5 Things I Learned From Blogging While Brown

Scott, Luvvie, and Me...looking very content. Why am I so content?

Of all the things I’ve been to for career and personal development, I’d have to say that the Blogging While Brown Conference was the best by far. Let me also say that I haven’t been to many formalized events for my development that weren’t required for the 9-5. Actually, I don’t think I’ve been to a non-greek conference before. The closest I got to a conference was the USATF (Track and Field) Level 1 Certification course I did a few years back when I was trying to coach college trackletes part-time. That had nothing to do with girls in tight shorts. It was all about the jump-offs. You know, like long jumps, high jumps, and triple jumps. Yeah…that’s it. I’m not a creeper.

There were a ton of things that happened during the course of the day (since I missed the first night which also happened to be game night) that I made mental note of for this post, but realized that nobody wants to read 3,000 words about a day at a conference. At that point, it goes from blog to essay. So what better way to cut out the fat and make it more palatable to the eyes than a list? And with that relatively forced segue, here’s my list of 5 things I learned from the BWB conference.

Luvvie is a Legitimate E-Celebrity in Real Life

Luvvie was the only person that I’d met previously that I knew would be at the conference. I’m social, but I’m certainly not the walk into the middle of a group and say “how the f*ck are ya?” type. I’m much more the “chill with who I know, meet who they know, then meet who they know” kind of guy. I tend to say really random and sometimes offensive things, so it’s better to have someone nearby to vouch for my sanity. She was tapped for this role before she even knew. Oh yeah, so why is she an e-celeb?

People pushed past me to get to her to introduce themselves and to take pictures. A lot of chicks were taking pictures of her when she was talking to other people. Catching her with her eyes closed and sh*t. I’ve also seen some of the pics that have popped up on social media. Why she in the albums of people that weren’t even there? The only thing I didn’t see was anybody crying before, during, or after they met her. It probably happened though. I’m pretty sure that each pic I was in with Luvvie got me 10 followers on Twitter. Lastly, I think she’s part of the Illuminati.

The Girl Blog Network is Lady Voltron and Natural.

This is actually a bunch of chicks hugging.

I ain’t never seen chicks so happy to see each other that hadn’t met each other before. I’d estimate the conference was something like 70% women. I could be off, but I’m probably not. And of that 70%, 70% were rocking some type of natural style. But before I say more about Voltron, let me just say this whole natural thing has grown on me. It is my dream to find a woman whose hair can unite with my beard to create a harmony only known by the blue people in Avatar.

But yeah, the Girl Blog Network. That wasn’t an official name of any particular group there…that I knew of. I’m just using the term to describe the amount of information exchange, hugs, and “girl you look good where did you get those shoes” that took place before my eyes and ears. I’d estimate that I got stuck with camera b*tch duties no less than 25-30 times because so many of these chicks just wanted to capture the moment with each other. I felt kinda ugly for a moment like my name was Bervous or something. Everybody knows that Bervous has to take all the pictures because his Facebook albums are only him in front of his Mac cam using all the special effects. Kaleidoscope ass wankmaster.

My point here is that these women joined together to form a living blog machine. If only I could get the fellas to do this without thinking it’s gay. We’d accomplish great things. For the record, there were some cool dudes there. Shout out to Prune Juice Media, Diggame, BrothaTech, and J-Pinion (He never authorized me to call him this but it works) to name a few. I’m pretty sure BrotherTech goes to church every Sunday, never raises his voice at his kids, and that they’re all going to Morehouse or Spelman. He’s probably the kind of guy that sees someone distressed on the side of the road, phones home to tell his wife he’ll be a few minutes late, and helps fix their flat tire.

I’ve Been Inefficient as F*ck.

Me and Scott H, a master of efficiency. He's actually not that short.

The first seminar, panel, discussion thingie I went to was on time management, efficiency, and just generally making life a helluva lot easier despite the information overload and time constraints we have on us daily. I’ve said it 5 times and I’ll say it again, this was probably the most productive individual session I’ve been to in years — unless you count my visits to the shrink to talk about those dreams involving a monster made of licorice named Beadie that used to attack me in random places.

The tools and concepts that I walked away with have shown me how much Twitter and Gchat simultaneously help and hinder the progress of my life. I’ve also been able to alleviate the fear of losing crucial files or not being able to access them when it counts. This could be a separate post in itself. I think it will be. Shout out to Scott Hanselman (I made the Zoolander reference yesterday so I won’t do it again) and Adria Richards for making my life better with this one. It’s funny though. The more efficient I seem to get, the more sh*t shows up. Time is money. And the more money I come across, the more…well, you know how that goes.

You Never Know Who You’re Talking To and How They Might Inspire You

I mentioned yesterday that I was sitting next to the new homie, Marie Denee, at the BWAs. We had chatted before that. I think most of us at the table had drifted around in similar circles (No Google+) throughout the day. She started telling me about her website and the hustle. I go all motivated. I asked a few questions. She answered. I made a ridiculous joke. She turned that ridiculous joke into a ridiculously good idea. An idea so good that I have no choice but to run with it because if I don’t then I’d consider myself an idiot. I don’t wanna be an idiot. I’m saying this now. Yall just need to trust me on this one. Hopefully it’ll make more sense later.

Kim Coles is Mad Cool Yo.

She was just hanging out during the conference. I went into one of the sessions and took a seat on the floor since I was tardy and the room was full. I looked to my right and tried not to stare. I knew she was hosting the BWAs, but I didn’t think she’d just be in the mix all casual. Like yo, I was watching Living Single the day before I came out here. I watched it for years before that. Why you as nice as my family members? Why are you so damn funny right now? Are you always this damn happy? Well this is refreshing. But yeah, she mad cool yo.

I’m ODn.

I see you tapping your feet and looking at the clock. I’m wrapping it up. Trojan.

The conference was a great experience. Overall, the sessions were cool but it was the people I met in LA that made the difference. If I’m doing the Rick Ross grunt and throwing money in the air or smoking a cigar in an overpriced chair a year from now, it’ll be because I went to this conference. Shout out to all the other folks I did not mention by name but interacted with at BWB. I’za be seeing you or you’za be hearing from me again.