Blogfest 2015 Recap Part 1
Oh man you guys. Apologies for such a long absence, but with family in town and then two incredibly busy days in LA at Blogfest, time completely got away from me. Never fear, though, I come bearing many recaps and shots into everything going on!
For those of you who couldn’t make it and also for the great friends that I had the pleasure of spending time with, here is the first part of my time at Blogfest!
I traveled to LA last Wednesday in order to attend Blogfest Thursday and Friday. I stayed with my brother and sister in law’s family since they live about 20 minutes away from the convention center. It was great because I was able to get some more family time and immerse myself in all things fitness and blogging.
I headed to the LA convention center Thursday morning and got right to business. I can’t break away from pen and paper.
First up was Katy Widrick on how to increase your readership and market to the masses. I’ve loved Katy every since I met her at Fitbloggin last year. She helped me with my media kit and recently started a separate site called Make Me{dia} Over that offers blog consulting and coaching. If you are ever in need of someone fabulous to help you out, Katy is your girl.
There were also tons of snacks provided since all of our workshops were in the same room. Yoplait provided us with their new yogurt Plenti which confused my mouth because it also contains oats and seeds. I still don’t know how I feel about chewing my yogurt.
Larabar also pulled through by offering both of my favorite flavors: peanut butter chocolate chip and peanut butter cookie.
After Katy we also got some mind-blowing blog tips from Alyse and Jamie.
Following the first two workshops, we then headed to the main ballroom for the IDEA World opening ceremonies. Blogfest and the IDEA World Fitness Expo occur simultaneously in the same place. The expo was from Thursday through Sunday and Blogfest was only Thursday and Friday. If I attend next year I will plan to stay through the entire thing since that way I will be able to renew my personal training certification by taking continuing education credits!
After the opening ceremonies it was time for lunch. Many of us were taken aback that we were being served new microwaveable meals from Lean Cuisine and Stouffer’s. There was also a nutritional presentation about the new meals, but I still don’t think that they won over the crowd.
Ultimately, I was starving and ate it all anyway. I just don’t think I would buy any of it to eat at home.
The rest of the afternoon was spent in workshops:
- Busting the Top 5 Nutrition Myths by Melissa Burton
- Build a Following on: Instagram by Kasey Arena
- Build a Following on: Pinterest by Natalie Jill
- Blogfest Lightning Round
Apparently I have no pictures from these presentations, but I enjoyed all of them!
In between the Lightning Round and the final event of the evening, me and a couple other bloggers ate Mexican food at Rosa Mexicano. This is the largest quesadilla I have ever had in my life and it was delicious.
After dinner, I invaded their hotel room and took a picture.
We decided to make a quick stop into the last event of the evening: IDEA Urban Party. We made it quick because we were all exhausted from the day, but that didn’t stop us from taking pictures of ourselves. From left: Ange, moi, Beth, Jen, and Susie! I know Susie and Beth from Chicago, but it was my first time meeting Ange and Jen. We all had a great time!
We briefly stopped into the party and then I ran away because I was sleepy and still had to make it back to Santa Monica. I also didn’t bring any real clothes and most people were dressed like actual human beings, you know, for a party.
Day One of Blogfest was an awesome time, but I think I had an even better time on Day Two! Make sure to check back tomorrow for all the juicy details!
Bonus: today is my birthday! To celebrate, here is an absurd face:
Questions:
- When is your birthday?
- Have you ever been to a blogging or fitness convention? Any convention?
- How do you feel about frozen meals?
Having already sent you a very inappropriate and very early text, I will now politely and publicly wish you a very happy birthday.
And I will tackle hug you later.
I LOVE YOU THANK YOU FOR BEING IN MY LIFE
Susie @ SuzLyfe recently posted…IDEA World Blogfest 2015: Blogging Friends in Real Life Part 4
THANK YOU FOR YOUR EXCITEMENT AND BDAY WISHES
Happy birthday!! 🙂
Blogfest is on my calendar for next year! Can’t wait!
Jennifer @A Hungry Runner recently posted…Citrus Marinated Salmon with Corn, Tomato & Arugula Salad (TT #20)
Good I hope to see you there!
Looks like such a great experience!! Hoping to attend next year!
Liz recently posted…Why I Ride
It was great! I hope you can too!
Great recap and so glad you made such incredible new friends.
And while I hear you on frozen food..and in the spirit of #keepingitreal having food provided (for free!!) while also keeping ticket prices reasonable is a huge challenge…:). Glad you were able to avoid the hangry either way!
No I definitely understand. It was good I just felt bad for the presenters who were unleashed in a room with RDs in it haha.
Great start to the week! Also wasn’t sure how I felt about the Plenti…but I was hungry so I know I ate at least one of them. Haha! Oh, and don’t forget we have a BlogFest Top 10 Takeaways linkup going on with prizes involved. 😀
Coach Henness recently posted…How to WIN BIG at BlogFest Part 4
I did too but it was weird! Maybe bc I wasn’t expecting it.
wow that looks like soooooo much fun! so happy you had an awesome time with awesome peeps 🙂 and happy birthday!
danielle saucy smith recently posted…Never Say Never
Thank you!
I totally can’t break from taking notes on pen and paper either! I noticed it was 50/50 with that and laptops/iPads.
Day 2 was definitely awesome!
I just love notebooks bc I feel like I am in school again and I am a weird school loving nerd 🙂
Happy birthday! I agree with your assessment of Plenti. It is an interesting idea, but I’d rather put crunchy things in my yogurt and make them stay crunchy. Also, I MUCH prefer a product like Siggi’s to anything made by General Mills.
Also Thursday lunch. On the one hand, I get the concept of using a pre-packaged meal and adding sides; yet whenever I claim I’m going to do this, I usually just eat the packaged food and fail to add the sides (#nomnompizza). I did love that cauliflower rice and would totally make that. On the other hand, the featured entrees were all omnivore, and I’ve been vegetarian for 14 years so sorry, no cows or chickens for me.
Bain recently posted…Everlast Vegan Protein
Siggis is amazing. I just wish my husband had been there bc he loves it so much.
Great presentation btw!
I’m SO GLAD to finally have met you! And I’m pumped we have pictures to prove it!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
Ange @ Cowgirl Runs recently posted…No Words
Ditto!
Wow! Never been to a fitness convention – no surprises there – but it sounds really fun. Oh, and Happy Birthday to you too! Thank you for your blogs……I find it interesting learning about people the other side of the world and hearing about their everyday goings-on.
Anytime! Thank YOU for reading!
First off, Happy Birthday!!
Second, I’m so glad you had such a great time! I agree that the chewable yogurt was confusing 😉 But it was tasty, nonetheless! Hopefully you get a chance to stick around for the IDEA World sessions next year – the ones I attended were fantastic! I’m looking forward to reading more about your experience 😀
Ariana recently posted…How Can a Personal Trainer Help Me?
Thank you! I definitely want to stick around next year. Now that I know what to expect I’m going to plan for that!