Speaker: Liz Scarff, How to be a blogger activist

Liz Scarff has over ten years experience working for leading media organisations both in the UK and internationally. She works as a digital media consultant bringing stories from the frontline to the frontroom producing cut-through social media / digital strategy, campaigns and multimedia content.

Most recently she devised and implemented an innovative digital campaign, #Blogladesh, for Save the Children which was shortlisted for a Media Guardian Digital Innovation Award.

Assignments have seen Liz spend two months on the highest mountain in the world running the digital media campaign for Sir Ranulph Fiennes’ Everest Challenge for Marie Curie Cancer Care and drive 4,000 miles across the Sahara Desert in a Lada for the BBC. Liz recently launched www.debateyourplate.com

Find her on twitter – @lizscarff

www.lizscarff.co.uk

Join Liz and several of the top Blogger Activists in the session “How to be a Blogger Activist” from 2:20-3:10pm

Speaker: Dawn Brown, Keeping your blog legal

Do you accept freebies for review or go to events with choice goodie bags? Then you need to know the rules regarding this type of in-kind benefits from your blogging life. Blogger and accountant Dawn Brown will be giving everyone the low-down during the the Keeping Your Blog Legal session, alongside Gayle Trigg.

Dawn is a Chartered Accountant with the ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountant in England and Wales) who runs her own practice ABC North East (www.abcnortheast.co.uk) specialising in small business accounting and tax advice.  She set up her own business after spending 10 years working for major companies and accounting firms in roles such as Finance Manager, Internal Audit Manager and Head of Risk Management. Aside from running her own business Dawn is also a busy mum to 2 children under the age of 18 months and can be found on her personal parenting blog Knees Up Mother Brown (http://dawniebrown.wordpress.com) and on twitter @Dawnie_Brown.

Speaker: Richard Allan, Director of Policy-EU, Facebook

Richard Allan joined Facebook in June 2009 to lead the company’s public policy work in Europe. Richard works on a broad portfolio of issues including privacy, online child safety, freedom of expression, e-commerce regulation and public sector uses of social media. He appears regularly in the media as a spokesman for Facebook.

Prior to joining Facebook, Richard was European Government Affairs Director for Cisco from September 2005 and has been an academic visitor at the Oxford Internet Institute.

From 2008 to 2009 Richard was Chair of the UK Cabinet Office’s Power of Information Task Force working on improving the use of government data. Richard was Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam from 1997 to 2005 where he specialized in technology policy issues. In July 2010, Richard was appointed to the House of Lords in the UK Parliament. In the early part of his career Richard was an archaelogist, an NHS IT professional and a locally elected Councillor.

Richard Allan will be speaking at the Conference Opener session from 9:35-9:55 and will address The Power of the Social Web in Working with Facebook.

CyberMummy Sponsor: P&G

When P&G decided to sponsor the Recharge Room at Cybermummy this year, we wanted to create a space where our guests could feel comfortable, relax and ‘recharge their batteries’. And of course, we wanted to hear from you about what you’d like to be in the Recharge Room, so we put out a message on Twitter to send us your suggestions. While we couldn’t meet them all (we didn’t have room for a vat of chocolate and we’re sorry to say the famous actor apparently has another diary engagement that day!), we have tried to fulfil as many of your requests as possible. We hope you enjoy it.

You’ll have the opportunity to put your feet up and relax, have a massage, write a blog post and chat to fellow bloggers; and we’ll also have plenty of indulgent treats available from our P&G experts. You can enjoy hairstyling and beauty tips from our professional haircare and make-up artists, as well as have your own makeover. The Pampers Village Parenting Panel will be on hand to answer your lifestyle questions and we’ll be holding a competition to win a year’s supply of nappies on our Pampers Twitter Wall during the day. Keep an eye on the hashtag #Pampersexperts for more details.

You’re welcome to pop in at any time for a cuppa and a chat. As P&G’s community manager, I will be Tweeting from the room throughout the day (my handle is @PGUK, feel free to connect on Twitter before then) and would love to meet you, so please come in and say hello!

