The pace of digital communication is accelerating. I love the concept behind the Bean Bag Bloggers Lounge at the 2013 EMC World Conference in Las Vegas, where you must be a [verified blogger] to get in.

How it all began

Founded by Julie Deane and her mother Freda Thomas in 2008, The Cambridge Satchel Company was an idea born out of necessity, determination and incredible savvy. For those of you who read my recent blog post, It’s time to own your Super Powers, you’ll understand why I was so excited to meet her this evening! Inspirational!

Many of you may have seen the recent Google Chrome ad which highlighted Julie’s journey from being a mother of two children looking for a great business idea to fund them both through school right through to becoming a co-founder of a multi-million pound business with global reach and appeal and her product, the Cambridge Satchels, which are loved and adored by bloggers and fashionistas worldwide.

When she realised that her daughter had been inspired by the satchel style bags in the Harry Potter movies but couldn’t find one anywhere on the high street, she knew she’d spotted a gap in the market! An initial batch of pre-ordered Satchel’s that came through as a result of a £600 start-up leaflet campaign gave her a kick-start but when her pursuit of fashion and lifestyle editors and bloggers finally gained traction she saw her business, that began around her kitchen table, really take off!

When good people give back

How best to repay the people who fuelled the accelerated success of your business than by opening a Blogger’s Lounge in the basement of your very first boutique! Julie was delighted to tell my colleague Sarah and I how the lounge had been designed to look exactly like her kitchen to remind others how it all began.

“This is an exact replica of my kitchen table at home!”

Filled with an array of lovely Cambridge Satchel’s including the NEW ‘Brit it Bag’ Spring collection inspired by the Chelsea Flower show, the Blogger’s Lounge offers free Wi-Fi, a cosy and homely setting, a self-service kitchen area with shiny new Lavazza Favola Cappuccino Coffee machines (As a blogger by night and the Marketing Manager at Lavazza UK by day, this is very exciting for me!) and it’s open to bloggers during London Fashion Week! Going forward the lounge will be open to members and will be available to hire for blogger events. To become a member you will need to apply but I’d highly recommend doing so.

Among the incredibly stylish guests in attendance tonight at the boutique who came along to show their support for the launch were a few fashion favourites including, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Brix Smith-Start and her pug!

https://www.cambridgesatchel.co.uk

I should also mention the amazing Cambridge Satchel jellies that were made especially for the launch tonight! Incredible

Totally. Worth. It.

I am so very sad it’s over.

I am finally posting my pictures from last weekend! Three things I’d like to call out:

1. I should have taken many, many more photos, and preferably with a real camera.

2. It was three thousand degrees and nine million percent humidity – so I have a whopping two pictures that I allowed myself in and only one with Shai, which is particularly sad.

3. If you’re looking for a real peak into NYFW, I’m going to point you over to DrunkOnShoes just as soooon as she gets her pictures up. She’ll do it much more justice.  She really experienced NYFW as you’d imagine it – the shows, the celebs, etc.

So enjoy, in no particular order. Click to enlarge!

What is Social Media Tulsa?

Social Media Tulsa (or #SMTulsa) started as a monthly meetup group (which it still is!) and has grown into a website, social media accounts, a support and ideas network, a digital Chamber of Commerce of sorts, AND a conference!

The conference will be at the downtown Tulsa Hyatt and start with registration at 9 am Thursday with the keynote following at 10 am. It’s a nonstop partying classroom all that day and the next! There will be a blogger’s lounge, keynotes, breakout sessions, a showing of Twittamentary, a Tweetup, and as many Google+ Hangouts as I can squeeze in!

What’s exciting?

Mandy Vavrinak

My friend Mandy Vavrinak will be talking about the Relevance Revolution on Thursday right after lunch. We use people’s opinions and experiences as time saving mechanism all the time. Now, that advice is filtered through social media–and it went global! But I’m sure Mandy will have more interesting things to say about it.

Next on the list is Who Let the Dogs Out? or Social Pets at 1 on Friday. Why? Because I’m a dog person.

TillmanSkates.com

And then I’m torn because overlapping the amazing rollerblading dog is a Pinterest support group, which just sounds like too much fun! Any ideas on how to do both?

What will you be adding to the event?

I will be live plussing as many sessions as I can attend and type out notes for!

I will be doing as many Google+ Hangouts as time allows. I want to introduce Plussers to Tulsa and Tulsans to Google+!

Circle me on Google+ and let me know you want in the #SMTulsa circle in order to catch all this goodness!

Wow! What should I do now?

You should register for the conference on EventBrite and support the amazing sponsors who make this possible! You should also send karma to Cheryl Lawson who asked me to live plus the conference!

This year’s sponsors include Party Aficionado, Cherry Street Studios, Social Media Examiner, Captured Charms Photography, Tulsa Humane Society, Focus Consulting, Kalvin Kleen Mobile Marketing, MyMedLab, Tulsa Food Guy, Skinny Scoop, Apartment Guide, Other World Computing, Vocus, Summerside Vineyards, Natural Balance Pet Food, and Concord Keystone.

Come see what the bloggers are saying about Atlanta Apparel! Or just stop in for some refreshments, a place to sit down and relax or log in to catch up on what’s going on back home while you’re at market.

The blogger’s lounge is sponsored by Yepser, a Social Media/Internet Strategy Company that can help you build and market your brand through digital media. Find the lounge in Building 3, Floor 9, Southwest Quadrant, Showroom 354

View from the secret air-conditioned hair salon; it was our haven from the tortuous sun.

Thanks to Vitamin Water for keeping us hydrated!

