Tomorrow (Saturday, March 3), VIVA! consultants,  Abbey and Pernille, are heading to an inaugural health and wellbeing bloggers conference to glean insights on how blogging can help shape public opinion.

The Sydney conference will focus on the evolution of blogging as a cornerstone to building public reputation and leveraging community engagement, incorporating the following topics:

The ‘Participatory Medicine Movement’

Bloggers are powerful influencers within their communities, who can effectively influence how people approach their personal health and wellbeing, in a completely different manner to that of a specialist or GP.

The ‘Participatory Medicine Movement’ purports that at some stage in our lives, we will all be patients, learning to manage our journey through health, wellness and illness, which must take priority in our personal lives, and the lives of our families.

The rise of the e-patient

The term ‘e-patient’ refers to the increasingly active role that patients are playing in taking personal control of their lives through online advocacy. In turn, e-patients are more empowered, equipped, engaged and enabled than others.

Sir Richard Branson will also join the conference ‘virtually’ to discuss ‘Social Entrepreneurs’ in health.

According to Sir Branson, over the past few years, blogging has become one of the most enjoyable and frequent activities in his life.

“It is a fantastic way of sharing news, opinions and having fun with people all over the globe. Bloggers are becoming increasingly influential, and can use their presence to positively impact issues they care about. They are able to share not just their own views, but reflect the sentiments of wider communities and make a real difference to the world.”
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Healthivate will also feature presentations from a swag of high profile bloggers including David Lee (Nuffnag), Larraine Murphy (The Remarkables) and America’s number one ‘mummy blogger’, Jessica Gottlieb.

The seminar will also cover topical issues for bloggers, including social media and mental health, and social media and bullying.

VIVA! Account Executive, Abbey, is most excited about meeting prominent bloggers in the health industry and hearing from an array of interesting speakers addressing relevant topics in the health and wellness sector.

“Given my interest in mental health, I’m really looking forward to hearing about social media and mental health from Ingrid Ozols, the founder and Managing Director of MentalHealth@Work.

VIVA! Digital Account Executive, Pernille, who is a huge fan of Sir Branson, is excited about hearing from him ‘virtually’ at tomorrow’s conference.

“I’ve always been very interested in activism in relation to PR, so I’m looking forward to learning more on the topic and what the key drivers are behind a blogger’s key messages.

“I’m also excited to hear from accredited nutritionist and health blogger, Catherin Saxelby, who will be addressing how basic nutrition got hikacked by marketing,” said Pernille.

“Then at lunch time, there’s laughter yoga.

“We can’t wait for tomorrow,” Abbey and Pernille said.