The Beauty of the Mom 2.0 Summit

I just returned from my first Mom 2.0 Summit in Atlanta.  Through my participation in the Walmart Moms program, Dove invited me to attend Mom 2.0 as their guest, taking care of my ticket, lodging and transportation.  Dove was the Title Sponsor of the conference and they put a touch of elegance and relational beauty to the conference I have not seen before.

Here are 4 of my fellow Walmart Moms who attended the Mom 2.0 Summit with me, ready for our Estate Garden Party.

My Mom 2.0 Summit Expectations

Although I have gone to BlogHer for the Past 3 years, I have never been to another blogging conference.  The Mom 2.0 Summit has been on my list, so thank you, Dove, for offering me this great opportunity.  I had heard a great many things about Mom 2.0 Summit from other bloggers…all good.  Based on their views and what I have picked up from the blogosphere, I had a number of expectations going into the conference.

I expected:

• Mom 2. 0 Summit to be more sophisticated and geared towards  the professional blogger.

• Mom 2.0 Summit to focus more on partnering with brands, and less focus on swag.

• a more intense desire to stay with the conference and focus on the companies, rather than seeing how many outside parties you can get invited to

• more opportunities to connect with other bloggers in an authentic way, rather than speed date my way through them.

• more allergy sensitive foods to give all attendees choices based on their conditions rather than one buffet for all.

As you can see, I had a lot of expectations.  I wondered if perhaps my expectations were too high?

There were 600 attendees at the Mom 2.0 Summit and most of them showed up for the main sessions.

What Really Happened

Mom 2.0 met my expectations in all areas, and even upped the bar in others…

• The Mom 2.0 Summit was definitely geared towards the professional blogger.  I saw many long-time blogging friends as well as bloggers I’ve heard about but never met, like Rebecca Wolf and Heather Armstrong.  I attended a number of workshops which gave us hands-on time to begin working on what we learned in class.  I am now back home ready to continue on these projects…rather than wondering where to start.
• There were considerably less brands present than I’ve seen at BlogHer.  I spent much more talking with tech companies I was interested in, visiting them several times throughout the conference, and building on our relationship.  When I sent my follow-up email’s to them afterwards, they remembered me and are looking forward to working together.  I wasn’t “one of many” bloggers interested in them, but someone they have gotten to know who has a genuine interest in their brand.
• To my knowledge, there were no outside parties that occurred.  Nothing to pull me away from what I was there for.  Everyone talked about Mom 2.0 Summit activities only…which was refreshing.
• There were some roundtable discussions where we self-selected a topic we were interested to learn from an expert and share with others at the table.  The workshops were more personal and it was easier for all of us to share our experience in the room, rather than watch someone talk.  We had agencies intermingled with bloggers in the workshops, it was enlightening to hear their perspective on blogger relationships and social media.  It was very natural to talk with people I met from the workshops.  Oh…and there were enough seats for everyone…in the same room!  (no satellite seating!)
• To my amazement, there was plenty of gluten-free options for people suffering from or avoiding wheat/barley/rye/etc.  Being recently diagnosed last year as a Celiac, this was a dream!  I could actually eat food at a conference…and this food was beyond good!  There was even a gluten-free afternoon tea plate complete with finger sandwiches made from gluten-free bread!

The classes were small. In some of them, we went around the room and introduced ourselves. The size was very conducive to 2-way sharing rather than just being lectured to.

What I Didn’t Expect

Oh and guess what?  Something happened that I didn’t expect.   I went to Mom 2.0 Summit to learn from and talk to experts on how to improve my blog and services professionally.  What I didn’t expect was to learn how to improve myself, my daughter, and other peoples’ daughters lives through Dove’s Beauty Is mission.  At BlogHer, I often miss the keynotes, something is always going on that distracts me.  But at the Mom 2.0 Summit, I listened to the keynotes and found myself filled with tears and emotion.

You see, somewhere around 9 -years-old, our daughters start becoming more critical of themselves and begin to realize how much our world values outside beauty.  Their lives become less care-free and instead they focus on what they are not, rather than what they are.  Their life lens turns outwardly as they seek approval of who they are through other people’s opinions, rather than trusting who they’ve always been.

In this video, one of many on YouTube, this tween says, “be honest what you say, I don’t care what you say,..well I do…”  She’s seeking her value from others.

Tears welled up and ran furiously down my face as I watched a number of YouTube videos where young girls asked their viewers, “am I pretty?,” during the conference.  These young girls are boiling all their lives’ accomplishments, dreams, and successes down to demeaning flippant answers from people who have no idea who they are.  Wow.

There are well over 40+ of these videos by tween and teenage girls…and a lot more making fun of the “Am I pretty” question.

Are You Beautiful? 

The thing is, are we as mothers, making comments to our daughters…or to ourselves that our daughters hear, that are impressioning their minds to cater to the world’s opinion of them?  When will we stop this madness of seeking to all look like the models on TV and magazines?  To lose weight?  To buy all the latest beauty fads in hopes of looking younger?  Are our actions speaking louder than our words to our daughters?  Are we continuing this insanity to look good to the next generation…and the next?

When you look in the mirror, what do you say to yourself?  In a Dove workshop during Mom 2.0 Summit, we were asked this question.  At first, we came up with all the good answers that we knew were were supposed to say.  Then someone started with some more truthful comments and we all contributed.  Do any of the descriptions on the flipchart below resonate with you?

Do you see yourself as beautiful?  If you don’t, you’re not alone.  Only 4% of them women around the world do.  And only 1 in three women like what they see in the mirror.  For girls, only 11 % feel comfortable describing themselves as beautiful.

During the Dove workshop on self-esteem, we worked with some great inspiring girls from the Boys and Girls Club of America in the local Atlanta area.  Having gone through Dove self-esteem workshops themselves, they led us through the process of reevaluating how we see ourselves and how we portray ourselves to young girls…especially our daughters.  Here our group reengineered the words to Pharrell William’s “Happy” song to incorporate our lyrics based on what Beauty Is and we sang it to the other participants.

Dove’s mission is to break the cycle of seeing “beauty” the way the world sees it and to help young girls build up their self-esteem.  Their vision is of a world where…

“beauty is a source of confidence, and not anxiety. So, we are on a mission to help the next generation of women develop a positive relationship with the way they look – helping them raise their self-esteem and realize their full potential.”

Thank you, Dove, for an eye opening weekend and the realization to look at how my actions and words are portraying beauty to my daughter.  Like Dove, I want the next generation (within my family and outside of it), to grow up happy and confident with who they are and how they look.  I am now more aware of what my daughter and her friends are going through as well as how I can help girls develop a positive relationship with themselves.

Can’t wait for Mom 2.0 Summit in Scottsdale next year!