Fitness Magazine Blogger Meet & Tweet

What a cool event! Fitness did an awesome job with the Blogger Meet & Tweet! I’m so glad I had the opportunity to attend.

The event was held at the Metropolitan Suite in the Chelsea/Flatiron area of New York City.

Theodora got her tweet on!

Ahhh! Speaker badge! So cool!

When we arrived, everyone was given a “passport” and encouraged to visit each of the event’s sponsors. We were told once we completed it, we’d receive a sweet goodie bag.

I have to admit, I wasn’t psyched about the whole “passport” thing, but once we started visiting all of the different sponsors, it was fun to chat with them and learn about their different products and services. Fitness did a great job of selecting the brands for this event. All of them really seemed to “jive” with the audience.

Sponsor highlights:

• Reebok: The folks from Reebok were so nice and super psyched to work with Fitfluential!
• Kiwi Sweat: Kiwi Sweat plans pop-up workouts in New York City. I love this concept, and I wish they were in Boston!
• V8 V-fusion: I usually don’t like this kind of stuff, but the V8 V-Fusion was really delicious. The flavor and consistency were perfect!
• Oakley: The reps from Oakley were really friendly, and they helped me pick out a pair of their new lightweight fitness sunglasses for free!

The event also included a number of speakers and panels, but, unfortunately, I missed a lot of them because I was chatting/networking with other bloggers and working on completing my “passport.” (Hey, the swag bag was pretty awesome!)

Catching up with blog friends is one of my favorite kinds of networking!

One of the coolest parts about the event was the chance to meet Mia Hamm!!!

I totally geeked-out when I met her. I played soccer from the time I was 8 years old until just a few years ago, so I’ve always been a fan of the game. Back when I was in middle school and high school, Mia Hamm was kicking butt on the U.S. team as well as the Olympic team, so she was a huge role model for me. Our interaction was probably 60 seconds or less, but she was really sweet in person. I’m so happy I had the chance to meet her.

The food at the event was pretty amazing””lots of delicious, healthy stuff.

The Grains Food Foundation provided a “toast bar” for the entire duration of the event, so I stopped by for a mid-morning snack.

Lunch was a buffet with various salads, fresh fruit, chicken, and salmon.

My lunch also included some lemonade and some yogurt-covered raisins.

Oh, and about a dozen mini white chocolate cranberry cookies.

After lunch, it was time for the “How to Turn Your Blog Into a Business” panel with Carla, Kelly, Julie, and me. The format was Q & A, so audience members asked us questions and we responded. I was a little worried no one would ask questions, but we ended up having lots of them.

There was a ton of great discussion during the panel, but the one key theme that kept coming up over and over again was being proactive. All of us on the panel agreed if you want to make your blog a business, you need to put yourself out there and go after what you really want. You can’t just sit back and wait for opportunities to come to you. For example, if you want a freelance writing gig, start small by pitching local businesses with your ideas. (Tip: Don’t email a company and simply say: “I want to write for you.” Be sure to have a specific idea when you contact them.) In the beginning, you might not get paid very much, but you’ll get your name out there, build your resume, and form relationships that will likely lead to future opportunities.

The event concluded with a Tabura pop-up workout.

Tubura? Never heard of it? Me either until yesterday. Tubura is a “style of Swahili military endurance workout that combines kickboxing, West African dance moves and live drum music.” Pretty cool, right?

I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting such a high-intensity workout. The movements were a mix of African dance and kickboxing, so we punched, kicked, and danced ourselves into a sweaty mess.

Good thing I {heart} sweat!

Tabura is an awesome workout. If you ever have the chance to take a class, I highly recommend it!