Posts Tagged ‘blogging’

EVO Conference 2010 Recap

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Last Thursday night Madeline and I headed up the gorgeous Parley’s canyon to hang out with a bunch of lovely ladies (and a few men) at EVO. It was SUCH a great conference! There were all sorts of inspiring, not-a-dry-eye-in-the-room keynotes & fabulous instructional panels on SEO, branding, product reviews, marketing, etc.

My experience would not have happened if it hadn’t been for Avery office products, who generously sponsored me & 7 other lovely ladies. They graciously provided us with our conference passes, meals and excellent lodging. We were in heaven hanging out in our 4 bedroom, 5 bathroom, 3 livingroom, 1 sauna penthouse. Seriously, Avery hooked us up! I love it when large companies make personal connections in social media and put a face & personality to their brand. They also had some neat products to share with us & other conference goers as well. I’m really looking forward to making my very own custom binder.

Les Madeleines of Salt Lake City made these delectable treats.

The suite party Avery sponsored was just hoppin’. We had delicious food, great music & awesome company. You know you’ve got a successful party on your hands when the party goes ’til 2am, and it was only scheduled until 11pm! Madeline and I ended up kicking a few party-goers out so that we could clean up & go to sleep. Sleep was definitely not one of those things that really happened last weekend. I still haven’t caught up on my ZZZs.

(this post is not in chronological order, btw)

Friday afternoon, I rode a gondola up to the top of the Canyons and attended the photography workshop where we listened to four panelists talk about different ways to make photos more interesting and pretty. I felt a little advanced for the session, but I still learned a few great tips & tricks. For example, If you shoot in f22 or higher and point your camera at the sun, you’ll get a pretty sunburst effect that you wouldn’t otherwise get in a lower aperture. I tried that on Saturday night at the closing party & it worked! Sort of. I’m blaming the un-interesting photo on my rush to head back to the hotel to pack.

The closing party was a lot of fun, but I was so exhausted from the weekend, I stupidly didn’t take advantage of the venue. I did take some fun pictures of everyone having a good time, though! To see more pictures of the EVO conference craziness, check out their flickr group!

Three cheers for Jyl, Rachael and their minions!! They put on such an inspiring and educational conference! Can’t wait until next year!

BlogHer Recap: UNREAL Awesomeness

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I landed in Chicago for BlogHer on Wednesday morning and it was Go, Go GO! I had the fabulous opportunity to fly in with Allison and Marie and tag along with all of the SocialLuxe Hostesses (Allison, Marie, Jane, Jen, Beth & Ciaran) as they prepared for the party of the year. These ladies have been organizing for 5 months to pull the party together, and it was great to duck behind the scenes and watch them all in action.

kodakvi6

It was like Christmas for the hostesses to see all of their work getting sponsors and swag pay off. There were 12 pallets of stuff to sort through in preparation for the party.

m&m box

Primp. Pamper. Party! SocialLuxe got customized m&m boxes in the party colors with the primp pamper party graphics on them.

Swag bags & decorations

In a surprise twist, President Obama decided to visit the same Hyatt that Social Luxe Lounge was using for the party. As you might suspect, POTUS has some serious security requirements, and he tends to get what he wants without asking twice. The Hyatt had to move Social Luxe Lounge to a ballroom, sending Jen (of Hostess with the Mostess fame) scrambling to reorganize the decorations.  She pulled the switch off beautifully, leaving the rest of us to assemble the Swag Bag Sea in the next room.

manicures

henna tattoo artist & ciaran

Naturally, the party was hopping. I got a manicure, a 10 minute massage, hair touch ups, a henna tattoo and a quick dip in the Swag Bag Sea. It was a great way to kick off my 5 day stint sans Penelope, and I owe Social Luxe Lounge and all of its sponsors big time for jumpstarting my BlogHer weekend!

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