Working the room at the Novotel Melbourne. Second guessing my dress after looking at this pic.

Do you have anything that you dread doing? But then as follow through, you do you feel awesome? That’s me with public speaking.

I mentioned in my last post, I aimed to “inspire and enable” but I was nervous. After the talk, I was really suprised how my presentation resonated with people. I was overwhelmed with the positive response from bloggers like Emma Stirling and Eden Riley. who wanted to use their blog to promote social good.

The session started with the “why” over the “how”, emphasising why Social Good is good for bloggers:

• Bloggers can and have made change in the world through challenging ideologies, raising awareness and seeking financial and non-financial support for causes.
• Social Good allows blog audiences a different side of bloggers through talking about engaging topics and speaking from the heart if bloggers allow themselves to be vulnerable.
• Blogging for social good allows bloggers to stay relevant and topical through the richness and depth of content available and the context of social causes/topics. There is always something topical and often controversial to discuss.
• Blogging can change you… Exploring the world around you, its challenges and triumphs can alter your perception of the world and the part you play in it if you let it.

After the “why blog for social good” came the “how”. Using examples of partnerships with bloggers and vloggers, I listed some key takeaways for effective social change blogging.

For those who wanted to test the waters, I distributed stories of World Vision’s response to the Horn of Africa famine and shared a new banner suite created specifically for the #pbevent.

I quickly realised that I was surrounded by intelligent compassionate bloggers, eager to make change in the world. Some shared stories of hardship, some of their passion for justice, many of how they would like to partner with charities but were unsure how. I was encouraged by their affirmation and believe I gained as much from their stories as they gained from my session.

Some banners were created specifically for Mum bloggers!

It was an honour to speak at this event and be introduced to such an incredible group of people. I believe there is I reason I met these men and women and I am extremely excited to see what will flourish. I already did a happy dance seeing social good banners up on some amazing blog sites! Thanks Annabel and Eden!:)

The session’s recording should be available on Problogger’s site this week.
I am contemplating whether I should expand on this topic in a blog series for those unable to attend. What do you think? Are there bloggers you think would be interested in learning about this or is a link to the recording substantial? I would love any feedback from those who attended the session as to which areas I could improve or further expand on.

A big thanks to Darren, Jasmin and Nicole for making the day possible!