My Mums Show Live Experience.

Last weekend saw the first, in what I hope will be of many, Mums Show Live Exhibition. I was also lucky enough to be confirmed as a speaker on 17th May, the day on which I attended, on the panel for Too Much Information – are you at risk?

I chose to drive up from Berkshire to Alexandra Palace in North London, mainly because they had free parking (an added advantage anywhere in London!). When I arrived, I made my way upstairs to the press office and collected my speakers badge, whereupon I met both Helen from Actually Mummy and Dom, the organiser of the Exhibition.

Mums Show Live is designed to follow on for parents who have children who have outgrown the baby/toddler phase and are moving on to school, so is aimed at children aged 4 to 12 years. The show was not only there to enable you to give you ideas on how to entertain the children but there were opportunities for some ‘me-time’ including eye-brow plucking, teeth whitening and a manicure.

Helen and I decided to do the rounds of the exhibits prior to her turn in the Conversation Theatre where she was due to be on the panel for the School Gates discussion.

One of the exhibits that really impressed me was a new product developed by television presenter Carol Smillie and tennis star Annabel Croft. DiaryDoll period pants are lightweight, breathable and extremely soft – all of which I can vouch for after getting the chance to touch a pair. They also contain a waterproof panel to protect your clothing and bedding in order to avoid embarrassing leaks. They claim that they are perfect for travelling, sport or overnight protection. I would love to try a pair and am keen to introduce them to Grace when she is older.

I have also been in touch with the wonderful people at at 1stFone and Fertilomat, both of which I shall be reviewing so please watch out for these on my blog soon.

I met up with Emily from Family Four Fun and the two of us watched Helen, together with Chris from Thinly Spread and Sarah Ebner who writes The Times Education blog, School Gate, presented by Sarah Cawood, discuss the interesting topic of School Gates and your children starting primary school.

Emily and I then moved on to a very relaxed discussion, hosted by the very information Laura Seaton from Tired Mummy of Two,  where we also met up with Sarah from Boo Roo and Tigger Too. A few people joined us and sat in wonder as we held a major discussion of ‘blogger talk’! Very interesting and I learnt a lot. Thank you Laura.

Once done, we wondered around the exhibit as bloggers en masse from Tots 100 handing out our business cards and discussing different opportunities with the exhibitors. I also took the chance to introduce myself to one of my fellow speakers, Meaghan Fitzgerald from 23snaps.  Their product looks fantastic. It is an app for an online photo album which gives access to only the people designated by you.

When it was time for our panel discussion, not only did I meet up with Meaghan, I was also in the company of Anthony Mack of Claranet who have created a powerful internet protection program in order to customise and manage children’s browsing capabilities online. Sarah Cawood, ever the professional, managed and presented our discussion in an interesting and informative way so that everyone – both panel and the small audience of people – got the most out of it. Our discussion was recorded so I am hoping that at some stage I will be able to show it to you. In the meantime, I was able to interview Sarah and get her opinion of Mums Show Live:

1. How did you get involved in Mums Show Live?

Sarah Cawood blogs over at Help! Where’s the Manual?, can be found at her website: http://www.sarahcawood.co.uk/ and is also part of the BabyCentre’s blogging team.

With thanks to Dominic and all the organisers of Mum’s Show Live for all their hard work.