See you then,

Glenda

Speaker: Claire and Lucy McDonald, Blogger-to-Blogger Inspiration

The sister act of Claire and Lucy McDonald recently joined the blogging world but have carved out a niche in the parent/food blogging world with Crumbs. They’ll be sharing their secrets at this afternoon session.

Lucy is a journalist working in TV, newspapers, radio and now – through blogging – the internet. She supposes this makes her truly multi-media. This isn’t because she’s greedy/indecisive/a show-off or a workaholic (although she has been accused of being the first three, although sadly never the latter), but because she’s freelance and therefore needs to have her fingers in many pies. Including ones she makes herself. Well, occasionally.

You can see her on Sky News where she reports on arts and entertainment, but she also writes about food, parenting and social trends for newspapers.

Claire was a print journalist who worked at The Times for twelve years as a writer and editor. After having her second child she left the paper last summer and signed up to Blogger. She hasn’t looked back. Between tweets (ok, she’s still a bit rubbish at tweeting) and updating her Facebook status she runs a blog with her sister, focusing on food for all the family. Claire and Lucy started writing the blog last September when they realised that although they loved food and they loved their children, cooking for them had become a chore. Crumbs was their way of remembering that feeding them can be a pleasure. No, really.

Claire and Lucy started writing their blog a year ago when they realised that although they love food and they love their children, feeding them had become a chore. Crumbs was their way of reminding themselves that it can be a pleasure.

CyberMummy Sponsor: HP

Excitement is building for Cybermummy 2011 and at HP we are gearing up to the event in style. Our stand is being delivered in the next week or so and it looks great, lots of features to bring everyone together.

We are giving away 3 HP Photosmart printers between now and the end of the event. Firstly, you can enter a competition to find the photograph that sums up the word “Playtime” by simply following the steps posted on the Cybermummy site. On the day of Cybermummy you can win an HP Photosmart printer with ePrint by taking a photo that you think best captures the atmosphere of Cybermummy 11 and printing it out at the HP stand. You can enter a photo taken on a camera or a smartphone; they will be displayed on the photo wall at the stand and also you will receive a print out as a memento of your day. The winner will be chosen at 3pm so make sure you get your photo’s in early!

As well as the competition to enter you will also be able to pick up some treats from the HP stand to add to your official goodie bag. If you ladies need to keep your energy up, there will be some freshly prepared cup cakes-remember, there is only a limited supply so you might want to get in early to avoid cup cake disappointment.

Finally and most importantly don’t forget to come to the Working with Brands and Making Money panel discussion at 12.20, Morning Session II. You will get to have some insight from Natalie Lue of Bambino Goodies fame, Eric Douglas from Little Mummy and myself, Sarah Fortuna, representing HP as Consumer Marketing Manager for the UK and Ireland. We will be talking all things branded, and how to work with those big brands and what people/companies are already doing.

So don’t forget to follow us on twitter @HPHitPrint_UK and keeping checking in with Cybermummy on the next competitions.

Looking forward to seeing everyone on the 25th!

HP ‘Playtime’ Photo Competition

Excitement is building for CyberMummy11 and all of our sponsors are gearing up in for the big day in style. Following on from last years beautiful ‘Motherhood’ themed exhibition, our headline sponsors HP are looking to create a bigger and better collection of photographs for CyberMummy11.

There is a HP Photosmart printer up for grabs for the photograph that they think best sums up the word ‘Playtime’.

All you need to do to enter is upload your pic to the CyberMummy11 Flickr group and keep your fingers crossed!

HP will then create a printed gallery of all the pictures submitted so that everyone can enjoy them on conference day.

The winner will be announced at CyberMummy11 on 25/6/11.

Get ready for the official CyberMummy Three Party!

We’ve just had a peek at the plans for the official end-of-conference party plans. Three, our party sponsor, is decking out the area with – well, we don’t want to give it away but our first thought was “Wow”! It’s going to be a short commute from the Crowdsourced Keynote in CyberMummy 1 (the main room on the 1st floor) to the Party (on the mezzanine of the main room on the 1st floor) so there’s no excuse to not turn up.

