We are super excited about what is coming up this week – BlissDom in Nashville! We are pumped about being a conference sponsor and we’re really looking forward to meeting and greeting new and existing members! And y’all? I saw a mock-up of what our booth is going to look like and I can’t wait for everyone to see it!

No, we won't be using a Polaroid camera! But we can fan you if you want that windblown look!

Speaking of our booth…we love offering our members cool perks and we’re bringing that philosophy to BlissDom! All BlissDom attendees are invited to come by our booth for some exciting perks. We’ll have a photographer on-site doing headshots – perfect for updating your social media avatars and blog bios! We’ll also be giving away some super fun prizes! New members will get an additional chance at special prizes! So, if you’re not yet an O2O member or if you have friends who are not members be sure to come by and join us!

Weren’t those business card holders in your Prep For Bliss boxes totally fabulous? We’ve got ours loaded up and we’re ready to network! You’re also going to find another helpful item from us your swag bags, so be sure to look for it!

Tell us, what are you most looking forward to about BlissDom?

Over 200 of you entered the big BlissDom giveaway on the O2O blog last month! Today we officially announce the winners of the Grand Prize and Runner-Up Prizes!

The Grand Prize Winner of a BlissDom conference pass + 3 nights in the Opryland Hotel is:

Jacqueline (@NerdMom) of NerdFamily Blog!!!

And our 3 Runner-Up prize winners of BlissDom conference passes are:

Nanette (@AMomBlog) of A Mom Blog!

Sara (@saramomof2) of All In an Iowa Mom’s Day!

and

Heather of Sew Four!

Congratulations ladies! We look forward to seeing you at BlissDom!!

This giveaway is now closed. Winners will be notified via e-mail. Thanks for entering!

It’s that time of year again — no, not the holidays with shopping and decorating and indulging in treats — it’s BlissDom giveaway time!! We hope to make someone’s holiday very merry this year by giving them an opportunity to attend the 5th annual BlissDom Conference. BlissDom 2012 will be held February 23-25 at the fabulous Opryland Hotel in Nashville, TN.

Let’s relive the bliss of 2011, shall we?

Do you need a tissue? We do! Are you excited? We are!

BlissDom gets better and better, year after year. We are especially excited about the sessions that have been announced – Business, Writing, Photography and Life Development. Each year the “Bliss Chicks” take what conference attendees have deemed as most valuable to them and turn it up a notch. Breaking from typical conference format, BlissDom 2012 will have single speakers/presenters (no panels!) for each topic with extended sessions designed to give attendees lots of time to not only learn but to practice, plan and connect.

If you are already planning to be at BlissDom, we look forward to seeing you! If you’d like to go to BlissDom but need a little help getting there, we hope we can help with that! One2One Network is happy to announce that we are sending FOUR One2One Network members to the BlissDom conference in February!

PRIZING:

• GRAND PRIZE: Full conference registration + 3 nights in the Opryland Hotel for one member ($900 value)
• THREE (3) RUNNER-UP PRIZES: Full conference registrations for three members ($199 value)

HOW TO ENTER:

Now, go take a look at the four sessions that will be presented at BlissDom. Go ahead…we’ll wait.

1. Please tell us in the comments which session you are most interested in attending, why you chose it, and what you hope to learn from it. There are THREE parts to your answer – very important because that is your official, mandatory entry into the giveaway. Only answers containing all three parts will be eligible to win.

2. You can get an extra entry by tweeting about this giveaway:

I want some #O2OBliss for the holidays! I entered @One2OneNetwork’s Great #BlissDom Giveaway! http://bit.ly/o2obliss

Please leave an additional comment with the permalink to your tweet. Only comments with permalinks will be eligible as an additional entry.

3. You can get another extra entry by displaying the Proud One2One Network member badge in the sidebar of your blog! Need a badge? Find them here! Not a member yet? Sign-up here!

Please leave an additional comment stating that you are displaying a One2One Network member badge and the URL to your blog.

