Last month I was invited to attend an Obesity Online Event in New York hosted by Ethicon Endo-Surgery http://www.ethiconendosurgery.com/
and Obesity Action Coalition http://www.obesityaction.org/home/index.php.
My invite included travel and hotel accommodations paid for by Ethicon Endo-Surgery along with a welcome reception Thursday night and the event on Friday.
When I first read the invite I told myself it wasn't real. First off how did these people find me and secondly what was the catch? You don't get a FREE trip to New York without the underling fine print right? It was like those times when someone calls you from the radio station and says "You've won an all expense paid trip for a weekend in Vegas" then you get there and you have to spend 4 hours listening to a spiel about time shares or 2 months after your trip the bills start rolling in because you didn't read the fine print on what you were responsible for!
After many conversations it became clear to me that this was the real deal! Ok so it's real now why are they knocking on my door? It was explained to me like this: research shows that patients who are seeking weight loss surgery or who have had surgery are spending many hours researching online. Many are turning to social media and seeking out people who have had surgery and who blog/talk/face book about it. Because of this a group of bloggers were invited to attend this event in New York.
After the initial shock was over I was ecstatic to hear that a large corporation is recognizing the impact social media has in the community. I was still intrigued on how they choose specific bloggers to invite to this event. I was told that Ethicon had worked with their marketing firm Porter Novelli who researched bloggers in the bariatric community and that we were among the top 25 online influencers.
WOW once again I was flabbergasted! My goal with this blog has always been to touch someone in the bariatric community and give support on all levels. There are times when I wondered if I was really reaching anyone or just writing to myself. This was good confirmation for me personally knowing that I am making a difference!
So my WLS friends that is all I'm sharing in this post... There is more to come!!!
To be continued.........................
