Okay so if you aren't familiar, Bloggers Love hosts events and gifting opportunities for bloggers. I first found about the organisation when I was interning for Fever London and helped out at one of their events, gifting bloggers and networking with others in the industry. I thought it was the most amazing idea ever... I had never been to a blogger event before and I was there to work but luckily I was able to stay on and introduce myself to everyone as a blogger. The night was held at The Penthouse which had beautiful panoramic views of London. Unfortunately, Bloggers Love can no longer hold events there because it is being converted into a hotel.
Immediately, I joined the mailing list and attended a couple other of their events, both of which were fabulous and had little to no drawbacks at all. Naturally I wanted to come to this year's Gossip Girl themed LFW event as I had such a good impression already so I decided to attend. As I found the Hoxton Arches venue, I saw a line of bloggers waiting to enter and everything seemed as it should... it was only until I entered that I realised how crowded it really was. After speaking to a couple of others, many would agree that the space was a bit too small as it was hard to speak to the brands one-on-one purely because of how busy it was.
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| Yes, my necklace is £5! |
Admittedly, I didn't stay for long as it was all a bit too much for me but that's not to say that my night was ruined or anything, I did manage to connect with a few fabulous brands, including ones like
Sniffy Wiffy and
Nadia Minkoff who I have previously met with. Plus it was great to be able to dress up like Blair Waldorf for a day... Although I must admit I felt slightly underdressed considering how much effort some others had gone to with killer heels and perfect hair -sigh-!
When I got home and opened Twitter, I couldn't believe how much hate this event was getting. Literally every tweet I saw was bashing the event, the organisers, the brands. Every aspect was being tattered. Yes, I do feel like the previous events were much better but in an all honesty, who am I sit to around and bash somebody for putting on an event to help me and my blog?
Prior to the gifting lounge, an exclusive Gossip Girl themed dinner party was meant to have taken place. I did book a ticket for this but I cancelled last minute because I realised it clashed with one of my university seminars. As I had left it so late to inform Bloggers Love, I couldn't get a refund but I expected this and completely understood. Apparently, the dinner was less than satisfactory but I'm not going to comment on something I wasn't physically a part of. I will say that it is highly admirable for the organiser, Danielle to release a detailed statement in relation to all the negative feedback, explaining the hiccups of the night including the fraudulent catering company and the fact that she has had to contribute her own funds to make this event possible without a full-fledged team backing her.
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| Snippet of the full statement which can be read here. |
One thing that pissed me off was the fact that bloggers were criticising the event to a point where everyone was forgetting how stressful the position of organiser must be and that yes, sometimes things just do go wrong. Having been to several Bloggers Love events before, I felt urged to write this post up as I want people to know that this event is not reflective of the potential that Blogger's Love is capable of. They are one of the only organisations which I know of that consider all bloggers, regardless of followings or experience and after all, they did not have to put this event on for anyone... People are now acting as if they could do a better job and run a whole event with 200+ people without the potential for things to go wrong.
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| Quick snap of the event in action! |
Lastly, I would like to comment on the fact that some bloggers were complaining about certain celebrities or TV personalities getting more attention from the brands. Maybe it's just because my mind works from a PR perspective but OBVIOUSLY! It is entirely the brand's choice who they decide to gift and having a certain amount of experience on the other side of the blogging table, I find it a bit funny (without being rude) that starting bloggers expect to be given VIP treatment instead. That's not to say that brands shouldn't pay you any attention, of course not. They have the right to treat you with respect but I'm pretty sure that most of these bloggers did not attend the paid dinner party and turned up to the gifting suite for FREE, only to complain about the lack of attention. Third world problems much?!
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