Disney Social Media Moms Celebrations Activities

Disney Social Media Moms Celebrations Activities at Disney Social Media Moms Conference in 2011

The day started out bright and early. I dressed in the dark in our room as my family was still snoozing away in the glorious beds at The Grand Floridian. I went downstairs to breakfast at Citrico’s, which was delicious and a great start to my day. I headed over to the conference area for what I knew was going to be an amazing day of speakers.

I was able to locate a table and sit with fellow Chicago bloggers. Some I had met and some I had not yet been introduced to. It was great to meet so many wonderful locals to my area and make connections.

The speakers on day two of the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration featured Meg Crofton, president of Walt Disney World Resort; Matt Jacobson, head of Market Development for Facebook; Rene Syler, author of The Good Enough Mother, blogger, and former news anchor for CBS News’ The Early Show; Fran Capo, motivational speaker and world’s fastest talker; Chris Brogan, President of Human Business Works, social media author, and consultant; and Susan Egan & Georgia Stitt, musical talent.

Meg Crofton, President of Walt Disney World Resort was the introductory speaker and let us know that Walt Disney World has 62K employees (which I was so impressed with). A couple of other little notes I jotted down were that WDW goes through 9K pounds of food for the animals and drives 20 million miles a year with their vehicles. Amazing!

We also heard from Matt Jacobson, head of market development for Facebook, who was the 8th employee of Facebook. He was very relaxed and quite personable. He let us in on a little secret . . . The web is being rebuilt around people . . . but guess what - we all knew that already! He spoke about separating your work and personal identities and I am happy to say that I never joined the two! He went over a few key points in using facebook to build your brand and I am happy that I am utilizing all the tools that facebook is offering at this time.

Rene Syler, author of Good Enough Mother, blogger, & former news anchor for The Early Show was next up. I had never heard of her and don't remember her on The Early Show. That being said, I was hugely impressed by her absolute gracious nature while speaking with us women. Just delightful and raw. "Real Growth Hurts" ~Rene Syler and yes, yes it does.

We also heard from the world's fastest talker and I liked a couple of things that she said: "Just say yes and figure it out later" and "When the door opens, just go through it". These are two statements that I would not ever do . . . really . . . I am quite conservative and a planner . . . but I will make an effort to push myself to just say yes and figure it out later!

“How is easy to answer. Why is tricky. Ask yourself “why” all the time.” Chris Brogan was also very personable and approachable and real. He offered wonderful little tidbits about bloggers and branding and about the business of bloggers. Use your community is his advice and I shall take it along with looking for scraps of time to blog and promote my blog. I donot manage my time well . . . I need to work on this one.

Champagne (apple cider for me) and listening to Susan Egan(what a voice!!), Broadway star in Beauty and the Beast and from the movie Hercules, along with Georgia Stitt(WOW-what a pianoist!) rounded out the afternoon with an amazing concert!

My family had spent the day enjoying the pool and beach at The Grand Floridian and I was able to join them on the beach for a bit before we all headed to a  private party on the stage of Lights, Motors, Action! at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The party was hosted by Disney Junior. What an amazing evening!

When we returned to our room at The Grand Floridian I decided to take my two oldest children to Magic Kingdom . . . the little one stayed in the room with daddy and they had a tea party. I had an awesome evening with my two oldest . . . we stayed until closing!

A HUGE thanks to @disneysmmoms and the entire team. I paid for the conference and transportation at a discount and was given discounted accommodations. My opinions are my own.