Listen to Lena

Perfecting the Art of Conversuasion

ShesConnected

Show of Hands: Can You Parallel Park?

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Mmmkay show of hands:

Do you have trouble parallel parking on your first attempt?
Do you search in a vain attempt for on-street parking that is wide enough to enter front-in?
Have you turned down social invitations from losers friends who do not have curbside parking?
Did you fail your first driver’s test after you sent an orange pylon airborne? (Or worse, hit a parked car?)

If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, you may have PARKOPHOBIA.

Seriously.

“The fear of parallel parking – or “parkophobia” as it has been dubbed – has been found to rank alongside job interviews and meeting the in-laws as one of life’s most stressful moments.

Almost a third of motorists said they needed more than one attempt at the manoeuvre, with the figure rising to 41 percent for women, according to a poll of drivers by Ford.

One in 10 women said guiding their car into a tight spot was more stressful than visiting the dentist or a key job interview.” – IOL Motoring

There IS a cure. And it goes by the name Active Park Assist, by Ford.

While I don’t suffer from parkophobia, I must admit… this would make my life MUCH easier. Lucky attendees at the ShesConnected Conference in Toronto were able to demo Active Park Assist for themselves, and I daresay that yes, this is a life enhancing (changing?) feature.

Click here to visit Ford Canada.

2nd Annual ShesConnected Conference in TO

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As mentioned in an earlier post, I recently joined ShesConnected as a Community Manager. I’ve been helping to plan their conference (including being privy to all the juicy shoe party details!), liaising with the awesome sponsors (woot!) and tweeting all day long – you can catch me on their two Twitter streams – @shesconnected and @SCConference.

And if you do follow my tweets, you’ll see that there’s an enormous amount of buzz surrounding the conference, especially among Digital Women in Canada.

“The ShesConnected Conference is different than the typical conference. Women attending this event want to work with brands and are chosen based on their social reach, power of voice, and influence as well as requirements from the brands attending. This year we are pleased to be choosing 200 women, which has doubled from last year. If you’re selected, you’ll get to connect with top-tier brands and digital women over this two-day event.

The best part? You get to attend for FREE because the brands pay your conference fee!”

It’s a blogger’s dream – meeting up with peers, connecting with brands and learning from experts, all in a fun setting in downtown TO! For more information on the conference (September 29/30 at the Sheraton TO) please click here.

Just about all the conference invitations have been handed out, but if you’re a blogger – or someone who is very active across other social media platforms, like Twitter or Facebook – you can enter to WIN a ticket with me!

Simply click on over to this entry form and be sure to let us know why you want to come along. (Don’t you just love my Bobblehead? Nice boots!)

Good luck!

Headlines

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Hey Fabulous Readers!

I’m back from a much-needed blogging break. SO much to tell!

My head is swimming with details and I simply don’t know where to begin, so forgive me if I list the awesomeness via Headlines:

BLOGHER ’11 ROCKED
I spent 5 days in sunny San Diego, enjoying my first (and certainly not last) blogging conference. For bloggers wondering what the conference is all about, and what to expect, I’ll let Google handle your inquiries – you’ll find many amazing posts on the subject, all from unique perspectives that really are a must-read. For my part, I’ll just say this: GO. Go once. Go every year. Go because you want to. Go because you should. Just GO.

FORD CANADA RULES
As you likely saw from a previous post, I was sponsored by Ford to attend the event. Ford put together a wonderful group of ladies – including Donna Antoniadis from ShesConnected, Erica Ehm of YummyMummyClub fame, Dee Brun the Cocktail Deeva – and superstar bloggers from across Canada that I had the esteemed pleasure of both meeting and tweeting. More posts about my experience at BlogHer to come.

VASANTI ON MY CHEEKS, SKECHERS ON MY FEET
I was also lucky to have my makeup for the event provided by Vasanti Cosmetics, and SKECHERS outfitted my shoes for the duration of the trip (four stylin’ pairs to be exact). Yup, awesomeness all around… and posts on those fabulous sponsors to come as well.

THE END OF THE GIVEAWAY GAME
I embarked on the conference with an open mind and put much thought into the direction of my blog. And after a lot of soul searching, I realized that my true strengths – and desires, for that matter – lie in posts that aren’t necessarily tied to reviews and/or giveaways. Don’t get me wrong: I LOVE giving back to my readers, and will likely review many more products in my time, but have decided to transition away from a “review” blog and get back to Listen to Lena! 101: shopping, family, recipes and fun. So after my final set of giveaways for the Summer Beauty & Fashion Guide, you’ll see more classic Lena posts; me just writing for the sheer pleasure of writing. To all my sweepstakes friends, thanks for stopping by! Hope y’all will stay for a good story or two.

SLEEP DERIVATION
With so much going on over the last few days, I need to turn in! Goodnight friends, back for more fun tomorrow!