Hi, friends!  I’m back from California and I wanted to share with you a little bit about my first blog AND fitness conference. I know some of you were following along on snapchat and Insta (hungryhobbyrd), I hope you enjoyed watching all the craziness!

The IDEA Blogfest is held during the first two days of the IDEA World Conference, bloggers are then allowed entrance for Saturday and Sunday of the fitness conference.  This is the third year of Blogfest but the 17th year of the IDEA World Convention.  This year was a bit different as they decided to have an application and selection process.  Those selected attended both blogfest and the IDEA convention for free.  They decided to do this since many IDEA bloggers had mentioned price as a barrier to attending in the past.  I applied early on and was super excited to be selected.

I flew in Wednesday afternoon which started off  with a fun plane and shuttle ride because I realized Megan was on my flight!  After checking in we immediately went to go pick up our badges and goodie bags.  Holy SWAG bag! Sweatpink and IDEA totally hooked us up!

Thursday Highlights

Do’s & Dont’s Of Working With Brands

• Brands are looking for bloggers that fit with their brand alignment and are up front in their terms and conditions for sponsorship.
• Brands are looking for a personal relationship with the blogger if you have a chance to present yourself and meet in person do so.
• Formulate packages that have worked for you in the past, brands desire long-term relationships with bloggers.
• Be unique, pitch something other bloggers or brand reps haven’t done in the past.

Food Photography Tips & Tricks (Just Using Your iPhone)

The part of this lecture I thought was the post interesting was the part about making your IG photos better when you are eating out.

• The new editor within Instagram is as good as other editing programs.
• Ask to sit by a window for better lighting.
• Ask server or a friend to hold plate (compensate them fairly for their extra effort and be ready.)
• Create depth of field and height variation by setting dish on a chair.

Why You Should Be Gathering Emails & How To Do It Presented By Ryan Lee

Definitely, one of my favorite sessions, although not all totally applicable to my style of blog, but it was interesting!

• For your freebie download (subscription offer) – don’t offer everything for free and don’t offer a lot of fluff.  Pick the top 3-5 things that you think are vital for someone to know and give those away.
• Negative headlines lead to more email opens than positive headlines.  (How to Make A Million Dollars vs. How I Lost A Million Dollars)
• Peak curiosity in your headline ex. Drink Milk For Vitamin D – why would you open that?
• Don’t be worried about over-saturating your email subscribers, those than unsubscribe weren’t going to buy what you had to say anyways.
• The most important – you must be likable, you must show your flaws and you must repeat your story over and over and over. 

Building Your Brand With Snapchat & Youtube by Katie Dunlop

• 150 million active users 60% of all 13-34 old smartphone users are on snapchat
• 7 out of 10 snap chatters are millennials
• Make sure you set your settings so that people can find you 
• Utilize Ghost codes – allows people outside your current social network allows them to find you and you can find you
  always
• Create a unique code:
• 1. download your code (accounts.snapchat.com)
  2. canva or photoshop change color
  3. add text etc your ghost
  4. do not touch the dot

  

Friday Highlights

Blogfest Keynote Presented by Jenna Wolfe

She was freaking amazing!  Not only was she hilarious but she was straight forward in all the best ways.  She brought a great point: everything in our lives is separated into the must do and should do category.  My must do list is get up walk the dog, get dressed, go to the bank, pay the bills, etc.  My should do list include things like order a salad, have one cookie or glass of wine, not two, make health conscious decisions.  She kept emphasizing we only have one life, there are no do-overs, we are living our lives now and it is not a dress rehearsal.  When people ask her how she makes good healthy decisions all the time she says she forces herself to treat the stuff in her “should do” column the same way she treats the stuff in her must do list.  So simple, yet life changing in the way I think about things for ever.

“When people ask me how I am able to do it all the time: eat healthy, workout, etc… I tell them the truth, I force myself.”

Content Marketing Workshop: Increase Followers and Conversions With Smart Authentic Content Marketing

We discussed optimal times and frequency of posting, repurposing old content, utilizing new platforms like Facebook live and connecting with your blogging tribe or audience.

Blogfest Workout With Gunnar Peterson, Sponsored by Propel —-> Holy Tabatas burning in all the right ways 

EXPO MADNESS Round 1

Megan and I scoring some extra cans of free wild planet tuna. Side note, make sure if you buy wild planet tuna you aren’t draining it!  Each can contains 2000mg EPA and DHA in it, but it is found in the oils so don’t drain it!

Saturday Highlights

Girls to Grandmas: Inspiring Wellness Throughout the Female Lifecycle

> all about ways to engage the pelvic floor (other than Kegels) throughout a woman’s entire lifecycle to prevent all kinds of injuries as well as help her overcome issues related to hormonal fluctuations, childbirth, and aging.
Interesting fact- a higher percentage of female high school athletes incur ACL tears during ovulation or while on their cycle.  

Hormones matter people!

Zumba Mashup: Turn It Up and Turn It On Workout with Gina Grant, Dabrio Wonder, Andrew Jones, and Ruckus Micknley

Check out insta or Facebook for some amazing videos!

Blog fest Workout Sponsored By Beachbody

We got to try out their new beachbody live format which I would totally teach, I loved it!

TRX for Pre & Post Natal

Sunday Highlights

Turning Technology Into Profits: Apps, Podcasts and e-Books with Trish Blackwell

Really great information that made producing that type of content feel actually doable and within reach. Trish graciously answered everyone’s questions throughout the whole presentation and really encouraged us to get over our fears, perfectionism, and just go for it!

A Few Thoughts

Since this was both my first blogging and fitness conference, I’d be lying if I said there weren’t times that I felt a bit overwhelmed. However, I felt like overall I got a solid set of blogging and fitness tips that I can’t wait to start implementing!  

If I went to this conference again a few things I would do differently :

• Got to the store the night I get in and stock up on fresh fruits and veggies.  Bring my own bars, cookies, energy balls, fresh dates etc. so that I didn’t have to rely on brand new expo snacks.  In general, not rely on the sponsored meals and expo food, not that it wasn’t good, but just a lot of new stuff all at once.  Let’s just say my tummy didn’t agree with everything and leave it at that.
• Make a T-Shirt/Tank with my blog name so that people would recognize me by my blog.  Teresa did this and I thought that was amazing because I immediately recognized her blog name!
• Really be on top of the IDEA sessions immediately, even if I wasn’t sure I was going I’d sign up for the sessions I really wanted rather than having to pick from what was left.  I still loved all the ones I went to but would have liked to do a few of the other full classes.