i’m back from my travels to salt lake city for alt summit. i’m energized, inspired, and excited (and a tiny bit exhausted) thanks to this wonderful experience. i got to meet some absolutely lovely ladies (and a couple of gents, too!) and it was so refreshing to be with a huge group of people who get me.
i’m sure you noticed that i had been light on the tweets and instagrams while i was away. since i’ve been trying to be more mindful and stay present, i felt that being on any social media platform while the conference was happening would pull me away from being present. i took all of my notes the old fashioned way and have quite a few pages of information that i’m still going through and processing.
alt summit has simply been one of the best experiences of my life. the connections i made were fantastic and much of them already felt like ready-made friendships (largely thanks to twitter). it was so bizarre to see someone in real life whom i had previously only known on the internet. everyone that i met was amazing and so genuine and nice. my roomies were nothing short of fantastic (seriously, lisa, jess and rashi, you ROCK!) although i do wish we had stayed at the grand instead of the marriott. next year, that will happen.
one of the biggest things i’ve taken away from alt is how rewarding it can be to push yourself outside of your comfort zone. as i had said in my post last week, i’m not really an extroverted person. i tend to let people come to me and observe my surroundings. alt helped me get outside of that comfort zone and take some risks. i introduced myself to other bloggers, i asked questions, i even went up and spoke to stefan sagmeister (that is no easy feat for me… then again, it was during the mini-parties so i already had some liquid courage in me). it was scary and made my palms sweaty and heart race and maybe want to throw up a little bit… but it was exhilarating. i now feel like i could tackle the world and i also feel more confident in ME. i didn’t think a conference could do that for me so it was a welcome surprise.
i plan on spreading my recaps out over the next week since there’s no way i could cram everything into one post. plus, i’m still processing a lot of information and want to make sure what i’m writing is actually cohesive and makes sense. did you see that alt released its nyc dates? it’s happening june 20 at martha stewart’s headquarters again. if you get the chance, i highly suggest going (and for an idea of what that was like, read my recap).
{image via brooke dennis}
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Wasn’t it amazing? Are you planning on NYC if you can get Tix? If so and we both are luck enough we can plan travels together : ) in the meantime if I am in the Providence area soon I will let you know and we should grab coffee or lunch and talk blogging! Maybe see you in the printshop even! XO
it was SO GOOD. i am definitely planning on attending NYC this summer so we should definitely plan our travel accordingly. ;) yes, definitely keep me posted if you’re around! i hope to find myself at the printshop a lot more often, too, so you’ll be able to find me there! :) xo
I so want to join you guys for the NYC Alt!! How fun would that be?!
do it!!!! seriously, when in june does your trip take you to RI? we can go from here! :)
Erika! It was a pleasure meeting you this past weekend and being your roommate. I’m excited to keep following your blog/work. Please let me know when you are in NYC this summer- we should definitely get together.
it was great meeting you and having you as a roommate, too, Rashi! i know i’ll definitely be in NYC in may and hopefully june for the next alt! :)
I laughed out loud about your sweaty palms and feeling like throwing up! At least you DID talk to Sagmeister – I just watched him from afar.
Love the “pushing yourself out of your comfort zone” of Alt too. And it’s THE perfect place to do that – everyone is so welcoming. They get it.
Happy we met. Wished we could have talked more. Thinking I’ll go to AltSF in July.
like i said, i had a bit of liquid courage on my side… and a couple of gals (thank you lisa and helena!) who gave me a bit of a push, haha.
i’m so happy that i went to alt and made myself do some things i’m not exactly comfortable with. and seriously, everyone was so welcoming and open and fantastic!
i wish we could have talked more, too! i’d love to do Alt SF in july… maybe i can put together a “vacation”… hmmmmm. ;)
Erika! So great to know you and your blog now. I’m going to try to go to ALT NYC, so hopefully, we’ll meet again!
amanda, it was great meeting you at alt!! i will definitely be at alt NYC! keep me posted if you’re able to make it. i’d love to meet up again! i also think i need to make a trip down to austin at some point! :)