The Most Interesting Person At Northern Voice (#NV10)
May 12th, 2010 . by Peggy
I had a great time this year at the Northern Voice conference. The conference was full of incredible people, including Cathy Browne, Kimli, and Rob Cottingham, but there was one other presenter that really stood out for me.
Steffani Cameron’s (@smuttysteff on Twitter) talk about How To Screw Up Your Personal Blog was inspiring, and not just because the content was so personal. Her shoot-from-the hip style of presentation was refreshing and real. She had no overhead slides, and we were able to solely focus on her voice, her story, and her cautionary tale. I felt a familiarity so many times during that talk that it made me rack my brain for where I must have met her before, but of course I hadn’t. Her story is just one that many of us can relate to.
Steffani is a great example of what this conference is all about. Occasional Accountant by day, and sex blogger by night, she is a creator of great content, and her content is created mostly for the sheer joy of creating it. How different from all the techy and marketing conferences that I’ve been to lately: somebody who actually lets the content drive the blog. That is what Northern Voice is all about, and the importance of Story in blogging was once again brought home to me in a way that was moving and meaningful. Steffani is a normal person who happens to also be a great writer, and that great writer happens to blog about sex. She identifies as a blogger first, and by her topic second, which I loved about her.
When I asked her about all of my writing under a pseudonym, she responded, “Peggy, look at your hair. Who do you think you’re kidding?” Her honesty about her topic has gotten her into hot water with conservative religious bosses and snarky co-workers, but as she so rightly said, “Bloggers have to stop worrying about who they’re going to offend…” and “It’s our job to create great content, and other people’s job to just get over it.” She brushed off the applause to these comments, but really, she was the only one that talked about her failures in such an unprogrammed, clear and unapologetic way.
Steffani, please come back next year. Organizers of Northern Voice, if she doesn’t volunteer, please make her come back.
Thanks for this Peggy. I agree it was the best presentation – with a lot of other great stuff. I wrote a couple of posts about #NV10 too. And yes so refreshing after all the marketing “what do other people want to hear?” concerns. I wrote a post about Steff last month after she gave my son a cooking lesson. Such a multi-talented gal…
What a great post. I’ve admired stef from afar for a long time. She’s great.
I thought about attending this conference, but… It terrifies me. Maybe next year….
All I can say is that you would have been in great company – LOL. Kimli gave a FAB talk about social anxiety and social media as a therapeutic tool! Seriously, it was an awfully good ‘connecting’ conference, if you know what I mean. Real people with real meaning, no fakers allowed.
She is indeed. What was in the cooking lesson? I’m curious. And hungry. :P
Oooooh – I just discovered your #foodisfuelfriday campaign. I’m into that!!! I’ll tell @kimplumley about it too: she’s the Mom Who Cooks and will run with it. Neato!
HEY. AWESOME. You so nice, lady!
I had a fantastic time speaking and spent much of my weekend on cloud nine. You guys were an awesome crowd and made me feel so welcome for sharing my Stuff.
I wish everyone could know how good it feels to get validated for angst with cheers, or have the vulnerable jokes laughed at warmly. It was wonderful meeting eyes with people after the talk, even though they didn’t say hi, the smiles and strong nods said a lot.
It was a fantastic time and I’m now addicted to storytelling, since I think I’m more along that lines than a “traditional” speaker, maybe.
What a ride! So glad you were there and that you approached me so quickly after. Thank you. :)
I have to say, I hadn’t heard of Steffani prior to you telling me about her when we chatted, and now I”m a bit jealous for not going to Northern Voices – on the radar for next year for sure and I’ll be checkin’ into Steffani’s stuff!
Thanks for informing me about this cool chick and cool information!
Great post – I wish I’d caught that session.
And it’s a profound honour even to be a runner-up for Most Interesting Person at Northern Voice. So thanks! :)
I wish I did not sleep in the car… it would have been great to hear her. My kidney stone ot the best of me.
Dude, you were equally interesting! But it’s that whole gal-loyalty thing, you know. Still thinking about how you generously shared all your cartooning secrets with us, and even brought in your tablet collection to demonstrate! I’m having serious iPad envy after seeing how you use yours for sketching like that.