As organizers of a dynamic & physical community of 550 involved fathers that meet up all over New York City where our blog site has only been an olive branch extension of our NYC Dads Group – Dad 2.0 Summit was our first “big league” blogger convention experience. Needless to say, we entered the DAD 2.0 Summit weekend with trepidation, sweaty palms, and UNCERTAINTY! Consequently, it was a wonderful opportunity to attend a conference where so many important and talented writing professionals, journalists, media, bloggers, and brands agreed to GET OUT from BEHIND THEIR COMPUTERS and meet-up face to face with each other to network, connect, share information, and educate each other on how to move the conversation surrounding fathers forward.
From the beginning, we’ve wanted this blog to be a place for real dads to show the caring, capable, and confident approach we are taking as we navigate parenthood. Aside from the occasional guest post, the two of us (Matt & I) have been the only ones to regularly tell our stories, respond to academic studies and news articles, and share information about what’s going on in the dad-world play-groups. We are thrilled that we recently moved forward with a team of contributors that represents the true diversity of opinions, experiences, and points of view of the NYC Dads Group to pique interests and generate meaningful conversations. DAD 2.0 has made a powerful impact on us- it inspired us, challenged us, and provided us with a diverse set of tools to continue on our mission of sharing so many diverse voices of fatherhood.
Many parent bloggers from across the country as well as our local NYC Dads Group members were UNABLE to attend so we felt that we needed to let you be a fly on the wall and see DAD 2.0 from our eyes and ears. Enjoy this recap from our tweeted content notes so we can bring the Dad 2.0 Summit to you!
Doug French stood at the podium kicking off the conference with his opening remarks – it was mix of agenda items, his snarky humor, and sincere pride to see all of the hard work and vision with John Pacini come together: 200 in attendance, mostly dad bloggers from across the country, incredible sponsors (and giveaways), the weather will be miserable for the next three days (true: it rained roughly 6 inches), and to prepare for a full throttle networking & educational shmoozefest that was going to take us on a journey from “uncertainty” to becoming “enchanted.”!
Heard around the conference
-
@lesbiandad asking how many people want 2 make a living from their blogs. Not many hands in the room -Interesting says @ritaarens - Shhhhhh….Huggies (Kimberly-Clark reps) are in da house! After dad fueled poop-storm….huggies alters their campaign – Dadding! Amazing power of community!
- Thanks
@huggies for sending ur team 2 listen to our comments, questions, and concerns regarding HUGGIES dad-test commercial!. See these two wonderful posts regarding the Huggies debacle & after-math: 1. Huggies Pulls Ads After Insulting Dads by Lisa Belkin & 2. Dads Force Huggies to Drop Loaded Ad by Mike Adamick. or just check out the Huggies FaceBook page to read the comments:
Jonathan Fields – Opening Keynote
-
@dad2summit: “The best content comes when u let a piece of yourself out, and ur scared to hit ‘publish’.”@jonathanfields - The best posts W/ audience are ones that scare the crap out of u to share…so step into uncertainty-share it
@jonathanfields - “Thou shalt find or purchase a sense of humor”
@jonathanfields one of his 10 commandments of GoodLife Project @jonathanfields “how do u deal with uncertainty?” Sounds like a thought most parents have as they launch into being new parents
Myth of the Mancession: Fundamental Shift in Men’s Roles in the Household – Panel Discussion with Caleb Gardner, Shawn Bean, RJ Jaramillo, and Missy Maher
@calebgardner Brands getting in on the ground level at our first annual DAD 2.0 summit and they are wise for doing it@calebgardner Edelman released research! Quantifiable trend that men are taking a more active role in the houselhold (For the complete research study results: stay tuned for the JUNE issue of Parenting Magazine).@rjsingledad Dad is part of the household decisions so marketers need to be aware of their increased purchasing power- Edelman research: 82 pct of dads who have a child under 2 think their is an anti-societal bias against them
