I had such an awesome time at The Hive Conference a couple weeks ago, I think I was in a bit of denial when it ended. Then I got thrown back into reality and client work, and just now getting my recap up. Berlin was the perfect city for it, as was the venue: Betahaus, a co-working space which encourages creativity and thought in a shared space. The conference was great and well organized, but the real treat was meeting people who understand your world. I mean, everyone there understands what a blog is and the potential behind it – so refreshing! Many of the people I met that weekend felt like I had known them for years. We just clicked and are still in touch sharing ideas and figuring out how we can collaborate. For the first time I tweeted tips more than I wrote in my notebook, so for my sake as much as yours, it’s high time this post got written. I decided it was best to share my favorite tweets from the conference, along with the speaker. They’re in italics below.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t listen in on every talk (often there were two at once), but thankfully, The Hive compiled all of the recap posts attendees put together (fun too as a way to see what others in the community are working on). And just as a reminder, I put up notes from my talk on Blogging Etiquette & How to Deal with Negative Comments.

Gabby aka Design Mom was one of the speakers everyone was looking forward to hearing. It was really interesting to hear her story of how she started her blog as a hobby and made it into a full time job (side note: she has 6 kids and still makes it look easy). A year ago the family moved from Colorado to Normandy, France and most recently they’ve embarked on Olive Us, on online show that is a celebration of siblings.

Nobody has truly figured out blogs yet. Keep experimenting. – @designmom

Work & fun are very similar in the job I do.” – @designmom

Olive Us is @designmom’s solution to what frustrates her most about current television. http://www.oliveus.tv #hive12

Freunden von Freunden translates to “friends of friends,” and if you ask me, they’re doing the most interesting home tours out of Europe. They don’t have ads on their site, but instead use design and web client projects to finance the site. All the homes come as recommendations from friends, and despite having an international reach, they’ve managed to keep a consistent style. Each home is shot within a couple hours and includes and accompanying interview. Recently they released a book which was great for building PR for the project.

We support/showcase our friends and people we work with. It’s really important to give people as much credit as possible. @fvonf #hive12

Once you show good content to your friends, they’ll share it, make it viral @fvonf #hive12 {via @lostncheeseland}

Blog as business card, @fvonf #hive12 {via @Anne_s_Kitchen}

Collaboration is really important to our success. We always stay transparent. @fvonf #hive12

Local contributors make it more authentic. They’re ‘satellites’ with strong connections. – @fvonf #hive12

The content stays timeless which encourages people to read interviews. – @fvonf #hive12

Toni and Thea are the two amazing sisters behind Sister Mag. They also happen to be the most stylish ladies ever, which is made extra awesome by the fact that their mother made most of the clothes they wore at the conference and they’re super smart. I loved that their talk was part theory (Thea wrote her thesis on the magazine) and part practice. They looked at the new media of online magazines. They were also sweet enough to post their beautifully designed slides.

“We put into the magazine things that you can take out into the real world.” @sister_mag #hive12

We have the print layer and another layer of our digital/multimedia. @sister_mag #hive12

the next thing is curated web. @sister_mag #hive12

Angie of Travel Itch talked about blogs and PR

Keep it simple when making pitches & make sure you give it enough time. @Ichweisswo

Bloggers should be proactive with pitches to PR. Don’t be afraid – make a media kit. – @Ichweisswo

Refer to yourself as a publisher (not blogger). Highlight your expertise. – @Ichweisswo

Jeanette of Fryd + Design self-publishes her own beautiful online magazine, called By Fryd. (She’s from Norway!)

Working in my magazine is like mood-hunting. – @FrydDesign #hive12

Design for web should be clean & you shouldn’t have to zoom in. Choose 1 great image rather than 3 so-so. @FrydDesign on mag design. #hive12

@FrydDesign be humble. be polite. and be you. {via @chasingheartbts}

There was a copyright lawyer who did a fantastic job of making a pretty boring subject amusing, as he pointed out:
The problem of copyright is that it was made before blogging existed. #hive12 – @Telemedicus

Source is not enough. Ask permission before you post someone else’s photo. #hive12 – @Telemedicus

Share your work. Be fair. Use creative commons licenses. #hive12 – @Telemedicus

Technically all screenshots are copyrighted. #hive12 – @Telemedicus

When giving credit do it how the author wants it. Even if it’s “sexyguy8”. ha! :) {via @kristifuoco}

Lindsey of Lost in Cheeseland juggles a serious part-time job in social media, her own online cookie company, freelance writing and her blog, so she was the perfect person to talk on the work-life balance.

Unplug for a day each week. @lostncheeseland‘s husband’s challenge to her. #hive12

Listen to your body. Don’t take on too much. Take a step back and keep a personal life. @lostncheeseland #hive12

Let ideas breathe and grow naturally. Take time to disconnect. -@lostncheeseland #hive12

If you need a break, invite guest bloggers or just post a simple photo. @lostncheeseland #hive12

Emily Westbrooks is an American expat living in Dublin. Her blog is From China Village, and her talk was all about creating a DIY for your blog. The idea is that you don’t need to be a creative DIY-er to learn from the idea.

Try a DIY where you take a trend in a new/different way. No need to re-invent wheel. @emilyholmes #hive12

Create an inspired image for your blog. Shoot your projects in a setting that makes it shine. @emilyholmes #hive12

Ask a friend to help test a project to make sure a project makes sense. @emilyholmes #hive12

Think about the perspective of your readers, especially when dealing w/ different cultures.Don’t assume know something. @emilyholmes #hive12

DIY can be a good way to drive traffic because you’re empowering readers. @emilyholmes #hive12

I only heard the tail end of Ton Bo Girl‘s fashion talk, but I liked what she had to say.

The energy you put out comes back to you. -Ton Bo Girl #hive12

“Write each blog post as if the whole world is reading… no matter what blog stats say”- Tonbo Girl #hive12

All tweets above are my own (@pretavoyager), referencing the speaker. Check #Hive12 in the twitter archives for all tweets. You can find the full conference program here for reference.

Some more great re-caps:
From Ashley: Hive 1 & Hive 2, and our expat blogger lunch
Linsey’s Scenes from the Hive
The Sister Mag girls do a full blown recap over multiple posts
Brittany’s – aka The House that Lars Built – impressions
So many more, I can’t keep up. Here’s the full list!