Bikes, Bonbons & Bloggers: My Review of #YVRBloggers #HootUpVan

Too busy tweeting at the HootUp to take any photos but this one

Thursday night I was lucky enough to have a ticket to a sold-out YVR Bloggers meetup--aka HootUp--at HootSuite headquarters here in East Vancouver. It's quite close to our house, so I biked down in just a few minutes, baby-free for the evening. Before the evening got going, I was treated to quite a spread of food & got to sample some lovely hard candies from Cändy Meister, a mobile sweet shop that sells German candy in a gazillion flavours.

While the fastest way to my heart is through my stomach, the main reason I was at the HootUp was to hear the lineup of speakers. First up was a panel of bloggers sharing their bloggy wisdom: Business Blogger Bosco Anthony; Fashion Blogger Raj Thandhi, aka Pink Chai; Fitness Blogger Dai Manuel; Food Blogger Sherman Chan; Parenting Blogger Eschelle Westwood, aka Mumfection; Travel Blogger Marc Smith; & Tech Blogger & 3D printing guru John Biehler. Keynote speaker Jordan Behar, Hootsuite's Lead Storyteller who runs the HootSuite Blog, left us with some great time-saving tips for social media management, then the evening was capped off by a hiphop performance by Monica Morong.

(EDIT: here are Jordan's tips: 5 Time-Saving Tips for HootSuite Power Users. You're welcome. :)

Another highlight of the event was the time spent connecting with my bloggy buddies, who I affectionately call the Mom Blogger Mafia. I interact with so many people primarily online, so it's a real treat to see them in person. During the 'networking break' the lovely Ms. Pixel, Christine Nielsen, introduced me to Glen of Mac Ride. He's the designer of a bike seat for children which is currently at the prototype stage. The Mac Ride attaches to any adult bike & includes a saddle & foot pegs with straps so kids can sit just behind their parent's handlebars & ride along the roads or even trails. I'll be getting a hold of one of the prototypes soon to test ride it with Sprout--can't wait to tell you more about it!

If you'd like to see what the YVR Bloggers event was all about, it was videoed so you can check it out on YouTube here.

Thanks to Ricky Shetty, Daddy Blogger, for organizing the evening, HootSuite for hosting the event & the many sponsors for providing food, etc.

The next YVR Bloggers event is on Thursday, Nov 14th at CoLabs Communities Penthouse in Coal Harbour, featuring a keynote speech on video blogging by Josh Rimer. Register here before it sells out!

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