Confessions of a Social Media Junkie

Through luck of the draw (literally), I’m attending the Blissdom Canada Conference in Toronto next week.

The Blissdom ticket was part of a prize pack I won for donating to the Tweetathon for Tanner, a fundraiser held for a deserving boy a couple of months ago via Twitter. The tweetathon auction raised $30,000 to help Tanner’s family renovate their home so that Tanner, who is dying from Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy, can live at home in the final year or so that he has left. You can read Tanner’s story here.

So ya. I won all these  (hello!) amazing gifts donated by Canadian, mostly Toronto-based, women-led businesses  and I feel truly honoured by it. In making the donation for Tanner, I didn’t expect to win anything. I just wanted to help Tanner in some small way.

Here is what I won:

• Five private one hour pilates sessions with instructor Sandra Brunner, in Chang’e studio or via Skype. Donated by: Wallabina and Chang’e Studio (Twitter)
• Blissdom Canada ticket. Blissdom Canada is Canada’s first social media conference for women, by women. Oct 27-29 in Toronto. Donated by: Blissdom Canada (Twitter)
• Schwarzkopf Gift Basket. Over $250 worth of professional products, including shampoos, conditioners, intensifying treatments, styling products. Donated by:Women’s Post (Twitter)
• Gift Card for Salon Monzer for a hilite, colour & cut with Artistic Director Monzer. Value $195.00 Donated by: Salon Monzer (Twitter)
• Dermaglow gift pack: Nuvectin Triple Action Eye Lift, Advanced Foaming Cleanser and Anti-Aging Tinted Moisturizer ($119 value) Donated by: dermaglow (Twitter)
• 2 Tickets to the Mom Entrepreneur Network event: Engagement 2.0 with me (Scott Stratten) as the guest speaker. Each ticket includes a copy of the UnMarketing book. Donated by: Mom Entrepreneur Network (Twitter)

I would like to thank  all of the above businesses for donating such wonderful prizes. I truly appreciate being the recipient of them.

While I feel rewarded for donating to the Tweetathon for Tanner, I am also grateful. Without winning this prize pack, I doubt I would have been able to attend Blissdom. Between the cost of the conference, and the added travel and hotel costs, it just wouldn’t have been in the cards.

I will have a great time at this conference – learning and networking with other women. And while I’m doing that, I’ll be thinking about Tanner and how, without him and his wishes, I wouldn’t be a lucky Blissdom Canada attendee.