We flew into Orlando on Thursday afternoon, and after taking care of a little incident with our luggage, we were on our way with @corrinrenee to Disney World. We had a whirlwind (i.e. quickie) trip, though we actually were able to do a lot. On my list (in no particular order) was 1) Eat a Dole Whip, 2) Ride the Haunted Mansion, 3) Get a picture with Winnie the Pooh and 4) Ride Buzz Lightyear. Each of those were accomplished, and we even rode probably 3-4 other things due to there being no lines. We watched part of the afternoon parade, and posed for pictures with pumpkins too. This was the only trip to Disney I have ever taken where I did not have to wait in line. We even hopped right on Pirates of the Caribbean!

My customary photo with my (nick)namesake

Our trip was short because we actually had plans to attend the IzeaFest pre-party at Howl-O-Scream at Busch Garden’s. The chartered buses took us from Orlando to Tampa to experience the park transformed into a Halloween lover’s dream. There were 7 really decent haunted houses, and lots of little touches and scare zones scattered across the park. We loved seeing the elephants in the dark (one even bowed to us!) We also rode their huge wooden coaster and one other ride. I would have loved to see the park in the light of day too. I bet it is even more amazing. I was disappointed to miss out on the big fashion show that I heard so much about prior to going, but I feel like we did a lot in the over two hours that we were there. The park is so big (and was sooo dark) that we had a hard time navigating our way back to the front gate.

@heatherinbc and @table4five

In the morning we made our way over to registration (a little later than I wanted since I forgot about the time difference). Dave and I were greeted by Ashley and two of my fellow Insiders, Heather and Elizabeth. I had met Heather in NY for ASE, but this was my first time to meet Elizabeth. She was a complete sweetheart. I wish I would have had the opportunity to spend more time with her, but hopefully next time.

Over the two days, I picked up a lot of information. To be honest, I am still processing what it is all going to mean for me and my blog. I have been contemplating changes for a long time, and I am still deciding what road I want to go down. I will probably be making another post that is more specific to the content of the conference. I just wanted to share a quick recap and some of the fun photos.

My new friend Lucky the sloth

We also had the opportunity to go to Icebar Orlando after the first day of sessions. It was a fun event, and a great venue. There is a separate room made entirely of ice, including the glasses you drink out of! They even give you hooded jackets. This was way better that our local Ghostbar.

@mommaven, @itstoni, @corrinrenee, @laurie_pooh, @decipheryou

We also enjoyed shots on Uncle Ted, and shared a bottle of Moet. Needless to say, I was feeling a little bit tipsy. Dave even participated in the karaoke contest!

@tedmurphy strikes a pose

Chillin’ in the Icebar

On the last day of the conference, we were all introduced to @tommyfishback, the incredible 14-year old who I dubbed Ted Murphy’s Mini Me. It was pretty darn incredible how eloquent, informative and full of ideas he was. I know we will definitely be hearing more great things from him in the coming years. Oh, and he even participated in a cake plow, as did Ted and Bob.

Our MC, Bob and Ted Murphy

On Sunday we spent the day at SeaWorld. Dave and I rode the Manta twice, but really enjoyed Kraken more. It was a lot longer, and faster. We sat in the very front, which I guess is suppose to be the best place to experience the ride. We also caught several shows (including Believe which turns me into a sobbing baby) fed sting rays, sea lions, and dolphins and had lunch. It was a great day, and afterward we headed immediately to the airport to go home.

Dave & I in a picturesque location within SeaWorld

I met a lot of great people, and wish there had been more time to meet and talk with even more. I am actually very quiet and tend to observe rather than approach others. I work much better on a one-on-one basis than in big groups where the bigger personalities tend to drown mine out. There were a lot of bloggers and people from Twitter that I wanted to meet, but didn’t want to stretch out of my comfort zone and walk up to and strike up a conversation. I am working on that though, and hopefully next time will be better.

Want to see more of my IZEAFest pictures? Check out my slideshow:

That’s Corrin and I. I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that we never met until I arrived in New York. We have been online friends for a long time- way before either of us started blogging and before either of us were old married ladies. When I got married five years ago, she actually sent me her Tiffany earrings as my “something borrowed” because I was bamboozled by a scammer on eBay. She said that once she got them back is when she realized I was okay. HA! I didn’t know that part of the story until the other day when we were talking about it in the blogger’s lounge.