@verymissy providing insight that marketers want hard numbers…”Dip tow in water” 80 pct of their budget is used for status quo, 20pct for risks/opps@calebgardner asked “what can we do today to be ready for the family of tomorrow?”@sbpopculture predicts that the “year of the dad” is here (or coming soon) and it’s gonna be interesting to see which dad from#dad2summit will be on cover of TIME Magazine@sbpopculture said when he started at Parenting Magazine, he felt like “encino man” 2 show them that dads need 2 shift INTO conversation- @Calbegardner used this quote in his slideshow: “Its OK 2 think of men as a positive influence as husbands and fathers-rather than Budlight cavemen”-Tom matlack
@Goodmenproject - Edelman research…26 pct of dads, (including me), do ALL of the grocery shopping for their families
- Edelman research: Only 4 pct of today’s families fall into “traditional” role! Wow! Traditional is dad works + mom stays home + kids under 18
 |
| Power of Community Panel: from Left: Matt Schneider, Roland Warren, Jason Sperber, Jim Higley, Lance Somerfeld, Karen Walrond |
Pack mentality: DADS & Power of Community – Panel discussion with Jim Higley, Jason Sperber, Karen Walrond, Roland Warren, Matt Schneider, Lance Somerfeld
- @LesbianDad WORD: “We have the audacity to believe we can change the world by being dads out in the world.” Matt Schneider,
@nycdadsgroup - “I’m going to be a different kind of father than my dad was.” –
@nycdadsgroup - @Ritaarens Lance
@nycdadsgroup saying men do want to talk feelings, just need the forum. - As as result of Matt & I participating on the panel, we were unable to tweet during this panel, but we’d like to take a moment to THANK our moderator, Jim Higley, for all of the emails and preparation that went into our panel as well as our new friends – for all of the online conversation, banter, and topics we discussed to provide content for what we hope our audience found to be an engaging and meaningful workshop.
Keynote Conversation: Brand Forum- Panel with CC Chapman, Susan Can, Robert Candelino, Jonathan Fisher, and LG representative
@robcandy said “brands are looking for blogs that are durable and sustainable” to market to@dadarocks: Do u have a mission statement? Do u have a media kit? Do u have contact info. on ur blog? How about location? @cc_chapman@cc_chapman “how do bloggers approach brands of ur size to get u as their sponsor?” -sincerity, go w/brands u believe in, engage with them at conference@dadapalooza:@DoveMenCare created value by showing off super sports stars (ie. Shaq & his mom) as great dads- never mentioned product@BradLawless: Interesting fact: 30% of Dove products for women were consumed by men@DoveMenCare called the hoist that Drew Brees did w/ his kid after winning superbowl “the drew brees” move@robcandy does it daily w/ his 9 mo old son- Didn’t know that drew brees was
@DoveMenCare spokesman before they won the superbowl in 2010 before he was Mr. Pampers - Jonathan Fisher of Brand Extract says “bloggers have DISCOURSE and INFLUENCE” (true: see Huggies case study mentioned above)
- Johnson & Johnson showed “boys night” 30 second ad slot of dad playing with his kids instead of playing poker-it’s 10 yrs old!
- Johnson and johnson pushes catch-phrase 2 have power of “social media for social good!”…its why they attend every parent conference
- Hey brands– treating dads as caring, competent, confident parents is appealing to moms and dads – NYC Dads Group
Entrepreneur Roundtable – Panel with Marc Nathan, Jamie Grayson, Andrew Mellen, Stephen Newman, Jerald Reichstein, and Glen Stansberry
- Stay genuine, be authentic, be true to yourself…all of the constant themes that are coming out of our entrepreneurs roundtable
- Advice for entrepreneurs: “don’t fear telling others about your ideas” do the opposite to solicit feedback!