Plus, there’s no better way to top off a great day with some mingling with all the friends you’ve made, drinking a glass a wine, and Tweeting your favourite moments or funny pictures. Three will have some announcements and we’ll also be conducting the Passport prize draw. You gotta be present to win so plan to celebrate a great blogging experience with a couple hundred of your closest friends.

Party on!

12 things you need for #CyberMummy11

CyberMummy is almost here, but getting ready for the big day is easier than you think. Here, our top tips of what to bring on the day.

1. Business cards – You’ll be handing out loads and here’s a tip: write down a note to yourself on the back of other people’s cards to jog your memory when you’re back home. (I’m always grateful when going through a stack of card I find little notes like “met at lunch” or “writes about kids’ clothes” or whatever.) If you don’t have cards already, get quickie ones made at a copy shop or print some out yourself.
2. A handful of pens – Because the first one you grab will always run out ink.
3. Fully charged phone, laptop, iPad, camera, etc – You’ll want to tweet, blog and snap your way through the day and you don’t want to run out of juice.
4. A soft, collapsible carry bag – The good news is that we’re giving out goody bags at the end of the day so you won’t have to lug it from session to session. That means you’ll need another way to keep together all the cards, brands’ info, giveaway goodies from CyberMummy Central and so on. Toss a fabric shopping bag into your handbag and you’ll be set. Come to think of it: Last year’s CyberMummy bag will work perfectly…
5. Chequebook/credit card/cash for the bookshop – It will be so easy to pick up essential reading and get it personalized during the our book-signing sessions so don’t miss out! We’ll have a mini Waterstone’s in the lobby selling books by Sarah Brown, Sophie King/Jane Bidder, Rachel Johnson, My Daddy Cooks’ Nick Coffer and other bloggers. You can buy one with card, cheque or cash when you arrive then get it signed during the day. (Dad blogger Tim Atkinson will be selling his own books and signing in the afternoon too, so bring cash to buy directly from him.)
6. A light cardigan or scarf – We’ll be doing our best to keep the conference spaces the right temperature, but it’s always good to have something to hand so you can self-regulate.
7. Comfortable shoes – It’s going to be a exciting, jam-packed day. The last thing you want to think about is blisters or aching arches. Choose comfort over style.
8. Casual clothes –There’s lots of talk on Twitter about what to wear. We say, whatever it is, just make sure it doesn’t bind, poke, squeeze, pinch or ride up. By the time the Three Party rolls around at 18:00 you’ll be glad you skipped the tight pencil skirt and blouse that slips down to expose your bra strap. Which leads on to…
9. Your party mood – The official CyberMummy party is sponsored by Three and will kick off immediately after the Crowdsourced Keynote. No need to dress up or make-up – just turn up…and be ready to mingle and relax. There will be wine provided by Naked Wines, soft drinks, a few crisps and such, some announcements from Three and the Passport prize draw. The perfect end to the day.
10. A list of the five people or companies you really want to talk to –If you’re desperate to finally meet Blogger X in person or are dying to talk to Brand Y about working with them, write it down so it sticks in your mind as a goal of the day. Seek them out early and you’ll feel good about ticking them off your list. (Better yet, Tweet them ahead of time to say hello and possibly arrange a rendez-vous time.)
11. A one-sentence description of you and your blog – This is something that allows you to easily describe who you are and what your blog is about to the scores of folks you’ll be meeting. “Hi, I’m Amy. I live in Lincolnshire and I’ve been blogging for 8 months about raising my three kids” or “I have a picture-oriented blog about my two passions: my family and gardening.” You get the idea.
12. A sense of fun -  Beyond the brands, the high-profile speakers, the food and drink, CyberMummy is about bloggers getting to know bloggers. It’s a friendly crowd and everyone you meet at the Brewery on Saturday the 25^th is there to say hello, swap stories and connect. You’ll be able to walk up to any group, introduce yourself and immediately join the discussion. So get ready to have some fun.

We’ll see you there!