Erica Kartak

To say Alt was an amazing experience is an understatement. I am so thankful to have attended and grateful to my awesome boyfriend for finding Alt and gifting it to me all on his own! My mind is still swirling, my to do list is two pages long and I’m still working on following everyone on social media, but I’ve narrowed down Alt to 5 key items for me.

1. Get out of your comfort zone

Walking into a room full of beautiful, amazing, smart women when you don’t know anyone else can be rather intimidating no matter if you’re introverted or extroverted. I did some research on attendees before arriving so I could recognize names of those from Arizona or blogs that I liked and admired. While I remembered some of them, meeting so many new faces was overwhelming and I found I forgot most of those details in the moment.

The vast majority of interactions I had with others were extremely positive. There are so many people in the same situation that it was easy to introduce myself and sharing a love of blogging was a natural topic. Sure there were some groups that seemed to stick to themselves. I looked at it as though they had a blogging community they were already a part of while I’m just building my community.

I wouldn’t say I’m shy, but I am definitely more outgoing once I get to know you a bit. I met a lot of people that I plan to stay in contact with, but I do wish I had formed more of a connection or friendship with a few others. I am already looking forward to next time to recognize familiar faces and build upon our initial meeting!

2. The blogging community is huge and everywhere

As a relatively new blogger, I had tried connecting with others in Arizona by searching the internet. I wasn’t successful and honestly thought there weren’t many bloggers in Arizona. I was so wrong! I’m excited to become part of the Arizona blogging community. Blogging can be intimidating and a bit confusing, especially at the beginning (what comment plugin is best, how to properly use other’s photos, etc.) and having fellow bloggers to chat with will be fantastic!

3. Size doesn’t matter

Going into Alt, I wasn’t planning to attend the sessions on working with brands. As a small blog I didn’t think opportunities would really be an option for me. A huge thank you to Julie from Tiny Prints for setting me straight at our sponsor dinner on Tuesday night! It changed my perspective and opened my eyes to the possibility of working with some awesome people and brands that I love. And speaking of Tiny Prints, as a fan of all paper products, I knew I made the right choice for me in signing up for their sponsor dinner. It was the best way to kick off Alt and I loved connecting with both Julie and Maria throughout the conference!

4. Bloggers are smart and funny

This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Bloggers are some of the smartest women (and men) that I’ve come across. A sign of a good conference is the number of quotes that stick with me. I’ve put together a list of my favorites from the sessions I attended.

“Content is King, but Promotion is Queen” by PJ Feinstein of A Girl Named PJ

“Fear is an Asshole and a Liar” by Emily McDowell (okay, I didn’t actually attend this session but I loved this quote)

“Your dream does not exist, you must create it” by Melissa Johnson of Best Friends for Frosting

“You don’t have to wait for somebody to call you an expert in order to give expert advice” by Ciera Holzenthal of Ciera Design

“We don’t balance life, we juggle” by Joy Cho of Oh Joy!

5. Focus

I started my blog as a creative outlet and knew I wanted fashion to be a part of it. Let’s face it, I love to shop and style outfits. I also enjoy running and being active so that seemed to be another natural fit. Other than that, I didn’t really know what I wanted Luv in the Bubble to be. In the past week, I’ve thought a lot about how to differentiate my blog and position myself as an expert (thanks to Ciera). I am a lot closer to figuring out what I want to focus on and building around that. I’ve even come up with three words to represent me: Modern, Fit, Planned. More on these soon!

Thanks again to all of the presenters, sponsors and bloggers I met last week. I feel like I’ve finally found a home in this blogging world!

All photos by Justin Hackworth or Brooke Dennis for Alt Summit