A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending my first Blogalicious Conference. None of this would have been possible without the support of my sponsor, Sverve! Sverve is a growing network of thousands of female influencers. Sverve is a great platform for social media influencers to build their profile and get noticed by brands, marketers and users. The best way to do it is by specifying your areas of influence on your profile. You can connect your tips with your areas of influence so that users and brands can see your passion, knowledge, and influence in that area. If you are on Sverve or want to join, please look me up and follow me!
Now on to my recap! Where do I begin… The conference span over 3 days with keynote speakers, a pop-up shop, a chance to connect and meet with brands and lots of partying! LOL
Since this was my first blogging conference, I didn’t have a clue as to what to expect or what all it would entail. Luckily they had an itinerary of what to expect each day and where the sessions would take place. The first day felt just like school registration. There was so much going on and I didn’t know where in the heck to start. Thanks goodness for my surrogate mom and sister I adopted over the weekend. Teri of Cottage in the Court and Sara of All in an Iowa Mom’s Day were a lifesaver.
While I enjoyed the conference, my biggest complaints were that the venue was spread out over 3 floors and there were entirely too many things going on at the same time. While listening to Hamilton Brown (Marketing Director of Taco Bell) I missed out on winning a prize from AIO Wireless! Ugh!!! And a lot of brands had cocktail parties, demonstrations going on at the same time as sessions. So I feel like I learned a lot but also missed out on so much.
What I will take away is all of the awesome people I had a chance to meet. One that stuck out was Karen Cooper, of PicMonkey. If you ever use photos for anything, you know how important it is to make your picture stand out or be “Pin-worthy” on Pinterest. PicMonkey helps take you and your pictures to the next level. It is a web-based app you can use for free, to edit photos and create designs. However, that brief description does not do the app justice. Not even close.
Here’s a picture of Karen and I at the conference. I ran into her after she had given awesome insight on “How to Build Your Brand…Make it Personal” and I didn’t have my camera! She was nice enough to take it with her phone and email it to me. Who does that?!?! Here are a few great tips that I took away from her keynote speech:
- Action Plan – identify 2-3 core ideals for branding
- Be authentic and true with your storytelling
- Draw people to your brand without trying to hard; be authentic, warm & real
- Identify medial values and creative assets
I have a TON more pictures and will just have to do a wordless Wednesday post to share all of those! I plan to attend more conferences in the upcoming year and can’t wait grow my blog even more.
If you attended Blogalicious or any other type of Blogging Conference, what was the most important thing you took from it?
I’m so glad you enjoyed yourself. I’ve only read good reviews with small negatives about Blogalicious5. I hope to see you at 6 next year!
The positives definitely outweighed the negatives for me! I can’t wait to hear where numero 6 will be!
Sounds like so much fun! Sounds also like I need to attend one of these meetings!!! How do i get there and go to something so awesome!??? k I need the mentoring and education… I think I am lost with my blog… I mean I can blog, but how can I build up my name… HELP ME??? Would love to talk more about your experience and learn from you?? Will you please be my mentor my COILY LOCKS friend?? Again, always inspiring me!!
Jeanne
Jeanne it was really a lot of fun! And trust me, I’m far from being where I want to be with my blog but I’d love to chew the fat with you and at least give you a few ideas. I’m just happy to see you posting again…LOL.
I had so much fun with you! So happy our paths crossed. Great post!
I don’t know what I would have done without you and Teri. It was so much fun meeting you all and I learned so much just from the quick convos we had!
You already know I had a great time with you that weekend. So glad to have FINALLY met you! 🙂
~Whitney
I’m hoping to be up your way soon and we’ll def have to meet up again! There are so many awesome bloggers in the DMV area and hopefully I can build up some good stuff in my area as well.
I’m glad I finally got to read your recap. I’m glad you enjoyed yourself as well as learned a lot. My goal is to go to a least one conference next year. It sounds like a lot of fun as well as a lot of good information.
It was a lot of fun and so life changing! The best part is that I can take what I learned and apply it to our small businesses as well. And the connections I’ve made are priceless. Can’t wait to hear about the conference you attend it will def be worth it!
Every time I read a recap I am reminded of all I missed out on. Next year will definitely be the year I attend my first blog conference. It’s a must!
Andrea that is an awesome goal to have! My goal is to attend at least one wine & food festival/conference next year. Def going to make that happen! Good luck and can’t wait to hear which one you attend!
I’m planning on attending my first blogging conference next year. I’ve been leaning a lot towards Blogalicious. This was a great recap, and it makes me even more excited!