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Photo by Justin Hackworth for Alt Summit – Can you find me? It’s like Where’s Waldo!

Whew.

Did I say that loudly enough? WHEW!!!

I returned from Alt Summit on Sunday and my mind is still reeling with new ideas, thoughts, names, and all around goodness. I’ve been asked a few times how my “vacation” was, and I will be the first to correct them. While Alt Summit is a wonderful time, it is certainly not a vacation. In fact, every single attendee I spoke to mentioned how completely exhausted they were. It’s difficult to quantify how much information we all sucked into our brains, and, for me at least, the socializing was just as depleting. Alt is a great place to make connections, but the schedule and way the conference is set up pretty much means you always have to be “on,” which is really hard for me. Actually, until yesterday, I had a splitting headache and felt really hungover, even though I didn’t drink at all while in Salt Lake City. Today I’m finally able to (somewhat) formulate sentences, so I think I’m well on my way to recovery.

Photo by Brooke Dennis for Alt Summit

For those of you who don’t know what Alt Summit is all about, it’s basically a huge conference for designers, photographers, bloggers, stylists, crafters, makers and creatives of all kinds. This was the third year, and it has ballooned in size to about 600 attendees, with major sponsors like Bing, Citizens of Humanity, Honest, Method, Blurb and more (and more!). The conference started on Wednesday night, with intimate dinners sponsored by some of the biggest names in design. The dinners were smaller, and great way to ease into a few days of intense socializing. Thursday and Friday were packed full of classes, presentations and keynotes. On Thursday night there was a huge “Clue” themed party, where everyone had to dress up as a character from the game (I was Professor Plum). Friday night there were several themed mini-parties, where we could go from one to the other as the night went on. Saturday was design camp day, and you could take intensive classes on everything from sewing to photography to building your own media kit. And then it was over.

iPhone Photos by Me

I gained so much from this year’s Alt Summit, but the biggest thing has to be the experience in itself. I met some of my heroes, people who helped shape this path I’m on without even knowing it. I met Jasmine Star in one of the break lounges and almost knocked her over with my crazy. Her presentation was a huge highlight. I met Karon Walrond, creator of the Pathfinder course I’ve talked about time and again, which shaped a huge positive change in my life. I met Mara Kofed of the incredible Blog About Love, whose words have helped me to be a better wife and partner. I hugged Alison Faulkner of The Alison Show, whose holiday e-course saved my sanity. I met the team from Go Mighty, who are helping me to realize my goals every single day. I met (in person) my new boss and all around amazing woman, Erin Loechner from Design for MiniKind (and Design for Mankind, of course). Heck, I even met Gabrielle Blair, one of the creators of Alt Summit and creator of the incredible Design Mom blog (who mentioned she had heard my name before…ahhh!).

iPhone Photos by Me

The talks filled my brain until it almost burst and my heart was filled up right along with it. These people, these creatives, were not only knowledgeable, but so giving. Every speaker waited to answer questions after their talks (even Darcy Miller, creative director at Martha Stewart!) and for the most part, egos were checked at the door. It was so refreshing.

I was so lucky to share this experience with a friend I’ve known since preschool, the talented Nicole. We both are a bit introverted (she’s an INFJ too!) so it was nice to have someone at my side that understood how mentally taxing this entire week was and knew when we needed to call it quits for the night. Plus, I got to spend some time with her beautiful family, who I’ve missed so much since they left KC, and that was an extra amazing bonus.

One of the sponsors said to me in between sessions, “I don’t think I’ve ever been to a conference where everyone seemed so genuinely happy to be here!” That describes Alt to me. People coming together to celebrate and learn…how could we not be happy?