We met @HeatherinBC and ConnieFoggles at the Meet Market on the first day and chatted like old friends. It is always fun to put faces with names and blogs that you enjoy. They were both really sweet, and it was nice to finally meet them. Below is a shot of myself, Heather, Connie, and a new affiliate marketing friend posing for a photo with our XShots.

From the few industry events and conferences I have been to, I have learned that the networking and relationship building seems to be one of the key priorities of most attendees verses attending the sessions. While I did attend a quite a few sessions, I made it a priority to meet and talk to different people about what they are doing and share ideas and get feedback on what I am doing. I spent a lot of time talking about IZEA, and not just because they helped sponsored my trip since I am an Insider. A lot of the companies and marketers I spoke to were very interested in their platform. Coincidentally I also spent the whole three hour plane trip from DFW to NYC chatting about the company (among other things) with a woman and her business partner who were also going to ASE.

Here is Corrin in one of the sessions we attended:

Some of the information in the sessions wasn’t exactly geared toward publishers, but I still learned quite a bit about affiliate do’s and don’ts. It was interesting to hear about how things work on the other side of the industry. Oh, and I also spotted a lot of big industry web celebs such as Chris Brogan, John Chow, and Jeremy Schoemaker.

In addition, Corrin and I volunteered to work the booth for the Affiliate Marketers Give Back team, captained by Missy Ward, who will be participating in the Avon Breast Cancer Walk in Los Angeles in September. We met a lot of nice people who dropped by to make a donation. Obviously that is a cause that is near and dear to my heart, so I was very glad to help out. I also appreciate that Shawn Collins extended me an invitation and Platinium Pass to the conference several months ago after seeing a tweet that I had sent on Twitter. I did see him a few times, but he was always engaged in conversation. I would have liked to thank him in person.

We finally were able to get all of the IZEA Insiders at the event together for a photo in the blogger’s lounge on the last day of the conference before we went our separate ways.

Drew, myself, Corrin, Heather, and Brett.

There were quite a few outtakes, as we were all trying to maneuver our fancy camera equipment at the same time. Here is one of those, for fun:

Corrin and I also took a photo with Connie, our honorary Insider, and had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with her husband and daughter, Peanut. That was a lot of fun because of course I read all about them on her blog.

I think the conference was a good learning experience, and I am glad that I was able to be apart of it and meet so many great people in the process. Affiliate Summit West will take place in Las Vegas in January if there are those of you out there that missed the event in NYC.

Still need a ticket to IZEAFest October 1-4? No problem! You can use my affiliate link above, or beg me for one in my comments section. I just might oblige. Bonus points if you also beg me on Twitter with the the hashtag #IZEAFest. Even more bonus points if you join my SuperCrew on SocialSpark.

In honor of their birthday, how would you like to win a ticket to IZEAFest at SeaWorld October 1-4? That’s a $229 value that includes a free ticket to the park! I am going to make this easy. Simply write a post on your blog about why you want to go to IZEAFest linking back to this entry on my blog and you are entered. If you would like to join my SuperCrew in SocialSpark (and aren’t already a member of another crew), I will give you an extra entry. You can also tweet this message for a third entry:

I want to win a ticket to @IZEAFest at SeaWorld from @laurie_pooh: http://tinyrul.com/freeizeafest

Please leave me a comment on this entry for each thing that you will do. I will select a winner on Monday, July 6. Good Luck!

Check out more about IZEAFest on their website!

edit: Congratulations to Nancy! She has won a free ticket to IZEAFest at SeaWorld!

I am also recruiting members for my IZEA Insider’s Crew, SuperCrew. Would you like a key to the new version of PayPerPost? What about CloudShout? Been dying to get a ticket to IZEAFest in Orlando, Florida this October? I’ve got those too! The 2009 event is at Sea World this year which is very exciting. The new site IS LIVE will be going live in the next few weeks, and you’re not going to want to miss it! Of course you have to be a member of SuperCrew to win one of my free passes. What are you waiting for? It’s easy!

1) Login to SocialSpark.com or create an account.
2) From the top header tab, go to Account.
3) From the right column select blogger profile.
4) Under the profile basics tab, select your IZEA Insiders Membership, SuperCrew!