**UPDATED** If it appears that any of your comments go to spam, please send us a message via Twitter or Facebook and we’ll be sure to fish it out of the spam folder!**

Each entry must be a separate comment (i.e. to be entered three times, you should leave three comments: (1) the mandatory entry, (2) the permalink to your tweet, and (3) your proud member badge statement and URL to your blog). To be eligible to win, you must be a One2One Network member (Not a member? Join now!).

**Giveaway ends at 11:59PM EST on December 31, 2011!**

**Giveaway has ended.**

Good luck! We hope to see you in February!

No Purchase Necessary. Void Where Prohibited By Law. By entering the giveaway, you are agreeing to the Official Rules. Giveaway will run from Monday, December 12, 2011through Saturday, December 31, 2011. Entries must be received in those time frames to be valid. Contest is open to people 18 years of age or older and a resident of the United States of America or Canada. Winner will be chosen via Comment Contest and notified via email. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to the email accepting their prize. If no response is made within 48 hours, a second winner will be chosen. Winner will be announced once prize acceptance has been confirmed and no later than January 31, 2012.

We’ve got a Blogalicious Weekend conference pass to giveaway to one of our members! This is going to be a quick turnaround giveaway, only 48 hours to get your entries in! But first, here’s a little bit of info about Blogalicious Weekend -

“Blogalicious Weekend is an event celebrating diversity among women in the blogosphere and social media.

Eighty percent of major business deals are said to be made on the golf course… Consider Blogalicious your green! Jam-packed with opportunities to make unique connections and valuable contacts in a sociable setting, this conference will arm you with the relationships you need and want. Whether your social media focus is business, storytelling, technology, politics, parenting, lifestyle or social change, the networking and educational aspects of Blogalicious will motivate and inspire.”

October 21-23 in Washington D.C. at the Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center.

What is your social media focus AND how do you think attending Blogalicious Weekend will motivate and inspire you in that area?

Answer the questions in the comments! That is your mandatory entry for this giveaway.

Earn three more entries by:

1. Tweeting: I want to win a ticket to @beblogalicious from @One2OneNetwork! http://bit.ly/qGAAxx #blogalicious11 (Please leave the permalink to your tweet as a separate comment. You may make your own tweet but the bit.ly & hashtag must be part of your tweet. Tweet as often as you like, but only one tweet is counted as an extra entry.)
2. Following: @One2OneNetwork on Twitter (Please leave a separate comment stating you are following on Twitter.)
3. Following: @beblogalicious on Twitter (Please leave a separate comment stating you are following on Twitter.)

Each entry must be a separate comment (i.e. to be entered four times, you should leave four comments: the mandatory entry, the permalink to your tweet, the @One2OneNetwork follow and the @beblogalicious follow). To be eligible to win, you must be a One2One Network member (Not a member? Join now!) Winners will be chosen via Comment Contest and notified via email. Winners will have 24 hours to respond to the email accepting their prize. If no response is made within 24 hours, a second winner will be chosen. Giveaway will run from 11:00AM CT, Monday, October 10, 2011 through 11:00AM CT, Wednesday, October 12, 2011. Entries must be received in those time frames to be valid.

We LOVE blogging conferences! It’s always such a delight to be able see our members in person and reconnect with them. We also beam with pride whenever we see O2O members (and staff!) selected as speakers at conferences. This week at BlogHer ’11 is another of those times!

These ladies are all top notch bloggers and speakers. If you’re going to BlogHer ’11, we highly recommend attending their sessions! You’re sure to gain timely insights and new ideas.

