Attending the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration was outstanding, memorable and a dream come true. The events, speakers, celebrities and parties were so exciting that at times I felt as if it were all a fantasy. I loved attending the private gatherings, using the park hopper passes, staying at the luxurious Grand Floridian Resort & Spa and having my family share it all with me. Still … I have to say … the best part of all was the day we “social media moms” spent together learning and growing. The work that went into this conference was and is mind boggling. And it was all done for us. Saying “Thank You” hardly seems adequate.
There are several things I learned on our conference day. First: Always keep the Nikon camera by my side. And second: If possible, record everything that is said. We took close to 4500 digital photos while at Walt Disney World. Very few of those are of the conference day since I didn’t have the Nikon with me. The smaller camera I had with me just didn’t do the speakers or the decor justice. I also didn’t take as many notes as I should have because I was so busy listening to all that was being said. I didn’t realize all this until I sat down to post about the lessons and excitement of the conference.
With that said … I felt like a Princess when I entered the conference hall with Debra, Beth and Christina. The tables were spread with beautiful table cloths and the chairs were donned with regal slip covers and bows. The stage was complete with a white baby grand piano and a silloette of Cinderella’s castle all lit up.
There were lovely flower arangements on each of the tables AND power strips! Not one detail was overlooked.
Meg Crofton started the line up of incredible speakers. Meg is the President of the Walt Disney World Resort and was quite inspiring. I don’t think people realize just exactly what goes on behind the scenes of something as large as Walt Disney World. Here are just few of the fun facts she shared with us:
- Walt Disney World is the largest single site employer in the United States with 62,000 cast members working at Walt Disney World each day.
- Everyday the WDW resort laundry facility (the largest in the Southeast US) washes more than 300,000 pounds of linens and towels.
- WDW is the largest single site purveyor of wine in the world.
- The WDW entertainment team stages more than 400 performances daily.
- There are 470 places you can get something to eat or drink at WDW.
- Every day the animal nutrition cast prepares more than 9,000 pounds of food in a specially designed kitchen for the 1500 animals that live on the WDW property.
- The WDW transportation buses log more than 20 million miles a year.
- There are 35,000 different pieces of merchandise sold in the many shops in WDW.
WOW! Those numbers are astounding and…it’s all for our enjoyment.
I think the most important thing I learned from Matt Jacobson, the head of market development at Facebook (and Facebook’s 8th original employee), was how much personal privacy really does matter. I’m now in the process of setting up a Simple Sojourns Facebook Fan Page so we can keep our personal FB page for family and close friends. Matt also shared how he didn’t allow his twin teenage daughters to have their own FB accounts until they could give him a good reason why they each needed one. When they were permitted to have their own accounts he made sure they were invisible and that all friend requests would come through HIS email. I’m impressed!
You probably remember Rene Syler from being on CBS’s The Early Show. She’s interviewed First Lady Laura Bush, former Secretary of State Colin Powell as well as many other well known celebrities. But there’s so much more to Rene then the television personality who sat with perfect makeup and styled hair in front of the camera each morning. After both her parents were diagnosed with breast cancer and her own pre-cancerous diagnosis, she made an educated decision to have a preventative double mastectomy. She was then “let go” from her job at CBS and plummeted into a place that some of us have been before. That place where one doesn’t want to get out of bed, answer the phone or the door and simply dooen’t care. Rene climbed out of that dark place and created the Good Enough Mother.
Rene is beautiful. She’s an inspiration. She’s a GEM (Good Enough Mother). And I wish I had her beautiful hair!!
I think everyone in the room was waiting for the moment Cinderella’s Fairy God Mother would appear. As soon as she walked onto the stage cheers and applause filled the room. We all knew what was about to happen. Every single one of us wanted to hear that we were the winner of the night in Cinderella’s Castle. Cinderella’s Castle in the Magic Kingdom!
When Andrea won I cheered, applauded and was truly happy for her. Everyone was. We may have all been a bit envious but … we were all happy for Andrea and the 5 close friends she chose to take with her. Congratulations Andrea!!
Image from francapo.com
Do you know who the fastest talking woman is? I do! It’s Fran Capo and she did some mighty fast talking. Fran made us laugh. I was stunned at some of her adventures and was wishing I had her energy. She has actually climbed Kilimanjaro and dove to the the site of the Titanic. Wow! She has written several books, is a comedienne and a very inspirational speaker. We were inspired, laughed a lot and were lucky to have Fran speak to us.
Minnie Mouse made a special appearance dressed as Princess Leia. She announced that Star Tour-The Adventure Continues will be opening in Hollywood Studios on May 20, 2011. I know our 7-year old grandson would be over the top excited to go on that attraction!
Image from chrisbrogan.com
Chris Brogan is an accomplished author of several books that can lend a helping hand to anyone who participates in Social Media. Chris is on Twitter and Facebook. I started following Chris on both Twitter and FB some time ago. He always makes me smile and there’s always a lesson somewhere in his words. I receive an email each day about his blog updates. He had gained my respect long before he walked out on stage yet I still wasn’t prepared for the power behind his words. He grabbed my attention even more as soon as he asked if we had noticed that some bloggers can be “catty.” Wow! He put the “catty” topic right out there in the open. I’ve hestitated mentioning this topic all of my blogging career. I realize controversial topics can easily bring in traffic, but I’ve never had a desire to read unkind, demeaning or derogatory comments. I applaud Chris for bringing the topic up. I’d love nothing more than for the blogosphere to be honest AND kind and uplifting.
Cheers to Chris and … Cheers to all that Social Media can be!
I paid a modest fee to attend the Disney Social Media Moms Conference. The modest fee included a room at the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, Park Hopper tickets and extraordinary events and family dinner parties. There was no requirement to blog about the conference or the events. All the excitement and opinions are 100% mine!
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