What I learned at the Fairy Tale Platinum Soiree

Disney Social Media Moms were wowed and treated like princesses at Disney’s Fairy Tale Platinum Soiree. The party kicked off the second annual Disney Social Media Moms Celebration!

I was skeptical at first: What could I learn about writing at a soiree? Sure, I’m excited to share what I learned about Disney Fairy Tale Weddings & Honeymoons with you, my readers; but as a writer, I wanted to take something away from the event besides wedding mouse ears. To my surprise there was a lot of good advice spoken by Carley Roney from the knot.com, Michael Shettel from Alfred Angelo, and David Tutera from My Fair Wedding. And I’m not just talking about dress colors, although I did discover that brown is out and silver is in.

Six things I learned at the Fairy Tale Platinum Soiree:

1. Love conquers everything. I’m not talking about lovey-dovey love. I’m referring to friendship. I was nervous about attending the conference. What if know one talked to me? I didn’t want to feel out of place. I only knew a few people, and by knowing I mean I recognized their Twitter handle.  After one afternoon I was calling many of these incredible women friends. There is nothing like friendship.

2. Turn your audience into your passion. I love Twitter because it is an easy way for me to personally connect with my audience. I once had someone ask me why my followers followed me? What do they get from me? At the time I didn’t really know how to answer the question. I’m really only successful because of my audience. I’m going to make more of an effort to reach out and connect with my readers.

3. You have to become passionate about self-promotion. I’ve always thought of self-promotion as bragging, and I don’t want to be known as one of “those” bloggers. According to Nathan Hangen, self-promotion is the art of spreading ideas, concepts, and a greater vision, not the promotion of accomplishments. I’m going to learn to shamelessly self-promote this year.

4. Learn to be different. When I decided to write “Kid Tips for Walt Disney World” and “Walt Disney World Adventure,” I combined my two passions–Disney & education–and dared to write.  I still can’t believe how successful the books have been. Being different is exciting and scary all at the same time. I’m excited for the next chapter for Vacation Field Guides.

5. Your readers are your guests. Treat them that way. Disney calls all of its employees Cast Members and the people who visit the Resort guests. I like thinking of my readers as guests. It’s a little connection to Disney, and we all know that Disney rocks when it comes to customer service.

6. Trends are not what you’re following, but what you’re making. Me a trendsetter? At the conference I was speaking with someone whom I admire. This person is a BIG NAME in blogging. Another blogger came up to our group, and I was sure (absolutely positive) that the person wanted to speak to the BIG NAME blogger. I was wrong. She wanted to say hi to me. I was honored. Don’t forget that when you’re busy looking up to someone, someone else is looking up to you.

Day one video highlights