The Two Point Oh! LA Blogger’s Lounge.

Make-up before the show

Eileen Lee of LA Lovetta is getting her hair did!  As you can see, I’m next in line.

Garments destined for the runway.

Kelsi Smith of Two Point Oh! LA taking a well-deserved minute to breathe.

Hair, makeup, and wardrobe set for Cowgirl Heaven.  As we awaited the big runway reveal, I snagged a pic with our blogger/stylist Bree Cooley of Stylist Diva.

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With our powers combined…

Taken right before the show.  I don’t know if I’d be so bold as to wear those pants again (they contour the good and bad!)

You can connect with people from all over the world who are in similar situations with similar experiences. God has given us an opportunity to tap into one another in more ways than possible. This is a way that you can take advantage of: This year there will be a Blogger’s Lounge. It’s going to be an incredibly awesome way to meet and greet some people that are making a big difference where they are: Here’s the latest list of everyone that will be there.

Carlos Whittaker – Production Director, Buckhead Church, GA
Twitter: loswhit
Blog: ragamuffinsoul.com

Jon Acuff – Creative Writer, GA
Twitter: prodigaljohn
Blog: stuffchristianslike.net, prodigaljohn.com, 97secondswithGodcom

Ben Arment – Director, Catalyst West Coast, GA
Twitter: BenArment
Blog: benarment.com

Brad Lomenick – Executive Director, Catalyst, GA
Twitter: bradlomenick
Blog: bradlomenick.com

JC Thompson – Elem. Production Director, Brookwood Church, SC
Twitter: jcsonline
Blog: jcsonline.wordpress.com

Kenny Conley – Next Generation Pastor, Gateway Church, TX
Twitter: kennyconley
Blog: childrensministryonline.com

Matt Mckee – Pastor of Students and Children, Horizon Community Church, OH
Twitter: mattmckee
Blog: mckeelive.com

Jonathan Cliff – Children’s Pastor, Trinity Church, TX
Twitter: jonathancliff
Blog: jonathancliff.com

Sam Luce – Children’s Ministry Director Mt. Zion Ministries Church, NY
Twitter: samluce
Blog: samluce.com

Gina McLain – LifeKids Pastor, LifeChurch.tv, OK
Twitter: jabberfrog
Blog: jabberfrog.com

Chad Swanzy – Student Ministried Pastor, Gateway Church, TX
Twitter: theuprisinglive
Blog: chadswanzy.blogspot.com

Rick Smith – Youth Speaker, Seminary Student, TX
Twitter: Rick_Smith
Blog: rickwsmith.com

Anna Meadows – Associate Youth Pastor, LifeChurch.tv, OK
Twitter: anna_meadows
Blog: annameadows.com

John Saddington – Creative Web Director, North Point Ministries, GA
Twitter: human3rror
Blog: human3rror.com, churchcrunch.com

The very counter-culture nature of blogging defies this kind of labeling and classification.  The bloggoshpere is the untamed frontier and an exciting place to find opinions, stories and recommendations. I have certainly heard people post that “some bloggers just want free (stuff) wine”.  But as I have spent some time reading wine blogs and actually spent time with the wine bloggers themselves, it is not an easy (usually unpaid) job to wine blog.  Any level of credibility or readership is hard earned and maintained by a level of quality, personality and humor.

I have been a regular advocate for blogger access to the wine industry in the same way we grant access to traditional media and press.  Wine bloggers have an outreach that can potentially go deeper and beyond traditional print media…at least in the wine industry.  Just recently Hahn Estates hosted the first Bloggers Tasting Forum and ZAP will have a sponsored Bloggers Lounge offering bloggers free access to the 2 day event.  So far, these beginnings have suggested tremendous success in blogger/wine industry relationship building.   The expectation is that this access will directly benefit not just bloggers and wineries, but the consumers.  With greater access to information, recommendations and outreach, we aim to convert more people into wine lovers everywhere.

So, how would you classify bloggers?  They are a complex and various group of wineophiles from all over the world.   The current count is over 1,000 wine blogs and growing.  How would you define which ones get credentials for the wine events and which ones don’t?

• By Readership?
• Quality of writing?
• Their own level of wine education?

And what if the wine blogger…a really great one…isn’t interested in the credential?  Most of the wine bloggers I have met are stunningly smart and busy with day jobs, families, hobbies and fully packed lives.  And as I have said before, they do their wine blog strictly for the passion of it.  The Wine Bloggosphere is better off because of them.  I would hate to see them squeezed out by beaucracy or obstacles that have less to do with a passion for wine and more to do with sorting that helps marketers achieve ROI.

What are your thoughts?

Graphic courtesy of Google Images.

Part of me would love to dedicate hours each day to blogging, however I’m lucky to squeeze in a couple posts a week lately. I am always interested in expanding my reach though and hearing other bloggers’ stories. That’s why I’m excited for tomorrow’s “Blogger’s Lounge” event at Bella Luna in Boston/Jamaica Plain. This bloggers-only event promises some fun networking, tasty treats supplied by the wonderful folks at Bella Luna Restaurant, and even some new friends!

If you’re a blogger, RSVP by sending your name, email, and blog URL to BostonBlogEvent@gmail.com. If you’re going, I’ll see you between 6:30 and 8:30pm for the event!

We’re blogging today live from the Blogger’s Lounge at CES. And apparently we bloggers have bad breath, as every table has piles of these breath mints, which they refill from time to time. Thanks for making us feel at home, CES!

Also, a CES employee came and snapped photos of us blogging for the CES blogger’s blog. That’s what we call “meta”.