I’m Going to IZEAFest!

I have wanted to go to a blogging/social media conference since January. Money is tight and I can’t afford to gallivant around the country at the expense of our family budget. I can’t tell you how many contests I have entered to win trips to Blissdom, Blogher, SXSW, Twitter by the Sea and IZEAFest. Saturday morning when I logged on to Twitter I found out I had won a ticket to IZEAFest!

I have been a fan of IZEA for a while now, I believe in what they do to promote sponsored conversations on blogs and other social media forums. I feel that with the FTC looking at regulating bloggers and the compensation they receive for blogging about products, sponsored conversations are going to become the norm and IZEA is the cutting edge.

Izeafest will take place October 1-4 at SeaWorld Orlando. The list of speakers at this event is a who’s who of blogging and social media:

• Ted Murphy CEO of IZEA
• Aaron Braazell of technosailor.com
• Chris Brogan of ChrisBrogan.com
• Darren Rowse of Problogger.com
• George Smith of Crocs.com
• Sarah Evans of PRSarahEvans.com
• Wendy Piersall of Sparkplugging.com…….and many more

The IZEAFest website describes the event as,

“An interactive event designed to educate, inform and connect social media enthusiasts. Meet the world’s foremost social media experts in a collaborative, fun and open setting. Learn how to grow your traffic, build your brand and make more money online.”

The only thing that has me concerned is…on Sunday 10/4/09 the IZEAFest bloggers are invading SeaWorld Orlando. Ok, I love SeaWorld-Shamu, Clyde, Seymore and all of their friends. What has me concerened is…to enter the contest I had to agree to ride Manta, SeaWorld Florida‘s newest roller coaster and the only flying coaster in Florida! I am not a roller coaster lover but I will ride Manta. (Yikes!)

I have 16 weeks until IZEAFest and I need to reach a few personal and business goals before then. I need you, my loyal readers to hold me accountable and help me towards these goals.

1. I would like to lose at least 20 lbs before I go.
2. I need to earn enough additional money monthly so that I can upgrade to a smartphone & pay for the plan- so I can blog and tweet from the event. (It just isn’t practical to lug my laptop through SeaWorld-and my battery only lasts 15 minutes anyway.)
3. I need to find a sponsor to cover the cost of my lodging and dinners during the conference. If you know of a business, company or benefactor who may want to sponsor me, please share this link with them http://themommaven.com/sponsorship-opp/

If you would like to come to IZEAFest there are still tickets available, just click the IZEAFest link. October is a beautiful time to visit central Florida and I’d love to get to meet you.