@bouncingpixel except “There are 2 brothers in Harvard that might disagree with@bouncingpixel” says@snewman007 @andrewjmellen says “its amazing have 2 people to start a business or entrepreneurship, but it’s the 3rd person u need to spread message!”@marc1919 asked, “how do u handle negativity and naysayers of ur website?” -honestly, embrace others “care” enough to say u don’t like it@babyguynyc went from working on broadway to working at baby store (Buy Buy Baby) into a baby product and gear powerhouse! This authentic guy doesn’t even have a kid!- Build a brand u believe in and are passionate about and know your audience and who you are trying to reach” says
@snewman007 @andrewjmellen “its tough to be an entrepreneur by yourself”….no one 2 bounce ideas off or 2 free u to think strategically@marc1919. Asked “are you an entrepreneur or a WANTrepreneur!”
Pitching Dads to Brands: Casting a Wider Net- Panel discussion with John Cave Osborne, Catherine Connors, and Dave Wescott
- @dwescott1 Most compelling post you ever write is pointless if no one reads it.- Dad_strangeland
- “Being an emotionally involved dad is a cool thing!”
@johncaveosborne @herbadmother “yes, you need to appeal to the moms” to drive your numbers, “be a conversationalist” and use “pinterest”- Lead with your “dadness”: Get dads into the parenting conversation in a meaningful way”
@herbadmother - “How do u build an audience of dads?”
@dwescott1 -“go to where the guys are…sports blogs, tech blogs,etc.” - “How do we affect a cultural shift so dads can have brands pitching to them like they do to mom sites?”
@herbadmother - “To Engage brands regarding your site, demonstrate your passion!
@dwescott1
 |
| Inspirational Guy Kawasaki |
Closing Keynote: Getting “enchanted” with Guy Kawasaki
@guykawaski says “achieve likeability” with a winning “Pan-Am” smile…so you want “crows feet” from the smiles- NOT botox- Trustworthiness – you need to trust others before they trust u, ex. Zappos, amazon, nordstrom
- Agree on something! Find some commonality
- invoke reciprocation is “not thank u”, but “I know u would do the same for me”-find a way for them to pay u back
- Most sound advice of the day is by
@guykawasaki – if your wife (partner) asks u to do something-DROP everything- do it asap! - Want a PDF copy of
@guykawasaki presentation today at#dad2summit ? Here u go…shoot an email to gina@garage.com
– We are truly inspired to become an even stronger voice on fatherhood based on the pride, community, and meaningful education provided at dad 2.0
– it was a surreal experience seeing so many talented journalists, bloggers, writers, and brands that we have followed for years come out from hiding behind their pc’s for being approachable during our face to face conversations
– We leave as better men! Better fathers, better bloggers, and better husbands (loved Guy Kawasaki’s advice to “drop everything” when your wife asks you to do something)
– our brains hurt from digesting all of the relevant, progressive, and powerful content
– even though many of the attendees have been to several blogger conferences in the past…they made us feel welcome and loved
– it was invigorating that we were a part of the first dad 2.0 summit which is sure to grow into a winning dynasty for dads in the future!
It was great meeting you guys. I agree with you, it was a fantastic conference and the perfect mix of bloggers, brands, and information.
I like how you’re commenting on so many blogs now Whit after you said you don’t read comments in your own panel!!!
Whit – great to meet & hang with you as well! we love what you and the Dad-Centric fellas are doing. We hope that the networking and friendships outlast the three day microcosm of the conference – be in touch!
Hear hear! All around it was a great conference filled with good folks with good ideas. And it was a pleasure to finally meet you, Lance and Matt. Kevin
What the other guys said! It was great to hang out with you and all my other friends who had been imaginary up to this point. I’m finally digesting this experience, and it’s turning out to be nourishing in ways I hadn’t expected it to be.
Thanks for all this information–very helpful for those of us who couldn’t make the conference.
Great recap, thank you!
I agree it is a great recap– Thank you!
One of my biggest profound takeaways was said by Matt.
“We have the audacity to believe we can change the world by being dads out in the world.” Matt Schneider,
It was great hanging out with all you fellows, and strangely, because I was there with wife and kid, I did not hang out as much as I should have (Yes, I’m blaming my ball and chain– super lame!)
Thanks buddy . . . I’ve found that using the word audacity in any sentence automatically makes it meaningful. Might even sell books 😉