But occasionally a charity will come along that makes me want to do something – however small – to stick a bit of cash in their pocket.

PiggyBankKids have just done that. When I came away from BritMums Live the other week, the one thought foremost in my mind was that I wanted to stay in touch with PiggyBankKids. I didn’t know much about them before the conference. I knew they were a small charity that Sarah Brown is involved with, and that at least one of their projects is based in Scotland (that pushes several of my goodwill buttons already), but I didn’t know the detail of their work.

After a chat with their Projects Officer, and a browse of their website I now know that the programmes they run are varied but all have the aim of changing children’s lives for the better. Their flagship project is the Jennifer Brown Research Laboratory – based in Edinburgh – which is focused on pregnancy and neonatal research. Scientists at the Laboratory are making significant progress towards solving some of the life threatening complications that can arise during pregnancy and birth, in particular the causes of early labour.

I was hugely impressed with the dedication and enthusiasm of the small team at PiggyBankKids and as I used to work for a small charity myself I fully understand the challenges of raising money in a crowded sector. I still didn’t want to run a marathon or organise an event, but I did want to give them some cash.

Eventually, after a day or two of head scratching, I was inspired by the name of the charity itself – PiggyBankKids. In an era of online giving, it can be quite easy to forget that hard cash is an option too! I don’t have an actual piggy bank, but I do have several jars and pots around the house that I stick my loose change in. DorkyDad and I have both done it for years – we even had carrier bags of unsorted coins move house with us. Once every few months I’ll gather together the pound coins and pay them into DorkySon’s bank account, but I usually give up before I get to the pennies.

Piggy Bank Kids has finally provided the inspiration I need to get my hands dirty and start stacking up those pennies. I started yesterday while DorkySon was at nursery, but I didn’t manage to finish before pick-up time, so when he came home and saw lots of coins all over the table he was full of questions. I gave a very simple explanation – that the money was going to help babies to feel better – and he decided to raid his own Piggy Bank to add a few coins of his own. He is a sweet wee boy.

So this will be my donation. I have raided all my own ‘piggy banks’ and stacked up the pennies. It’s amazing how it adds up. If I’ve got my maths right then my grubby old coins added up to somewhere around £170, and a cheque for that amount will be winging its way to Piggy Bank Kids later in the week.

If you want to join me, please do. If you’re a shy, non-skydiving type but you still want to make a difference to a small charity, why not do a loose change collection in your own house? Get your kids involved. Blog about it. The best thing about this kind of small donation is that as soon as you’ve made it you can start saving up for the next one…

You can also make a text donation to PiggyBankKids by texting 70070 with the message PIGY10 followed by the amount you want to donate eg PIGY10£10

And if you want to say hello to PiggyBankKids you can follow them on Twitter, like them on Facebook, or just have a browse of their website.

Enough already I hear you scream.

But it’s done now! I attended and got high on the natural buzz of everything blogging, So… I guess it would be just plain rude of me if I didn’t tell you how it went!

Two entire days of workshops, inspiring talks, healthy debates, mingling, tea and a generous servings of cake (not forgetting the odd glass of wine and an awards party) is a lot to get through! So… As not to overload you, I’ll break this down into more manageable portions as to provide you with the highlights.

So here are my top 20… Enjoy!

Friday…

1) Arriving at 4.30 pm midway through a tea break. A cup of coffee and a slice of moist cake was just what this girl needed after the commute (god I loath the underground, though don’t tell the transport obsessed son I just said that)!

2) My first workshop of the weekend “The bloggers studio: The path to getting published, with bloggers who have done it” Having already started writing a book (see last post) this for me was need to know information. All speakers provided us listeners with some fantastic advice, especially “Emily Carlise” (More than just a mum) which meant that I left smiling.

3) I found that this year there was a much larger network of parent bloggers who’s main focus was on that of SEN, Autism, Aspergers and Disability. This meant that I finally got to meet some of the bloggers behind some of my favourite blogs. Tania from Special Needs Jungle has been a lady I’ve wanted to meet for some time. Finally getting to have a good old chin wag over a couple of glasses of wine was brilliant (Yes, we talked about everything from SEN provision to our boys unique and wonderful little ways).

4) The BIB Awards ceremony, Oh yes, did I forget to mention that an awards bash was merging into the agenda? OK, forget I did not but who can blame me, especially when this very blog was a finalist in the category Inspire! Ok, sadly I didn’t claim the title, but at least I lost out to the lovely talented “Mummy Whisper” Seriously it is impossible to hold any kind of blogger resentment, Lisa is just to bloody nice!