Ana Flores – SpanglishBaby, @SpanglishBaby

Diana Johnson – Dianasaur Dishes, @DianasaurDishes

Grace Duffy – Formerly Gracie, @graceduffy

Janine Nickel – Twofer Mom, @JanineNickel

Janis Brett Elspas – Mommy Blog Expert, @MommyBlogExpert

Jennifer Satterwhite – Mommy Needs Coffee, @javajenn

Jenny Ingram – Jenny On The Spot, @jennyonthespot

Jessica Rosenberg – It’s My Life…, @kikarose

Julie Meyers Pron – Just Precious, @justprecious

Kelly Whalen – The Centsible Life, @centsiblelife

Leticia Barr – Tech Savvy Mama, @TechSavvyMama

Linda Sellers (O2O Senior Project Manager) – Welcome to Linneyville, @Linda_Sellers

Sara Hawkins (Pathfinder Day) – Saving for Someday, @Saving4Someday

Stacie Connerty – The Divine Miss Mommy, @StacieInAtlanta

If we missed you, please let us know!

We know these ladies are going to Rock It at BlogHer this week! We’ll see you in San Diego!

Yes, you read that correctly, three One2One Network members will get the opportunity to attend the Becoming 2011 conference in Asheville, NC, August 12-13 through a One2One Network sponsorship! Becoming 2011 is the unique creation of One2One Network members, Jen Schmidt of Balancing Beauty and Bedlam and Jenny Martin of Southern Savers. We know we have many members who blog about and who live frugal, creative, intentional, and purposeful lifestyles. We are excited to be able to offer this opportunity!

What is Becoming Conference?

Becoming 2011 is a weekend designed to encourage and inspire women to live intentionally by becoming more creative, purposeful, and frugal. As women, many of us desire to be more intentional with our time and financial resources; more intentional with our family and homes. As we gather from all walks of life, we will tackle some of those day to day issues that typically seem mundane. Our desire is that you will leave, not only refreshed, but encouraged, empowered, and motivated with the practical and tangible ideas you have received. Hopefully, by tackling the mundane, they will now have a sense of magic.

From personal finance, meal planning, entertaining on a budget, thrifting, home decor, trash to treasure, and more, Becoming 2011 will revolutionize the way we think, not just about our finances, but our homes. If it comes to saving money, re-purposing, or creating, we want to cover it.

When and Where will it be held? August 12-13 at the Ridgecrest Conference Center just outside of Asheville, North Carolina.

For more insight into what Becoming 2011 will be about, watch Jen’s introduction video!

The One2One Network Sponsorship Opportunity

Becoming 2011 is not a blogging conference, it is a lifestyle conference. In our network, we have bloggers and non-bloggers, so we are opening this sponsorship opportunity to everyone.* Becoming 2011 offers a unique opportunity for women who lead frugal, creative, and purposeful lifestyles to come together and learn from each other. It will foster community among those who share their lifestyle online and those who do not.

To apply for a sponsorship slot, you must complete and submit this application by Wednesday, July 20, 2011. To qualify, you must be a One2One Network member. Sponsorship includes conference pass, lodge accommodations for Friday evening, and $100 to use towards travel expenses.

Selected members will be notified no later than Monday, July 25, 2011 and will have 48 hours to accept their sponsorship. At that time, if sponsorship is not accepted, another member will be chosen.

*All women members since this conference is for women only.

Barbara, Linda and I spent part of last week in lovely Asheville, North Carolina for the Type-A Parent social media conference. The best part of these conferences is getting to meet One2One Network members and reconnect with ones we already know! I would try to name them all but I’m afraid I would leave someone out! We have such amazing members and it’s always a treat to see them in person and speak, well, one2one!

Contrary to it’s name, Type-A Conference is a laid back and relaxed conference. While it does boast a power packed agenda of workshops, classes and amazing speakers, there is still plenty of time to connect with people, mull over the things you’ve learned and explore downtown Asheville (which is literally just a few steps from the hotel). Type-A Conference also had a variety of sponsors which meant there was at least one company or brand that was a good fit for everyone who attended.

Two sessions that really stick out for me are the Facebook Intensive workshop with Melanie Nelson (@chilihead) and Shelly Kramer’s (@ShellyKramer) session about tracking your stats across several different platforms. They provided information that was applicable to both bloggers and businesses.

