Unbelievably inspired by SOBCon 2009

I’ve been to some great panels, I’ve seen some incredible speakers, and I’ve met great people, but none of this measures up to my phenomenal experience at the Successful Outstanding Blogger Conference (“SOBCon”) here in Chicago last weekend (May 1 – 3rd). I’m going to be honest, I’m having a hard time even pin pointing where I start with this blog, or what I should say first. But I truly believe that I definitely need to start by thanking my company for the opportunity to become more educated along side of sponsoring this wonderful conference.

I honestly came in to this conference expecting lectures and that’s all. Sure, I knew the conference would be worth wile because of the amazing host of Liz Strauss and the list of great speakers. I also knew it would help in a lot of ways to get help in the areas that I struggle the most in. My goal out of this conference was to represent my brand. I didn’t expect SOBCon to have any influence on my personal life at all. Boy… was I WRONG!! The first day I overcame the fear that has been haunting me in my career with Social Media from the early stages. My fear was voicing my opinion when I had objections. I was always afraid of sounding less noticed when replying to an email that might not have the correct answer.  I’m afraid that in my career I’ve let a lot slide by me because I was scared to be that “little” voice saying “I disagree!”, or simply telling someone that I knew of a better solution that could possibly help the company. This is when I watched failure because I didn’t acknowledge the problem. I didn’t think I mattered. To be completely honest, I found this negative mechanism and choked on it and more importantly upchucked it every where In hopes to one day never see it again (silly analogy, i know). This happened to me on Friday night the Hotel 71 event. In the cab ride home is when I realized that I wasn’t being true to myself. During Fridays session Chris Brogan and Julien Smith inspired me by the telling the audience “You have to have trust to build”. This can be taken in SO many ways. In fact it hit me spot on with inspiration to do what I think is best. To believe in myself to accomplish personal and professional goals. I was inspired, but more importantly it made me realize that I needed some sort of change. So from that day I have been true to myself. Some have noticed and some haven’t. It’s not a matter of change for others, it was a matter of change for myself!

I learned SO much in the 2.5 days that I attended SOBCon. The interaction and the willingness of some of the top bloggers was astonishing. More importantly the experience and new friendships that I gained will never be forgotten.

Thanks SOBCon – I’m looking forward to many years to come!

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~ by chasefritchle on May 12, 2009.