5) The fact that Special Needs Jungle did it for us SEN parents by bagging the Change Award! My fellow SEN blogger, activist, Aspergers Mum and now drinking buddy Tania was a little shocked by winning but still stepped on the stage and shared an important message with the 500+ bloggers, “Please do something to help looked after children in care as many of these children are not lucky to have dedicated parents” Please read and share her latest post.

6) The waiters at the BIBs party… I say no more!

7) The after party drinks with some lovely bloggers.

Saturday…

8) Sarah Brown (wife to ex PM Gordon Brown and founder/president of Piggy Bank Kids) opening key note “Finding your Voice”

9) The Discussions Den, “Blogging for the greater good” A real inspiring discussion hosted by the lovely Kate (Kate on thin ice). Other speakers included Camila Batmanghelidjh (Kids Company) the inspiring Polly Gowers, (Give as you live) Claire from One and one of my favourite bloggers fellow finalist in both the Mads and the BIBs “Kylie Hodges” writer of the blog “Not even a bag of sugar” All gave some fantastic tips and advice on blogging for the greater good. This was by far one of my favourite discussions at Britmums Live.

10) The “Getting the most out of Google +” workshop as this meant that I now understand a little better on how to actually use it.

11) My one 2 one style consultancy with TK Maxx personal stylist “Claire” her suggestions surrounded me with doubt. However she knew her stuff and I left wanting to buy myself some peg trousers.

12) More Cake!

13) How great it was to never find myself stood awkwardly in a corner like a loner! Seriously, there was more than enough lovely bloggers to chat and mingle with.

14) Having a manicure at the Crocs stand! My nails looked lovely (keep an eye out for my lightweight crocs wellie review in August).

15) The display of fireworks right outside my hotel window.

16) The talk by Cherry Healey… What a legend! A brilliant talk on how to combine social media, press and tv to help promote your blog and of course having the time to do so.

17) Acting like a bit of a tit in the Orlando photo booth.

18) Chilling out at the Butlins stand with Laura (Tired mummy of two) it was lovely to catch up.

19) Getting to chat with some lovely bloggers and brands during the breaks including Romanian mum and Mum of three boys.

20) Lastly the amazing bloggers keynote. I cried and laughed out loud. I can’t recommend the following post enough!
Doing it all for Aleyna: Survivor
Down Side up: What to say when a baby is born with Down Syndrome
Dorky Mum: Twitter is like
Ministry of Mum: Seven days of special love

Lastly I would like to thank the people at Orchard Toys for sponsoring my attendance. Of you haven’t checked them out then please do.

I always find it useful taking a day or two to reflect on a new experience before writing about it, and this weekend – BritMums Live and the Brilliance in Blogging Awards – is no exception. The post I can write today is a lot more measured than the post I would have written on Friday night.

Friday was the BiB Awards, and I will confess to finding the event totally overwhelming and not a lot of fun. I headed into London late Friday afternoon with friend and fellow nominee Emily (The Start up Wife). We had a lovely walk from the station to the venue – although we were so busy chatting that we didn’t pay enough attention to the map and took a much longer route than we needed to. It led us through some funky and interesting parts of London though, and gave Emily the chance to take some photos.

Some parts of the evening were lovely. Some big name bloggers who I’m a fan of – Kate Takes 5 and Michelle Twin Mum – came over for a chat and were both incredibly friendly and down to earth. I had a lot of lovely compliments about my dress, which had been provided by White Stuff, and a few people even recognised me because of it, saying they had seen my What I’m Wearing post earlier in the week! I was delighted to see Emily win the Snap Category, and also to see Lisa from Mummy Whisperer (another St Albans blogger) win the Inspire Category. It was a real honour to be a finalist in the Fresh Voice category myself, but I had no expectations of winning – it was only ever going to go to one person – and I could not be happier for the mighty Mammasaurus who has done so much to foster a sense of community in the year that she has been blogging.

But arriving just for the BiBs after the majority of other bloggers had been there for the afternoon of the conference made it feel like I never quite caught up; the sheer number of people and the noise levels made it very difficult to have proper conversations with fellow bloggers, who had already established themselves in tight groups. Drinks were served by ‘Wine Buffs’ – waiters dressed in little more than their pants, with slogans scrawled across their chests in body paint. I am no prude, but I don’t think they were a good addition to the evening. They made me feel extremely awkward and uncomfortable, and I was astonished to hear some bloggers – the very same ones who would have a hissy fit if there were scantily clad women serving drinks at an event – directing some pretty lewd and crude comments at them.

