It’s been a whirlwind for me since I got back from Alt Summit in Salt Lake City, Utah last week and I finally had some time to sit down and write a post. Then I realized that in the craziness of the week I somehow accidently deleted ALL my alt photos!! Talk about a big bummer! So instead I’ll tell you a little about what I learned with some select photos I pulled from the insanely large collection of professional photos taken by Alt photographers.

It’s interesting to see how this experience differed for me from the one day Alt San Fran I attended last July. That one was more about being inspired and just getting my feet wet. It was perfect timing, I had just given my 2 weeks notice at work, I was a new big eyed blogger ready to take every ounce of inspiration in and I was in beautiful sunny California!

This experience was definitely a bigger production (4 days) and I met a bunch of people but it was a different vibe. I felt like the divide between new-ish bloggers and well established bloggers was more obvious. For many bloggers this was their yearly reunion, as in the biggest girls weekend ever! Everyone was super nice but I didn’t feel like I made the same connections I did at AltSF, which is ironic since it was only 1 day.

My favourite inspirational quote is by the very humble and sometimes shy Ben Silbermann, co-founder of Pinterest (aka, my crack). I know that I’m definitely a person that can get caught up in the details and perfection – which can be great but I need to learn when it’s good enough and move forward.

I was also inspired by the sweet & charming Garance Doré who gave the opening keynote. I didn’t expect to have so much in common with a fashion-type blogger but everything she said in her charming french accent was so genuine and true. And of course her beautiful illustrated slides didn’t hurt. My biggest takeaway from her talk was not to feed the negative monster. It will only hold you back.

For the most part though my notes were more tactical and educational. I went to an early bird session and heard the same info I’ve heard before and decided that my goal was to only go to sessions that were about topics I knew nothing about so that I could learn the most. I’m happy with my strategy because I learned so much and a bunch of new tabs (too many!) were opened in my brain. Here’s a quick look at the sessions I attended:

How to Break into Video & Build a video Brand online: I know that video is the next big thing in the blog world but I’ve been very hesitant to jump on board. I know enough to know that it’s incredibly time consuming (I’m already swamped!) and not in love with the idea of seeing myself on the screen. But these 4 really different creative women gave me a different perspective and totally opened my mind up to the possibilities of video.

Blog Revenue: Display Ads, Affiliate Programs Ad Networks, Sponsporships and What the numbers look like: Ok, so this I do know a bit about but I definitely wanted to learn more. Let’s face it, having a daily blog is a ton of work and it would be nice to be compensated for some of that time and not to mention the opportunity to work with some great brands and build some relationships.

Licensing Artwork: This was a more intimate round table session with artist Khristian A. Howell. Lately I’ve really gotten back into graphic design and enjoying the process and loved the idea of trying to make it work for me. Khristian did an excellent job explaining the process from start to end and the realities of the art licensing business from an artist’s perspective.

How to write a book query letter and book proposal: So this was totally new to me but it sounded like something I would be interested in and sure enough, I was. Jaime Morrison Curtis knows her stuff! She plowed through a very detailed example of how to write a book proposal that will help you get published. Who doesn’t love a great interior design or DIY coffee table book? This process is definitely for the patient and detail oriented folks though…keep that in mind. I was surprised to learn how integral a good query letter was to have a book proposal accepted, so that’s definitely something worth dedicating sufficient time to.

So that was the learning part….then there was the fun part! I wanted to do a whole other post for you with tons of photos of the UNREAL amount of decor and styling but you know..the whole deleted photo thing. Alt and the sponsors went wayyyyy beyond and around every corner our senses were greeted with something gorgeous, glittery, sweet, crafty, creative or all of the above. There was no less than 10 (!) mini closing parties to choose from and a probably double the amount of photo booths to ham it up with. But instead here’s just a TINY snapshot of what I posted on Instagram if you’re not already following along.

Phew! Aren’t you just wiped out hearing about it?! Until next year Alt!!