If you have any issues signing up or selecting my crew, please let me know. Once you save your profile, come back here and leave me a comment to let me know you’ve joined. I’ll send you a little welcome pack in the mail if you e-mail me your address. I will also have a drawing for an IZEA t-shirt among all of the new members who join before June 1. Also, if you’d like a key to the new PayPerPost or to CloudShout, let me know and I’ll hook you up!

I bet you are wondering how my FIGHT HUNGER. FIGHT CANCER. fundraiser at On The Border last night went, right?! Well, I think it was fantastic! We had a great turnout of friends and supporters, as well as the local community. Also, I cannot say thank-you enough to IZEA who sponsored the event, and to On The Border in West McKinney who will be donating a portion of the night’s proceeds to my 2009 Race for the Cure.

I was very impressed with all of the help that On The Border gave me. The manager had all of his staff on hand, and asked that they wear their “Festa for the Cure” gear. With my balloons, banner, and items for sale and up for raffle, the theme of the evening – raising funds to find a cure for breast cancer – was evident.

Ted Murphy, IZEA’s CEO, even made an appearance at the event! Okay… so it was only a laminated photo of his head, but I think he still had a pretty good time! We got a good laugh out of it, too. I hope the “real” Ted finds it as amusing as we did.

Of course I cannot forget about the food. I had an amazing Sizzling Fajita Salad. This is one of my most favorite meals on the planet. It makes me feel like I am being healthy, but really it is kind of naughty. D and I also split the new desert sampler. We wouldn’t really recommend this though. Sorry, OTB! But it does look super yummy, huh?!

I also met some new friends thanks to my Facebook Group. Cathy (center) is currently going through treatment for breast cancer. She brought three of her friends (only two are pictured). They were the first to arrive shortly before 5:00 PM and each got one of my gift bags. They stayed for hours chatting and seemed to have a great time. I am so glad that they were able to join us! I just love that social media is able to bring perfect strangers together for a great cause. I am always very honored and humbled to be thanked by people like Cathy and her friend Barbara. It makes me feel like this really does make a difference.

I mentioned that we had a lot of friends show up to support us too. Dave’s co-worker, Heidi, brought her mom and daughter. She actually had a fundraiser at the same location several months back for a Leukemia run that she is doing in May. Dave’s former co-worker, Ken, also came and brought some other friends.

My awesome friends came out in abundance. This location is very small, and it we were all very spread out. I was trying to mingle between tables while posting updates on Twitter and Facebook, but it became pretty hard. At one point we had at least 7 different groups of friends and their families. Krista and Helen were among the first, sat with us, and stayed until the end.

Nikki, her fiance Craig, and her two kiddos joined us too. Nikki and I walked together in the Breast Cancer 3-Day last year, so we’ve been through a lot together. Sleeping in a cozy two person tent and walking 60 miles with a person makes you pretty close. She has been terribly sick all week, but still managed to join us anyway. I think she enjoyed looking especially miserable in the photo below. I hope you feel better soon, Nik!

Jodie and Allen also came and brought their adorable little girl. They have also all been very sick too, so I appreciate that they were able to make it as well. Trish brought her family, and her daughter especially loved the IZEA silly putty that was in the swag bag. Look at what she made. Too cute!

I think we had a really successful event and a lot of fun for a good cause. I am a little sad that I wasn’t able to get pictures with everyone. We had more friends there too. At one point I only had my cell phone, so you can see Kris smelling her pink breast cancer Sharpie, my pink balloons, Daena and her cute black & pink shirt, and Barbara’s cool breast cancer shoes and more on Twitter/Facebook. Thanks again to everyone that came out and participated. I appreciate it! I hope everyone had fun for this great cause.

Now for more fun stuff: Julie is the winner of an 8 GB iPod nano in the color of her choice. Congratulations, and thank you for your donation! If you wanted to make a donation to my walk, it’s not too late! It’s also not too late to win a prize. Everyone seems to love Save the Ta-Tas merchandise. I cannot tell you how many comments and questions I got about my t-shirt all day long. Check out the awesome Save the Ta-Tas gift basket that they sent for me to raffle at the event!

Would you like a t-shirt like mine? Is there another design that is your personal favorite? Did you know that they even have a cheeky offering for men too? One lucky winner will get their choice of any t-shirt from their website (babies and doggies, too)!