In all, I think the combination of the free-flowing Prosecco and the competition element of the evening brought out the worst in some people, and after I saw one BiBs winner being subjected to some pretty catty comments in the toilets after winning her award, I decided it was time to head home.

After a not-very-awesome start to the weekend, I can’t say I was much looking forward to the Saturday. Again, I was going to be showing up late. The Saturday morning pancake and bacon routine in the DorkyHouse is so enshrined that I wasn’t prepared to miss it, even to see Sarah Brown speak.

However, when I did arrive at the venue just before lunchtime, the Piggy Bank Kids stall was the first place I headed, where I had a good chat with their Projects Assistant Charlie, and made my very own Piggy Bank for DorkySon. The work they do is amazing, especially with such a small team, and I’m looking forward to staying in touch with them.

Shortly after that, I met up with Chloe from Cookiejar Life and it was really nice having someone to chum me for the rest of the afternoon. We grabbed some lunch and had a quick browse of the sponsor stalls, but there were no brands there that I really felt a connection with, so we didn’t loiter.

I had intentionally chosen sessions that focused more on the writing side of blogging than the promotional or commercial side. Sod The Stats: Blogging for Happiness was an excellent discussion den, with lots of honesty and emotion both from the speakers on the platform and from the attendees. Beyond Blogging: Writing About Your Life by Andrea Stuart from the Faber Academy was also interesting, but probably aimed at people further on in their thinking than I am.

The final two sessions of the day – Cherry Healey’s 360 Media session, and the Blogger Keynotes were both absolutely brilliant. There were some really incredible posts – Hayley from DownsSideUp made me weep buckets, Ellen from In a Bun Dance put a broad smile on my face, and Cari from The Secret Diary of a Secret Diary made me snort my wine out of my nose with laughter. This was the session that really exemplified for me what blogging should be about; funny, smart, honest people writing from their hearts. I’d like to say a huge thank you to whoever nominated my post Twitter is Like to be included as a keynote, because it was an enormous honour to stand up there and read with so many other talented bloggers. I have been overwhelmed by the lovely response. (Thanks also to lovely, lovely Mother Scuffer for this photo of me – see more of her BritMums photos on her own blog here.)

So how to sum up? I have to acknowledge the incredible amount of work that must have gone in to organising the conference. Huge thanks are due to Michelle, Susanna, Jennifer, Karin and everyone else at BritMums. I hope they are all taking it easy this week.

On balance, I’m glad I went and I’ve taken some valuable lessons away from the experience. The Blogger Keynotes, the Blogging for Happiness session, and a lovely, lovely chat with Cherry Healey have reminded me of the best bits about blogging. If you are prepared to put the effort into producing strong writing then you can create genuine connections with people. That for me is a far more important reward than high monthly stats or rankings, so I think it has given me the confidence to blog less, but blog better.

The swag bags and the sponsor stalls are all harmless enough, I suppose, but it’s not really what I’m about. I have only recently started to receive PR offers that are even halfway appealing, so I’ve said yes to a couple of things to see how it feels – and the conference has reinforced what I’d already decided. I don’t want to do many reviews on my blog. It doesn’t sit right with me. If I write about a company I want that to be because I love them anyway, not just because they’re providing me with products to test.

It would be great to find one brand that I felt a connection with in the same way that I have one charity I feel a connection with. But the dribs and drabs – a craft box here and a photo book there – is not really for me.

Similarly, I will stick with promoting my blog on Facebook and Twitter, because I have fun on those two sites anyway, but I’m not going to join Pinterest or Google+ just to try and add a few zeros onto the end of my monthly page views. I’d rather spend that time coming up with ideas for posts, I think.

Everyone had said before the conference that the best bit about it would be meeting other bloggers, and in a way that is true – I met a few really interesting and sweet and funny people. But I think my desire for a ‘genuine’ blog experience also extends to the way I’d like to forge friendships with other bloggers. I already have a few brilliant friends that I have made through blogging – but they are all based on pre-existing connections. Maybe we support the same charity, or maybe we live in the same town, or maybe we have something else in common… I would like to have more blogger friends, but I think I would like those friendships to happen organically – because I have connected with someone’s writing rather than because I happen to have sat next to them at a conference.

I’m really glad I went. It has reminded me of the important things about blogging. I’m just not sure that the important things – for me – include conferences. A year is a long time to think about this, so by next June I may well have changed my mind, but right now I’m not feeling like BritMums Live is my natural or most comfortable territory, and I don’t think I’ll be going again.

I’ll do a full post about BritMums Live later in the week, but this sort of sums it up…