**Full Disclosure: As a PROUD Sea World 2013 Wildside Blogger, my family and I were provided with season passes and AdventureCon tickets (which included the Quick Que Passes and Food Passes for the weekend). I was not asked to write about my experience. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Sea World San Antonio just wrapped up it’s 2nd invite-only blogging conference called AdventureCon! It was an AMAZING weekend!
We started Friday night (at the hotel where most attendees where staying) with a quick and easy registration. We picked up our meal vouchers & Quick Que passes. We also got a special Shamu-shaped popcorn bucket! The bloggers and their families got to know each other over appetizers and drinks. Before the end of the night there was a special appearance by Shamu!!
Saturday started earlier than my husband would have liked! 😉 We arrived at Sea World about 9am and headed over to the Seaside Landing. While I was in sessions, the hubs & kids got to go play around the park. Then we had lunch, played at the Bay of Play, and watched a feeding in the sting rays & coral fish building. There was one more session (a photo walk!) before I met up with my family to see the (NEW!) Pets Ahoy show. After Pets Ahoy, my family and I headed home – it had been a FULL day and my kids were exhausted.
On Sunday my husband took the boys to church so I was on my own for the last day. It was just a 1/2 day, and when it was over I had to dart out (we’d been dog-sitting so I needed to be home for her to be picked up). Unfortunately, I didn’t get to say ‘bye’ to very many people.
Is AdventureCon Worth It?
YES!! I heard some things I already knew, learned some new things and met lots of great people! It was ABSOLUTELY worth it!
Things I already knew:
- Awesome blogging apps – WordPress, DropVox, Evernote (there were more, but I haven’t tried the others yet)
- Curated Content – share content that others post!!
- Photos that YOU take add to your story telling.
- Start your post with a photo! The image will grab your readers before the text does.
- Be organic, authentic and be YOU.
- Always be professional.
- Your blog is your business. TREAT IT AS SUCH!
Take-aways:
- Use a mobile plugin.
- Sea World is about teaching. They ‘connect, care and celebrate’ through entertainment!
- Pictures are a huge part of PR & marketing.
- If something is visually interesting, photograph it. It’ll help you build your own library.
- Find a focus for your blog and then write a mission statement.
- Think: “Am I writing something people want to read?”
- When creating your title, use terms that people would use when using Google.
- When using twitter, be vague. People are more likely to click through if it’s interestingly minimal.
- BE FLEXIBLE!
AdventureCon was amazing and I hope I have the opportunity to participate again next year!!!
I’m so glad you got to go! Sounds like the kids had fun and you learned a few things.
We had a great time at AdventureCon and it was so nice to see you and your family! My kids really enjoyed spending time with your kids and hubs on Saturday morning…. I can’t thank him enough!
It was so great to spend time with you, too!!!
those are awesome take aways! Love the tip about the SEO blog title. I always try to think about that too. What a great place for a conference – wish I lived closer to a Sea World!
I need more classes on SEO.
If you are ever down here, let me know!! 😀
I couldn’t agree more with being vague on Twitter! I’m more likely to click when something piques my interest but isn’t obvious what I’ll be discovering when I click through.
I need to get better at this! I used to have a lot of interaction, but not so much anymore.
Wow, that sounds like a great experience. Thanks for sharing the tips you picked up.