We are down here in sunny Florida on an amazing family vacation. We have been counting down the days until this trip and now we are on day 2! We were invited to the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration where we paid the conference fee and are having such an incredible time that we are excited to share our experiences.
Today I woke up at 5 am to do the runDisney 2 mile Fun Run around the ESPN Wide World Of Sports. It was an early start the day but a fun and invigorating one. Ali Vincent, season 5 winner of the Biggest Winner was there to inspire and motivate us. It was a great run and an unforgettable way to start the day.
For more photos check out Disney Social Media Moms Day 1 & Fun Run.
After the run we cleaned up and then headed to breakfast and to the conference sessions. I was amazed by the multimedia screens. They added a captivating dimension to the conference and really helped punctuate the speakers’ presentations.
First up was all things Disney by George A. Kalogridis, President of Walt Disney World Resort.
He gave us a look at all of the upcoming innovative fun coming to the Disney Parks:
- Monstorous Summer with 3 parks being open for 24 hours on May 24, 2013
- More Limited Time Magic events to come
- New Festival of Fantasy Parade
- Opening of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride
- Avatar Land and Disney Springs in the works as well as Pirates of the Carribean: Treasure of the Seven Seas interactive adventure game
- My Disney Experience free mobile app
- Fast Past Plus will double the amount of experiences guest can enjoy and you can reserve rides, shows, character meet & greets before leaving home.
- MagicBand will offer touchpoints for resort doors, at park entrances, & for payments throughout parks. It will roll out later this year and will be available in a variety of colors.
We heard from the amazing Leanne Jakubowski, Director of Social Media at Walt Disney World Resort. She’s welcomed us warmly and let us know there was a lot of fun in store ahead.
The conference was emceed by Renee Syler of Good Enough Mother. Renee is an amazing speaker, inspirational, and funny too.
She had a number of fantastic takeaways throughout the day that can be applied to many parts of life. Some of my favorites include:
- Compare = despair. Run your own race. If you want to be unhappy keep comparing yourself to other people.
- No one will believe in you as much as you believe in yourself.
- You’re only going around once in this life, make the most of it.
- Surround yourself with the right kind of people. There’s no room in your life for people who make you feel bad. You need people who will stoke your fire not soak your fire.
Our first speaker was Olympic medalist Shannon Miller. She spoke about entrepreneurial spirit and social media.
Here are a few quotes from her presentation that I found inspirational:
- It’s usually those unplanned moments that show our character.
- Sometimes what seems like a brick wall is actually a spring board to our success.
- No matter what you just keep going.
- Sometimes you can fall and win. That’s life. You get knocked down you pick yourself up and you just keep going.
- Be open to unexpected opportunities and be ready to walk through that door when it opens.
Next up was Jackie Huba author of Monster Loyalty: How Lady Gaga Turns Followers Into Fanatics.
Her presentation showcased how Lady Gaga has built a loyal following and is one of the most popular social media voices in the world. She had a lot of wonderful tips directly applicable to blogging including:
- Focus on your one percenters – you don’t have to be an amazing rock star to have one percenters
- 5x cheaper to keep a customer than to go after new ones
- Lady Gaga’s manager Troy Carter said, “It’s more important to have one million diehard fans than to have 54 million facebook likes
- Companies who lead with values outperform the market
- One percenters love to talk about you but you need to generate something to talk about.
- Obscurity is the enemy.
We also heard got to hear about Her Universe by creator, Ashley Eckstein, in a conversational discussion with Gary Buchanan.
It was interesting to learn that she designed the line after starring in sci-fi shows and realizing there was no fashionable feminine sci-fi clothing lines. She showed us a couple of her pieces and they were very cute.
We were then chased from the room by Storm Troopers out into the hallway where we also had a chance to pose for photos for photos with them and a few other friends.
During lunch we learned about Disney Infinity which sounds amazing and I can’t wait for it to come out in August!
The game has collectibles that you place on a platform and then can interact with them right in the game.
The Toy Box area is a great intro into game design and can be customized in many amazing and fun ways.
You can control time, control the camera, and make your own platforming games. If you decide to make a soccer game you can add one soccer ball or four. You can also drive around in the Astro Blaster.
Have Jack Sparrow fly around in Dumbo.
Or put a pirate in the Disney Parks parking lot tram!
What you create in the Toy Box can even be saved and shared with others.
We also learned about the new Story app courtesy of Disney. You add photos, videos, and text to your story and the pages turn like a book. It’s really a dramatic way for everyone to share their story.
Next up was Gary Buchanan and Thomas Smith for the Disney Social Media Fire & Ice session.
They had a lot of great tips and quotes. Here’s a few of my favorites:
- People connect with people not logos.
- It doesn’t matter where you take thing.
- “If you’re coasting it means you’re going downhill” – Walt Disney
- If you take your foot off the gas for two seconds someone might steal your idea.
- Imagination is the difference between what Buzz thought was a laser and what Woody thought was just a light bulb that blinked.
- It doesn’t matter where you are or what you do everybody is creative.
Then we heard from Marc Mero from Champions of Choices.He is a former professional wrestler who gave both a heartbreaking and inspiring presentation about bullying and suicide prevention.
Marc speaks at schools around the country in his quest to banish bullying and about how you can be happy in life no matter the circumstances.
His presentation was impactful, realistic, and had many of us tearing up. Here’s just a few of his important takeaways:
- Happiness is the key to success.
- The greatest gift my mother ever gave me…she believed in me.
- Your friends are like elevators they either take you up or they will take you down.
- You show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.
- We all have an impact on each other’s lives whether it’s positive or negative.
- Maybe you can be the light in someone’s darkness.
- I’ve learned that no matter how hard it is no matter how much adversity you go through it gets better.
- Every day you should make someone feel special – if they don’t have a smile give them yours.
The mood in room lightened a bit when Gaston showed up and did a comical dance number. It was fun, lighthearted, and had us all laughing.
Our closing keynote was Dayna Steele. She spent many years in radio, met many famous musicians, and along the way learned a lot about success along the way.
She has a site called Rock Star Success with Rock Star Principles and had some great tips for achieving success:
- You have to believe because if you don’t believe no one else is going to believe.
- “Life is too short to have anything but delusional notions about yourself .”– Gene Simmons
- The world moves at the speed of a smartphone if you want to be successful you need to keep up with technology.
- Take every advantage you have to grow your network.
- The number one most important thing is that it’s not about you it’s about doing things for other people without expecting anything in return.
- Take a little extra time to say thank you.
Throughout the conference there were a number of fantastic giveaways as well. There were gift baskets from H2O, American Tourister Colora Luggage, and even a night’s stay in Cinderella’s Castle Suite in the Magic Kingdom!
I was thrilled to have won a cute and colorful Dooney & Bourke handbag!
We had a bit of downtime after the conference to catch up with our families either in the park or at the Contemporary. My family had spent the day at Hollywood Studios and had returned to swim and rest a bit before dinner.
Dinner that evening was amazing! We hopped on buses and were dropped off on the set of Lights, Motors, Action, Extreme Stunt Show in Hollywood Studios.
It was an incredible evening with delicious food, dancing, caricatures, painting and delectable dessert tables. The kids were all excited because they had seen the show earlier in the day so being able to dine and dance there made for an unforgettable evening.
Both the day and evening were wonderful and we now have a collection of photos, videos, and memories we’ll cherish forever.
We look forward to the fun ahead of us on day three and I’ll be sure to post with a recap, so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, be sure to follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for updates throughout the day.
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