BritMums got talent

This is the only picture I took. Don't judge me.

Yes, I know that headline isn't grammatically correct, but I'm tired. Really tired, in fact. Yes, as I write this, I'm still knackered from the experience that was attending my first ever blogging conference. BritMums Live was a great event, densely populated by genuinely lovely but nonetheless irritatingly talented people. I will confess now to having been nervous about the whole thing in the days approaching the event – after all, I knew how many bloody brilliant writers I was going to find myself wandering among and was shy about talking to them.

I needn't have worried; everyone was approachable and I spoke to loads of them, which was just as well as I had to get up in front of people and exercise my silly voice on the Saturday – more on that in a bit. If I mentioned everyone I chatted to, this would be a very long post indeed but, I'm going to name a few who I particularly enjoyed talking to. Here goes! Mutterings of a Fool, Life with an Autistic Son, Hello Wall, Chronicles of a Reluctant Housedad, HerMelness speaks, Bringing up Charlie, Geekmummy, Dadzclub, Alexander Residence, Dad's Cooking Tonight, Mammasaurs and SAHDandproud. Take a bow, my blogging chums!

The bloggers and other speakers were all fantastic and there were some very moving stories in some sessions and the bloggers' keynote at the end of the weekend. The celebrity speakers were all excellent too and, as a couple of others have pointed out, it was good to see TV presenter Katy Hill still in attendance at the very end of the show, long after her scheduled commitment of presenting the Brilliance in Blogging awards on the previous evening.

So what of my public speaking bit? Well I was part of a panel of dad bloggers – along with the majority of the other dads linked to above – answering questions about what it is to be part of a female-dominated domain and whether we need special treatment as a result. Unfortunately, this session clashed with a few other appealing ones, so the attendance was quite low, but I feel that this reflected the general consensus of the discussion that unfolded in a way. 

Those of us who blog and also happen to be dads want to be part of the bigger picture rather than singled out. It was lovely to be asked to speak at the conference and I don't want to sound ungrateful, but perhaps a session about dads wasn't needed. Similarly, having our own category in the Brilliance in Blogging awards – taking nothing away from Ben at Mutterings of a Fool who won it – maybe sends out the wrong message too. 

All this said, it would be nice to see more blokes at BritMums Live next year – we're part of a strong community, so let's make sure we're well represented to acknowledge that! It'll be taking place on the same weekend next year – I'll see you there!

So that was last weekend. This coming weekend, I'm going to be in Bridgend surrounded by hundreds of people dressed as cats...