of Cultured Cuppa as well as meeting more blogger friends at the event. I had an absolute whale of a time with my friends, especially with those in our über cool ‘BROW’! Here are the very familiar faces who took part in this year’s #IrishBloggerConference:

Alison Canavan – model and blogger from Alison Canavan
Anita Whyte – blogger from award-winning DolledUp.ie
Barbara Scully – from From My Kitchen Table, and writer & broadcaster
Conor Lynch – from SocialMedia.ie
Darragh Doyle – social media strategist and blogger from This Is What I Like
Mary Carty – from award-winning digital media agency SpoiltChild.com and founder of Stemettes
Orla McDonagh – from Gym Bunny
Pete Wedderburn – from Pete The Vet
Rob Lipsett – from Lipsett Fitness
Sonya Lennon – from Frock Advisor app and Lennon Courtney fashion designer
Timi Ogunyemi – communications ninja and editor of award-winning blog Picture This

The charity partner for the event was Teenline Ireland, a free-phone service that’s open 7 days a week for teenagers in Ireland, who help listen & understand what is on a teenager’s mind without any judgement. With our mighty phones, the conference attendees made the hashtags #TeenLine and #IrishBloggerConference trend on Twitter! Having attended last year’s first conference, which you can read about here, the brilliant and extremely inspirational speakers had so many lessons & advice for us bloggers, much of which I wrote down in my Killer Fashion notebook, and here are my favourite quotes from the afternoon that will definitely drive me to continue blogging for another five years:

“Just do it. Do what makes you happy.” – Rob Lipsett; this quote was as simplistic and to the point as could be, and it’s so powerful. Rob’s talk was inspiring to put yourself ahead of ‘the man’, and he even advised us to quit your day job if it’s killing you!
“Happiness is not a natural state to be consistently.” – Alison Canavan; model, mum and a multitasking inspirational woman, this advice was something that really spoke to me, about the fact that you can’t be 100% happy all of the time, every time. More so, to be as close to happiness as can be, but accept the days you’re feeling low, you’re feeling rubbish and are having a bad day, because that is normal.
“Put down the wine.” – Barbara Scully; now this was an interesting quote. Barbara was talking about when you’re blogging, give it your 100% attention, because if you don’t have the heart to write your post, that’s how it will be read by visitors. And if the wine influences you, you won’t necessarily be able to write your best. Remember what happened to Rebecca Bloomwood in Confessions of a Shopaholic?! (Love that film though!) The bloggers also attempted to get #PutDownTheWine trending on Twitter!
“Skills are the new safety.” – Mary Carty; I love this quote, because this was all about using what you’ve got to get yourself where you want to go, but also to help build a better future for our children. Mary spoke about how confidence is key and with that sort of combination, you could take on anything.
“Be passionate and show your passion through your blog and your content.” – Orla McDonagh; again this was a strong quote that really spoke to me, because as y’all know I love to write and give you readers good quality content, and I feel like my passion really does drive that kind of content for you. If not, let me know!
“Create, collaborate and celebrate.” – Timi Ogunyemi; this were some great words by my awesome friend Timi during his talk. Creating content, collaborating and learning from others and celebrating your talents & other people’s talents will definitely help get you far. He spoke about being open to opportunities and ensuring you communicate with followers, emails and talking to people at events. We’ve got to embrace our own creativity and love what we do, and this way we’ll have a clear vision of what it is we want. Also, thanks for the shout out Timi! Remember Picture This won at the Blog Awards Ireland 2014 last October and I accepted the award on their behalf!

Marcus O’Laoire hosting

Killer Fashion Nirina Irish Blogger Conference

Killer Fashion Nirina Irish Blogger Conferencev

Alison Canavan giving her talk

Darragh Doyle giving his talk

Timi giving his talk

Fashion panelists

As well as those amazing speakers, there was a fashion & beauty bloggers panel after the talks with:

David Cashman – from rising blog Dapper Dave Cash
Holly White – from Holly.ie and fashion stylist
James Butler – from Jus De James and editor of MFI Magazine
Joanne Larby – from award-winning The Make Up Fairy and makeup artist
Nuala Gorham – from award-winning Penny and Polaroids

During the conference there were lots of prizes up for grabs, tasty cupcakes & tea breaks in between the talks and a live Twitter feed run by BFFs illustrator & blogger Holly Shortall and blogger Jamie Tuohy, who also picked out the Best Dressed male & female attendees who happened to be my friends Damien & Niamh! The after party, held in the beautifully plush 10 St. Stephen’s Green, was a very fun party indeed that my friends and I thoroughly enjoyed; from the endless glasses of Prosecco, to the complimentary food platter, the strawberries and that delightful George Bernard Shaw cocktail. There was even a goodie bag for many attendees of the Irish Blogger Conference, and here’s what fabulous goodies I received:

Bewley’s Café Colonial Special Collection Fresh Coffee
Weleda Oat Replenishing Shampoo & Conditioner
Physicians Formula Mineral Wear Mineral Powder & Super BB All-in-one Concealer
Wet N Wild MegaSlicks Balm Stain Moisturizing Lip Colour in #E129 Nudist Colony, MegaSlicks Lip Gloss in #E567B In a Tutu, MegaRocks Glitter Nail Colour in #E4923 Creative Control, Idol Eyes Crème Shadow Pencil in #E135 Graphite, Eyeliner in #E654B Sky Blue
Burt’s Bees Lip Gloss in #227 Ocean Sunrise
Berrywhite Organic Sparkling Cranberry & Guava drink and BON Natural Oils Liquid Gold Pure Tissue Oil from Wholefoods.ie
Fuschia Make-up Nudes eyeshadow palette
Evoke.ie tote bag and nail file
Nails discount cards
Oh! Magazine June 2015 issue