Here is how to enter:

1) Check out http://savethetatas.com: Leave a comment with the name of the shirt you’d like to win for one entry. 2) Make a $5 (or more) donation to my walk for 25 entries. 3) Write your own blog post and link to this post for one entry. 4) Follow me on Twitter and send the following message for one entry: RT @laurie_pooh is raffling a Save the Ta-Tas tee to benefit Susan G. Komen. Support her here: http://tinyurl.com/tatastee #icause 5) Stumble this post for one entry. 6) Follow or subscribe to my blog for one entry.

A winner will be selected randomly from all valid entries on or around April 30. Thank you again for your support of my 2009 Race for the Cure and Susan G. Komen.

Edit: You can also now enter to win a $25 On The Border gift card too! Two other winners will receive a free desert coupon: 1) Leave a comment with the name of your favorite OTB dish for one entry.

2) Make a $5 (or more) donation to my walk for 25 entries.
3) Write your own blog post and link to this post for one entry.
4) Follow me on Twitter and send the following message for one entry:
RT @laurie_pooh is raffling an On The Border gift card to benefit Susan G. Komen. Support her here: http://bit.ly/OHekT #icause
5) Stumble this post for one entry.
6) Follow or subscribe to my blog for one entry.

(3) Winners will be selected randomly from all valid entries on or around May 15. The first randomly selected entry will win the gift card; the next two drawn will win free desert. You must leave a comment letting me know that you are entering the OTB giveaway with your favorite dish to qualify for this drawing as well as additional comments letting me know if you donated, twittered, stumbled, follow my blog, or wrote a blog post. You can enter this giveaway even if you have already entered to win the TaTas t-shirt! Just leave the appropriate number of comments.

Edit: We made $510 from online donations and by receiving 5% of the restaurant’s proceeds that night! Now leave a comment of support below!

To be fair, I did have the trip planned long before I knew about the party. I can’t really get a refund for the $450 ticket either. I am staying at Chez Simon (aka my friend’s house), so my out of pocket expenses will not be too bad other than gas and meals (Thanks, Kat!) IZEA is sponsoring my ticket, so if you have ever considered making money on your blog please sign up for SocialSpark and friend me. You can also leave a comment here letting me know you’ve joined. There are plenty of ways to monetize your blog and other social networking hot spots to generate money/buzz, but I understand you have to make your own choice about what works best for you.

I had a great time signing up for the different panels that are available for the Interactive track a few weeks ago. Some of the names truly cracked me up. Personal Favorite? There is one called, Bloggers: How Not to get F_ _ _ed. Love it. I will be there on Saturday at 5:00 PM, and will without a doubt be reporting back. If you’ll be there too, shoot me a message and we can meet up.

I know there are lots of you who have plenty of big blogging conference experience. Is there anything I really need to know before descending on Austin? I already know that SXSW is huge. It’s going to be crazy. Traffic is going to be crazy. What should I bring? Here’s my short list: laptop, crackberry, ipod, pens, paper, business cards, swag. What else? I was hoping to get an Xshot (yes, that’s my affiliate link) before next week, but I don’t think that is going to happen in time. I have heard that they are great though, and would definitely come in handy at a place like this. Since I am without, be prepared for a ton of bad self portraits, people. I apologize in advance.

I’m not really signed up for any big parties either. I really want to attend the Facebook one. I clicked their link on the site, but I assume it’s pretty hard to get into considering how many other people are trying to get in. Speaking of exclusive, I also hear Perez Hilton is having another fabulous bash this year (date, location and time still top secret) with the likes of Tori Amos and perhaps Katy Perry. That would definitely rock. Love him or hate him, you have to admit it is going to be THE place to be. I heard last year over 90,000 RSVPed, and only a few hundred actually made it in and partied until 7:00 AM. Hey, he obviously knows how to throw (and publicize) a good party.

If you’re a SXSW insider, please spill any hints, tips, or fun facts in the comments below. I’ll see you there. I’ll be wearing my follow me @laurie_pooh Twitter t-shirt next Saturday (March 14). Look for me!

P.S. I did a little extra digging, and here is a list of 2009 SXSW parties. Also, Jake McKee/Community Guy, wrote a great SXSW Survival Guide, and Dave Delaney has 5 Crucial SXSW Tips posted on his site as well. These are all great reads to get ready for the conference.

My small crew, SuperCrew, already has their own Google Group and we would love to have more bloggers join us. As you can see, we also have our own icon (Thanks, IZEA!) that you can display on your blog to show you are part of the crew. I am working on getting another badge created for my members. If you are interested, drop me a comment or e-mail. I plan on attending at least two blogging conferences this year, and there will be plenty of contests and giveaways too. I’m looking forward to a fun year, but I can’t do it all alone. I hope you will join me.

