Challenge Accepted.

Before going into the conference it had been my intention to live tweet the event. But I wanted to be able to branch out and do more to make sure I was favored to win. 

Live social media coverage on Twitter has become my bread and butter. Back home in the automotive industry I get a lot of pats on the back about my timely coverage at industry events, tech shows, and conferences. This wasn't something that was necessarily in the job description and this wasn't something that I was taught in a formal setting. Live tweeting is just something that comes naturally to me.

So being already confident with my ability to drill down the presentations into 140 character "sound bites" that are tweetable in real time, I decided to add real-time blogging into the mix. The idea of writing comprehensive and useful blogs on each presentation at Ragan Disney that will have value to people that did not attend the conference seemed daunting. Ignoring the doubts in my head, I set a goal for myself to publish one blog within 10 minutes after each presentation. 

Sometimes I hold myself to much too high of standards.

And I did it. I live tweeted the presentations, speakers, and behind-the-scenes happenings and I accomplished my goal (except a few times when I really needed that 10 minute break between presentations to use the restroom and grab a chocolate brownie) to also live blog. On top of that I was also posting links to the blogs across the internet for cross promotion: Twitter, LinkedIn, and our Ragan Disney Facebook group.

At the conclusion of the final keynote, Mark Ragan took the stage and announced a huge handful of honorable mentions for their social media coverage. I was not listed. I started to sweat. He then named off the third place winner. I began to zone out doubting myself. Second place. Nope, okay, no big deal.

And then all my hard work paid off.

Mark started, "The last award goes to someone who not only live tweeted the conference but also managed to blog about the presentations almost simultaneously." and then he called my name.

It wasn't about winning an iPad Mini.

Yes in addition to winning the title Top Social Media Reporter, I also won an iPad Mini. But I honestly could care less about winning the iPad Mini. (I mean, don't get me wrong, it's awesome!)

I feel like I have been doing this forever. Doing social media forever. At 14 years old I was the moderator of a book club on LiveJournal, my first community management role. Then I went to college and told my parents I wanted to study  social media, an industry that hardly existed let alone was taken seriously in the real-world. And I did it. I got my bachelors and I went to grad school--I studied social media formally. And now, more than 10 years later, I'm working in an industry that I love, doing what I love, and being acknowledged for it.

What means the most to me is the recognition.

Like I said, I get recognition from people I work with on a daily basis: friends, family, coworkers, and people in automotive. But to receive recognition from my peers, other social media professionals, is the greatest honor with this award. 

It's not that I need to feel validated that what I'm doing is good and that I'm on the right track but it does feel good to reaffirm that this is a valuable skill and that this continues to be a valuable asset in my field.

I just want to thank Mark Ragan for putting on such a great conference, all the people I've met over the last two days who have read my blogs, and to all my Twitter followers who could care less about social media that didn't unfollow me after a two day onslaught of #RaganDisney tweets.