Alt is the third blogger type event that I’ve attended in a little over a year and dare I say it was my favorite? Everyone was so warm and open. I never felt intimidated to talk to anyone and I felt well received by everyone I had the pleasure to talk with even if it were just a minute in an elevator (it’s how I met Court of lovecourt and found out she is a Michigander moving to Seattle!). I do think my wooden California pins helped break the ice for me many times. I didn’t regret a single moment I spend hand crafting those.

The event kicked off on Wednesday evening with sponsor dinners. I signed up for the dinner with Vivint. I like that they were about fostering a sense of community and getting everyone involved. The gifts we received from them were also local which I loved (local chocolates, tea, and a pretty bag from Samantha of noteify.com. The dinner was such a wonderful way to get to know a few people in a calmer atmosphere. From there we had dessert at the Fairmont hotel where all of the dinners joined and everyone attending the event was present. It was a bit hectic compared to the dinner but I still managed to meet a few lovely people.

The next day I was up early and back at the Fairmont for breakfast, roundtables (including hand massages and letterpressing-fun!), keynote speakers and panals. It was a full day but it was informative, fun, and interesting. The sponsors also had some pretty fun things going on between talks so we kept busy all day. Lunch was a fun treat because it was held in the Tonga room at the Fairmont. It was really cool, especially when it started to “rain” in the middle of the room.

The day ended strong with a closing keynote by Mike McCue the founder and CEO of Flipboard. After a short break we all headed to the PINTEREST headquarters for our closing party. I was super excited about this. It did not disappoint. I managed to squeeze in a few more conversations with some amazing people before the night was out. It all seemed to fly by (well I really think it did) and it was a little sad when the night was over.

Now onto the task of messaging everyone I made a connection with, surprisingly I made more than I thought. Maybe I’ll have another post about all the people I met.