I’ve been a CommsHero ‘lurker’ for some time, following their journey from a distance on socials, commenting on posts, but never being able to attend any of the events in person, though desperately wanting to. The FOMO was real!
With a young family in tow, a relatively newbie to freelancing and Mr K working all hours in his new job now that we were back in the ‘shire, finding time to get myself out there again after quite some time out of the ‘business world loop’, seemed a distant hope. There were only so many babysitting vouchers in the bank of Grandparents.
However, I was determined that 2020 was going to be the year for me to get myself and my business out there and be more present. Little lady K would be starting school with her big brother and I’d finally have the time to take the next step with Knight & Day – starting to attend bigger networking events again, reconnecting with my old business contacts, as well as many new ones. The CommsHero conference was in my plan, as it was THE conference to attend if you were in the mar comms industry, along with a few other smaller social media related conferences and events throughout the year.
The start of 2020 didn’t quite pan out the way I, or indeed anyone, had hoped for. We very quickly had to learn a new ‘norm’ for working, alongside home-schooling, sharing home workspaces, ensuring the kids were occupied whist on what seemed like the zillionth Zoom call and staying sane with the limited time outside we were given.
I attended a few online events during this time, short webinars to keep my skills up-to-date and networking sessions, which helped keep my business and adult conversation skills updated too.
But I longed for a decent sized conference to attend to really be able to focus on my business and helping to take it to the next level.
After what seemed like an age, we were finally able to return to some sort of normality. The kids were going back to school, albeit in ‘bubbles’, so now was the time to get back to MY PLAN!
My place at the CommsHero virtual conference was quickly booked, along with the plan of which brilliant speakers to schedule time out for.
With over 35 sessions, it was going to be hard to choose between them all, but I love the fact that I can dip in and out of the sessions and the days without needing to commit to the whole day or even week, unlike traditional in-person conferences.
It’s the best of both worlds and one that I believe has a place in the business event world going forward. It’s perfect for a freelancer like myself with a young family, that doesn’t necessarily live that close to many of the main conference venues in the country.
So, 2020 isn’t going to be so bad after all. I’m now able to fulfil my dream of being a CommsHero, albeit virtually this year, instead of just being a CommsHero lurker!