A lot of great bloggers and blogging friends also were selected to be Insiders too, so I know that we will all be competing to add members which makes me a little bit nervous. I don’t have a huge following. I plan to work hard and hopefully recruit some new blogging friends. Do you want to be on my crew? Do you have any words of encouragement for me? Any ideas on names for my crew? Please share them with me in the comments.

IZEA has promised a lot of great perks such as free tickets to IZEAFest and other swag for me to give away to Crew Members. I hope that you will consider joining me. I don’t have all the details yet, but I have a lot of fun ideas that I will be sharing with you soon. I hope that everyone who is local will join me so that we can work together to build a great team. If we get over 50 members, Ted Murphy himself will fly out to speak to our group. How exciting would that be?!

I’m already giving away a $25 Starbucks gift card, but I thought I’d give you some incentive to join and help me out. Holiday shopping is in full swing, so how about a $25 Target gift card? To be eligible to win, simply leave me a comment saying you’d like to join my crew, or with some suggestions for crew names. I have until Friday to get back with Ashley with a decision, so I’ll draw a winner next Thursday night. Thanks in advance for helping me out and for sharing your ideas!

Ted Murphy and his team at IZEA are the ones that inspired me to take my blogging off of LiveJournal and onto my own domain. Originally I started my blog in 2004 as a way to keep in touch with friends and family. In August 2006 I heard about PayPerPost via my blogging friend, Corrin. I figured since I was already blogging so much, why not make a little money too? Following her lead, I joined and have never looked back.

I have said it many times, but it bares repeating: PayPerPost changed my life. The extra money allowed me to save for a new car and house, as well as many other “extras” I never would have been able to afford otherwise. Below is one of the first “opportunities” I took for PPP, and they will forever get a thumbs up from me:

I have always been an advocate for PPP and have spread the word to anyone who would listen to me sing their praises. I might have scared a few away with this one. Sorry, Ted:

I was in the Top 10 PPP earners for over a year until I lost my PR. For me, it was never really all about the money anyway. Through SocialSpark and PPP, I have met countless awesome bloggers and have had the best time being part of the community. I entered three out of four Blog Battle Royale competitions, and was a semi-finalist not once, but twice. I also dedicated myself to playing HDTV Tuesday in which I won a sweet Blu Ray player and 1K Tuesday where I snagged $500.

I won’t go into how many sleepless nights were involved in order to pull all that off. I won’t tell you how many e-mails, message board posts, and phone calls it took to get the votes needed to win some of the contests. It’s all about networking. That being said, I am dedicated. If selected to be an Insider, I would be just as dedicated in performing my duties.

I’ve learned a thing or two about marketing and promotion, but I know I could improve a lot. I use my blogs to host giveaways and promote myself and my causes. Earlier in the year I had a COACH purse giveaway that yielded over 1000 comments. Currently I have several giveaways revolving around Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I even created a blog dedicated to my Breast Cancer 3-Day walk to help fundraise, create awareness, and drum up support. It has been an incredible tool that has helped my team raise over $13,000 for Susan G. Komen.

The power and generosity of the blogosphere is absolutely apparent to me. I’ve also pounded the pavement locally by passing out business cards and speaking with business owners who have also shown their support by donating goods and services. When I do things, I go all out. A few weeks ago I stood on the side of the road in a bra while holding a sign to promote a garage sale. Who knows what other crazy things I would do.

I’m active on Twitter, MySpace, Entrecard, MyBlogLog, and several LiveJournal Communities. I am also a member of the The Dallas/Ft. Worth Area WordPress Meetup group. I frequent several other message boards and social networking sites too.

I haven’t attended any out of state conferences this year due to timing and finances, but I did watch and participate in as many sessions as I could online. Next year I’d love to go to Blog World Expo, BlogHER, and naturally IZEAFest. I love to travel (Vegas is my favorite) and I don’t go anywhere without my laptop or CrackBerry BlackBerry.

I had the pleasure of meeting Ted, Ashley and Travis in Dallas last year on their Blog America Tour when they visited the Dallas Ad League. They seem like awesome, fun, and genuine guys. I would love the opportunity to work with them on their latest project, and would definitely help represent a Crew if given the chance. And I promise there will be no more singing.