Emily 2.0: #catsofinstagram

Oh, how embarrassing. It has been over a week since I attended the BBBos Style Summit, and I'm just now getting around to blogging about it. I blame it on the degree program taking over my life! But the good news is, I only have two weeks left of class and then I will be DONE. Dee-Oh-Ehn-Ee! I have loved every second of this program, but I miss having a life. Hence why I haven't blogged about the style summit yet, so back on topic!

On Saturday, April 27th, I headed to the Boston.com offices to join 50-ish other fashion and personal style bloggers for a day of learning and networking. Here are some highlights:

LuLu's hosted this fabulous scavenger hunt which involved spotting trends on fellow bloggers, grabbing their name and blog, and Instagramming a photo of the trend they were wearing. I really loved this because I was able to meet some new people (and say hello to some people I haven't seen in a while)!

Thanks to these ladies for posing for photos for the Instagram pics! Left to Right: Christine of {Rules for} the Modern Girl repping dressed up denim, Heather of Cupcakes to Polka Dots repping neon, and Agnes of Spoons and Stilettos repping chevron!

Admittedly, I get a little shy and have a tendency to hang out around people whom I already know, so this forced me outside of my comfort zone. Anywho, once I finished the scavenger hunt, I got to spin a wheel to win a prize, and ended up going home with a super cute nautical dress! Keep your eyes peeled for a post about the dress, soon!

My first session was Simple Design Elements to Enhance Your Blog by Alison of Long Distance Loving. The entire session was great - I got the sense that Alison is a pretty straight shooter (she offered up opinion on a couple things which got me chuckling). I got some really great takeaways from her session. However, my favorite nugget must be a little HTML secret about setting links to open a new window. After all, blogging is all about finding the best way to sell MY voice, not someone else's voice. Brilliant!

My second session was Media Kit Creation by Tieka of Selective Potential. I must admit, I was pretty much starstruck when I noticed her during the morning mingling. I probably said something awkward and embarrassing, but she gave me a hello hug anyway and politely didn't tell me how awkward I was being. It was great. Anyway, her media kit session was fabulous... I've never really considered making a media kit, mostly because my blog has a grand total of 50 followers and I never really entertained the idea of collaborations or sponsored posts before. But I'm thinking about it now! I'm so glad I signed up for Google Analytics after the first BBBos conference last year. Now I just need to figure out how to read the results!

Next was lunch... and lunch is entirely worth blogging about because I met some pretty cool people! Here's a quick shout out to some new friends: Alyssa of Ruffle and Curl (a fellow curly girl), Holly of HollyDolly (quite possibly the cutest person on the planet), Surabhi of Third Eye Chic (super sweet!), Smita of Hogger & Co (#catsofinstagram!) Brooke of Insparisian (best blog name, ever), and Susan of Susan Style Inspirations (whom I had met several months ago, and it was such a pleasure bumping into her again!). It was truly a pleasure to meet all of you ladies! I hope we will see each other again soon!

After lunch were some short discussions - the first I chose to attend was Finding Your Voice through Instagram, led by my new friend, Smita! Her list of ten simple tips caused me to have one of those "DUH!" moments regarding better Instagram photos. The moment I got home, I tested out my new found skills with a picture of my cat (as promised! I am the weirdo who instantly piped up with my favorite hashtag being #catsofinstagram!). Thanks, Smita! I actually have more fun taking photos for Instagram now that I'm putting some thought behind them.

My second discussion was Working with Brands: How to Create Partnerships, led by Kristen of The Boston Fashionista. Again, this was a topic I had never given much thought to previously, but I pulled some great tips from this to match up with the info I got from Tieka's Media Kit session. I'm already working on my list of 20 dream brands to work with, and when I get my little blog up and running after this degree program is over, it's on like Donkey Kong!

After the discussions, we went back to the sessions. My third session was Developing a Content Calendar by Julie of Orchid Grey. Again, I had one of those awkward starstruck moments... and I'm so happy that she's even cooler in person than she is on her blog (not to mention this gorgeous smile which I firmly believe should make more appearances in her photos!). When I blogged regularly last year, I really struggled with timing and figuring out how to fit my blog into my life. I really loved blogging, but it became a part-time job doing it the way I was doing it... and considering I wasn't getting paid for it and I felt trapped by it, it became un-fun really fast. Julie's tips for managing a content calendar were great, and I've already started a Google calendar to get some regularity going for my blog again.

Between sessions, I popped down to the media room to socialize a bit and check out some of the sponsors. In addition to LuLu's, I managed to score a free Red Sox t-shirt and super cute hat from Roster, and a mini bottle of nail polish from MiniLuxe and a gift card for a free manicure (which I scheduled in a couple weeks to have a mani done before a wedding I'm going to). I love free stuff! (Who doesn't?)

My final session was Photography 2: Tips & Tricks for your DSLR Camera, sponsored by Hunt's Photo & Video. I was mildly concerned that my lack of knowledge of my interchangeable lens camera meant I would be in way over my head (I took a Chimpsy class to learn how to use my camera last summer, but haven't been diligent in practicing what I learned). Thankfully, I was able to follow along, and pulled some great tips about white balance and focus... I'm looking forward to practicing what I learned!

All in all, the event was a win. I signed up for it back in February when I got the first email saying that tickets were on sale, and I must say that between the freebies from the sponsors and all of the stuff in the swag bag, not to mention all of the fabulous tips and tricks I learned, the price of the ticket definitely paid itself off. Even without all of the free stuff, it was worth it, because I thoroughly enjoyed myself! Networking with like-minded people is always a blast.

SOOoooo... thank you to Amy and Alana for organizing another fabulous blogging event. I'm looking forward to jumping back into blogging again as soon as I finish my degree in two weeks!