Abbott European Diabetes Blogger DXBerlin Event - Day 2

After our early morning run, it was time to get ready for the even more exciting day ahead (it was a very exciting weekend), where we would be benefitting from the expert knowledge of social media, and diabetes industry professionals in the conference part of the Abbott weekend. As you might have seen whilst keeping up to date with my live tweeting of the event on the day, we were joined by some of the most experienced/ professional/ inspirational people in Europe. The day also gave the bloggers, including myself, who had come from all around Europe, to exchange our thoughts and opinions on the social media and diabetes scene from our different countries. The location for the event was a really quirky warehouse, called Fabrik 23. Described as an 'Instagrammer's dream' it was a great backdrop for the day.

First up was Gemma, creator of the fabulous beauty blog 'Hello Gemma', who is one of what I would consider to be the original/ first bloggers in the UK. It was fascinating listening to Gemma's presentation on how her passion blossomed into her profession, as there were so many parallels between her story and the reason so many of us started blogging. I learnt so much from this presentation and felt really inspired afterwards to expand on my blogging activity (so watch this space :0)

Some of the other European diabetes bloggers

Next up we received an Instagram masterclass, from Mary (@StilinBerlin) who helped us understand what it means to find 'your own story' and your individual photographic representation of the things you want to say, through pictures. With my previous background in fashion, photography is something that I think comes hand in hand with conveying my story. It might sound like a cliche, but a picture really does speak a thousand words and as a blogger, this is so important. If you want to see some of the photos I took during the breakout session, then be sure to take a look at my account at @MelStephenson01.

Mary from StilinBerlin

Just before lunch it was the turn of inspirational writer/ sailor Bastian Hauck, who told us a little of his fascinating story of when he sailed around the world, despite having type 1 diabetes and never letting it get in the way of what he wanted to achieve. I could relate to what he had to say because at aged 19, his Dad gave him the keys to his boat, and Bastian used this form of physical activity to take control of his diabetes.

Etai, founder of Bit Bite

After lunch we enjoyed listening to Maarten Braber about the concept of quantified self, which in a nutshell is the idea of using measurements, records and data as a tool to gain a deeper understanding of one's self. In the case of people with diabetes such as ourselves, this is something that we do on a daily basis, such as the blood glucose tests we do and record multiple times a day. As an athlete its something I do when I record my activities in a training diary for example too. Both of which help me know what's going on with my diabetes/ sport, so that I can reflect and make changes where and when necessary. Next we got a sneaky peak into a new nutrition based device and app, that's not even on the market yet, but that could make big waves especially in the type 2 diabetes market, which I look forward to blogging about in more detail soon.

Sofia from Anna PS

Last but by no means least was the final presenter Sofia, whom with type 1 diabetes and a blogger herself, had come to speak to us about diabetes and fashion- related to a beautiful range of specialist clothing called Anna PS from Sweden. I plan to devote a blog to writing about this soon, but as an outline- the brand was founded by someone with type 1 diabetes themselves and it shows. Because the items that I got to see from the range were specifically designed for insulin pumpers and people who want to store their multiple diabetes devices such as the Abbott Libre device or their blood testing kit. But without losing any of the style or cut from the design of the clothing. Sofia very kindly gave us all a t-shirt to take away, so I look forward to wearing that/ trying it out at training this week!