Apparently, every time that I get overwhelmed by inspiring stories, I have a hard time translating them into a concise blog post. That’s one of the most ironic situations that a trained journalist can face. However, instead of ignoring Northern Voice 2010 and pretending that it didn’t happen in my life, I am showing up for duty and re-establishing this blog’s purpose.

Northern Voice 2010 was my first blogging conference and I still can’t understand why it took me so long to get out there and start meeting people like me. Well, according to Kimli Welsh’s presentation, I learned that I am not the only blogger who gets intimidated by the idea of leaving the safeness of a URL. Luckily, lots of familiar avatars stopped by to say “hi” to me, giving a friendly face to their strong online presences.

For me, this year’s conference was all about finding my voice online. I have been blogging for over 5 years now, but even after several metamorphoses MadameHeringer.com still feels like it only makes sense to me (Yes… I am completely ignoring thousands of monthly unique visitors and behaving like a drama queen!). However, Monica Hamburg and Dave Olsen’s workshop was the best validation that I could wish for. Blogging takes time and effort to find your niche and voice, but also it’s about having fun and experimenting with new mediums. Lesson learned!

Stefani Cameron’s How to Screw Up Your Personal Blog session was the most resourceful and sincere story that I heard at Northern Voice 2010. In a nutshell, stick to who you are and respect your boundaries. Readers are smart people and they know when you’re faking!

Northern Voice 2010 was a 2-day long event about blogging, Twitter and online marketing. From creating podcasts to copyright laws, it covered it all. I got a lot out of the sessions and plan to bring some multimedia experiments to this space in the following months. Stay tuned, my Northern Voice experience has just started!