One of the things I have missed the most since we moved back to Switzerland is the local blogger community in the NYC Metro area, and access to blogger events. So it’s no surprise that when I heard of The Hive, I knew I had to attend!
And so it was that last Friday evening found me on my way to Berlin, armed with directions to my Airbnb accomodation and to the Betahaus, where The Hive was to take place, starting the following morning at 9.
Unfortunately it became obvious during my flight from Zurich to Berlin that I was about to experience an unpleasant bout of flu, and that spoiled the fun somewhat, but not so much that I couldn’t enjoy my time at The Hive.
And so on Saturday morning I left the apartment bright and early, and after grabbing some breakfast on the way at Milch & Zucker, I arrived at Betahaus. What an amazing space, you guys. Clearly planned for brainstorming sessions and creative efforts.
Lovely garlands in the official Hive colors were hanging everywhere.
And near the stage there was a map of Europe, where we were encouraged to hang our business cards in our corresponding nation. (I hung mine in Switzerland.)
(I later found out that the the garlands and map were all made by Lauren of Folies du Bonheur, who is clearly a creative genius and I want to be her.)
“So many bloggers, one heart” by johannarundel
Just before beginning, I managed to meet-up with Andreea, and was lucky to enjoy her company for most of the conference. Here she is!
After an intro from Peggy and Yvonne we got started right away. The choices: “How newsletters can support your blog and business” by Tiffany, or “How to make a kickass media kit” by Isa and Claudia of Haptstandtmutti. Guess which one we picked?
Man, but these gals are fabulous.
The next two talks we attended were a little disappointing, so we skipped a couple of the scheduled talks after that, and chose to hang out at the café until lunch. But not before capturing a bit of the fabulous Etsy space:
The afternoon was filled with good talks.
The first: time management strategies from Luisa of The Wednesday Chef, who is really smart, charming, and my new hero. We all looked around and giggled nervously when she said “Stop checking your e-mail 300 times a day. Cut it down to two.” Clearly, I was not alone in my obsession. Thank you for the great strategies, Louisa! I’ll give them my best try!
The second was a tough pick, as three things were happening at the same time, but we picked “Blogs for a special niche and audience” by Jenni Fuchs, who is lovely, funny, charming and a little geeky, and my new girl crush. She doesn’t show off, doesn’t blow her horn, doesn’t talk about herself excessively (like many of the speakers, sigh) but don’t let her unassuming appearance fool you: the girl is pure awesome, you guys. And you should definitely take a look at her blog.
The third was by Katja of Travelettes (which I now realize has the tag “backpacking in heels” – not sure how I feel about that.) Katja talked at length about her experience in creating a successful blog, and then another successful blog, and then getting a fabulous job out of it as well. Are you green with envy yet? I know, it would be enough to hate her a little bit, except she actually shared some great pointers for travel bloggers and bloggers in general, so thank you Katja!
Then we had a barbecue dinner inside, because of the completely uncooperative weather. It was cold, really crowded and very loud, and my head cold was in full swing so I decided to head home early to get a good night’s sleep and be ready for day 2.
Which really went by incredibly quickly.
I attended three talks, my favorite being the short presentation by Alline of Aicuisine, who is gorgeous and takes gorgeous photos, and I loved that she recommended again and again to keep things simple and stop over-styling shoots.
“Make it about the food, not about the photo. The food should jump out at the viewer and should make their mouth water. Don’t distract them from the food with unnecessary props.”
If that isn’t just about the best advice I have ever heard about styling, I don’t know what is.
But the real highlight of the day was dinner. It was supposed to be a large group, about 15 of us, but a few canceled, and after the Betahaus kicked us out, some of the others probably coulnd’t find us. I managed to meet up with Tina, Juliane, Heidi and Zsuzsi and together we headed to Drei Schwestern, a restaurant inside a beautiful old building in the middle of a park in Kreuzberg, only about 15 minutes on foot from the Betahaus.
The food was lovely, the company amazing, and I simply didn’t want the evening to end. It is so rare to have such a wonderful time with people you have just met, and yet there I was, sitting and chatting with four lovely women I had only just met hours before but I could imagine becoming close friends if given half the chance. This dinner for me was the highlight of the weekend, and I couldn’t imagine a better way of ending The Hive.
So I want to thank all my new friends, for making this such a lovely weekend!
And thank you to the speakers who created lovely presentations and shared knowledge without making it all about themselves 
And thank you Yvonne and Peggy, for organizing The Hive! It wasn’t perfect, but it had a lot of heart. There are a few kinks to iron out, but it was a lovely experience and I’m sure each edition of The Hive will only get better!
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