O2O Senior Project Manager, Linda Sellers (@Linda_Sellers) held a Review Bloggers session with One2One Network member, Stacie Connerty (@StacieinAtlanta). Highlights from that session included:

• don’t copy and paste an entire press release and not inject any of your own opinions/thoughts
• PR companies prefer email addresses over contact forms, put an email address on your website
• if you’re going to pitch a company or if you’re a company that’s pitching a blogger, take Barbara Jones’ advice, “Don’t bore us, get to the chorus“
• if your voice is authentic then your review will be valued and trusted
• and finally, please spell the product name correctly when doing a review! (seems obvious, but it happens!)

Patti Digh’s opening keynote and Liz Gumbinner’s closing keynote perfectly bookended the conference. Patti (@PattiDigh) told us that in blogging, you need to show up and come as you are, don’t waste time trying to be clever, we’re the most potent at our ordinary. And Liz (@Mom101) reminded us that there is no way to “do it all”, something always gives and that’s just fine.

It’s been fun to read what our members have had to say about the conference. Here is a quick list a few posts that I’ve found:

• Brandi from Happily Blended
• Angela from The Pagan Mom Blog
• Alicia from Making Time for Mom
• Kelly from Partially Motivated
• Ciao Mom did her conference wrap-up with photos
• Heather of Not A DIY Life

I also read a couple of blog posts from non-members that I want to share just because they are great posts! Bernice Wood of Living the Balanced life has an overview of Liz Gumbinner’s closing keynote and Melissa of MomComm talks about the business card trends she saw at the conference.

What was your best takeaway from the conference? Did you finally get to meet someone you’ve known on the Internet for a long time? What was your favorite session or party or both? And if you’ve blogged about your experience, please leave a link to your post in the comments, we’d love to read it!

I had the pleasure of attending the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration for the second year in a row.  It’s a wonderful event held in Walt Disney World with blogging partners Amy Lupold Bair, Janice Croze, Jennifer James and Maria Bailey.  If you’ve ever been to Disney, you know they don’t do anything halfway, and for this event they pull out all the stops to entertain the bloggers and families and educate in interactive environments.

For example…

It’s not every day you attend a press event covering Disney’s 20th anniversary hosting weddings at the Wedding Pavilion by attending a renewal of vows complete with flashmobbing dancing groomsmen and bridesmaids, candy buffet, celebrity speakers including Carley Roney from TheKnot.com, David Tutera from  My Fair Wedding and to top it all off, Cinderella’s glass chariot. Whew…

You know, just your typical press event.

We attended another press / family dinner announcing the launch of Disney Junior and another celebrating Disney’s new initiative Magic of Healthy Living. These events featured celebrity and Disney character appearances and allowed the families to interact in a social environment while bloggers learned new and exciting things about Disney.

The Friday conference for the moms (and a few dads) was packed with inspiration – hosting speakers who shared both tips on social media and the struggles of being a mom.   Speakers included Matt Jacobson head of marketing at Facebook, Renee Syler (everyone’s new bff) a former tv celebrity, now author of Good Enough Mother, Fran Capo, comedienne and the fastest talking woman, Chris Brogan, Susan Egan, Belle of Beauty and the Beast and award winning composer Georgia Stitt.

Motivational and inspirational all with a Disney twist.

It’s great to attend an event with your family and also connect with your fellow bloggers and their families.  I think that’s one of the best parts about this celebration.  We love meeting our blogger friends in real life, but being able to put a face with the families we hear so much about and read about every day on each other’s blogs is a priceless experience.

Attending the Disney Social Media Moms was a “sweetheart deal” and tickets, accommodations, entertainment and meals were either given gratis or greatly discounted.

There was definitely bliss in the air with all the excitement surrounding parties, music artists, a Hollywood guest, swag, good food, Blissdom Blossoms, amazing sponsors and more!

We kicked off the conference with Melissa Peterman and CMT premiering their new show, Working Class. Melissa is a natural comedienne; she had the whole room roaring with laughter as she quipped about motherhood and acting. After we previewed the episode, Melissa took questions from the audience and had a little chat with One2One Network member, Rachel (@sthrnfairytale) about talking with your child about the best part of their day:

photo by Mishelle Lane Photography

Amazon Blondes Unite! Photo by Dan Harr. Used with permission.

Thursday night, at the red carpet party sponsored by Jockey & Tide, we were treated to performances by Michelle Branch and Mat Kearney. Did you know that Barbara Jones worked with both these artists back before she started One2One Network? It was a fun reunion night for them and an excellent music night for Blissdom attendees. Michelle joined Mat on stage to sing “Dancing In The Dark” and everyone sang along and danced! It was definitely a bliss moment!

photo by Malia Carden

Photo by Julie Dance

We were thrilled that so many of you came by the booth and participated in the vision board! Thank you very much to all of you who stopped by our booth to say hello or to learn more about us. We had a such a great time meeting members and attendees! Our collective community vision for 2011 was a wonderful sight to behold. So many inspiring words, phrases, statements and goals! The positive energy from everyone was uplifting and quite catching!

photos by Angela England

Friday night brought us the Freschetta Girl’s Night In, with an abundance of pizza, delicious salads from California Raisins and yummy ice cream from Blue Bunny! The Freschetta photo booth was the perfect addition to a girl’s night party and the chair massages (also provided by Freschetta) were a pampering “cherry on top” for conference attendees.

Blissdom alumnus, Chris Mann took the stage and treated us to several of his songs! Chris is such a great friend of Blissdom. He was around Thursday night during Mat & Michelle’s performances. He was in the epic flashmob. He talked with attendees and posed for pictures, even with the California Raisin! We love you Chris!

And we can help but also love the talented and beautiful, Crystal Bowersox! She wowed us all with her powerful vocals and beautiful songs. Attendees were especially pleased to see her family at the party and to hear her sing a song with her husband.

photo by Rachel Matthews

This post wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the event that is quickly becoming Blissdom legend: the flashmob! Two One2One Network team members (Linda and Malia) were part of the planning team that pulled off the epic surprise! It was a highlight of the conference for so many! We were especially pleased to see the reactions of Alli, Barbara and Paula. It was done for them in mind, a big THANK YOU, for all their hard work!

photo by Hannah Braboy

One2One Network was to proud to be part of Blissdom once again. We love this conference (yes, we’re a bit biased!) but it really is a wonderful experience. Meeting so many of you, learning at the feet of wise women (and some men, too!), and making those connections that bring everyone back every year. It is definitely, bliss!

If you went to Blissdom, we’d love to read your post-conference posts! Please be sure to comment and link to your blog posts!

We may already be a few weeks into 2011 but it’s still a good time to consider your vision for the year ahead. That’s why at Blissdom, we will have the 2011 Community Vision board at our booth. If you are attending Blissdom, you will have the opportunity to come by our booth (pick-up a gift from us!) and become part of the community vision for 2011.

See those concentric circles that make up our logo? Do you know what they represent? Our logo was designed to represent community, mutually beneficial interactions between brands and bloggers, and how we are all interconnected. As our header says: friend2friend, me2you, one2one.

Each of us has something in mind for the year ahead.  And no matter whether your dreams are little or big, they help define how you see yourself and how you present yourself on your blog. It could be that you are coming to Blissdom in order to define your goals for your blog. Or you may already know exactly what you want to accomplish this year, you’re just looking for the tools to make it happen. Wherever you fall on the spectrum of vision and dreaming, we’d love for you to make it part of our One2One Network Community!

Take those dreams, those visions, those goals, put them on the community board and OWN them. We’ll have instamatic cameras on hand so that we can put your awesome self next to your vision. Together we will create a kaleidescope of the amazing things that we hope to accomplish this year!

Even if you are not attending Blissdom, you can still be apart of the vision board! Leave a comment on this post and we’ll put it up on the board!

Then let’s see where the year takes us, together!