Well then, I thought it was high time I put my post up about my Alt experience before it becomes a distant memory in the blogosphere.

It will certainly not be a distant memory for me as it was such an eye opening, wonderful experience ~ mostly to be in the company of so many women and a few men who are utterly amazing in what they have accomplished over this last decade.

Not to mention I also fulfilled a long time dream of mine to speak. Ever since I was selected to be a presenter for my advertising competition team in college ~ love at first talk. I LOVE speaking. There I said it. And I want to do more of it. Reason for the photo choice above, I want to remember this.  Much like the idea for teaching finally felt ready, so does speaking. It’s time. In my book one needs to accumulate a body of knowledge worth sharing to do either, well.

Even though I was a little nervous, I was surprised at just how much speaking to a room full of people, in person, felt like second nature to me. It’s all because of you all! Let’s just say the videos I’ve been doing for you here at the blog and in my e-courses over the last couple of years = a lot of practice. Give me a subject I’m passionate about and it turns out I can prattle on {somewhat intelligently and maybe even mildly entertaining} for a good twenty minutes to an hour, off the cuff with next to no notes.  It helps when you are also supported by your awesome panel members, Ben, EZ and Laura. *love them more*

Speaking of prattling on this is quickly going to turn into one of those super long posts if I don’t start sharing my impressions of Alt with you. So here goes in no particular order, what I, an artist visiting a blogger’s world, brought back with me from this conference:

• Let’s start with the title of this post: "There is room for everyone". And there is. A message I teach and a statement I recite to myself regularly, I never really got it until this conference. Arriving there I was only familiar with a few of my fellow speakers. This means that there were a whole bunch of people who are thriving out there, doing work they love, with their own dedicated following that I had never been aware of until now.
• Which also means I have a lot of new friends to be inspired by
• This means that there is indeed room for you. The internet is vast and wide and if you put great work out there, your people will find you. Now, it may take longer than it did for some of the speakers at Alt ~ simply because there are way more people with online presences than there were in 1999 and even when I started in 2006. But do not let this keep you from going forward with your vision in this online world, because you can find your way
• There is a lot more support than competition in this community which I’ll be honest, pleasantly surprised me.
• Groups of bloggers who know each other are not cliques. They are simply people who came up in this world at the same time and have taken the time to get to know each other over the past decade. That creates a bond.
• If you are going to form an opinion about someone online, at least meet them and visit with them in person before you finalize that opinion
• Artists: If you are trying to get any of these design bloggers to post about your work, just know that they now get hundreds of submissions a day. And some have a whole room dedicated to products people have pitched them. Target your submissions accurately. Be patient.
• Attend conferences like this. Just do it. There is absolutely no comparison to what you will learn and the friendships you will make in such a short span of time when you start interacting with your online colleagues in person. Same for retreats. If you’ve been on the fence, make a promise to yourself that you will attend an event in the next year...yes, that one, you’ve been meaning to attend...
• If there were 'no new ideas' before, then now there really are no more new ideas. Things are just moving too fast and we have access to almost everything and everyone. If you’ve got an idea, chances are someone has the same one, and they will execute it.  Don’t let that keep you from acting on your idea as well. Just be sure to bring your own unique voice to it, because that will make it feel new again.
• Engagement. It’s all about engagement. Nope, not getting married {yet} This is about "how engaged are your readers, your community, your twitter followers, facebook friends etc?"  Turns out this is what matters the most. Common sense really, right? But lately I think everyone has been so caught up in the numbers of it all, how popular they are, that they’ve lost sight of how loyal those people following them actually are. Fine if you have hundreds of thousands of followers, are they listening? Do you have a loyal following, even if it is only 5 people? If you do then you are building something of value. Now of course if you have huge numbers following and they are loyal, then you’ve really got something and those are the people who are definitely monetizing this online world. 
• The people with the huge and loyal followings have been building it for years. This is not an overnight venture. This is dedication and relationship building that takes serious commitment.
• If you are going into this to get BIG numbers and that is the only way you are going to feel validated in your work, you might want to re-visit exactly why you are doing what you are doing.
• Because the people we admire most, sure they are good business people but they started their businesses from their heart. The online world is too transparent for it to be any other way. People will recognize if the work you share with the world has heart. And yes, you can succeed with genuine heart, oh and honesty and integrity too.
• This online landscape is changing faster than most of us can keep up with, even those who are leading in this new frontier are making it up as they go *incredible*
• Which means there are no hard and fast rules and this goes for pricing as well, for those of you who are monetizing your work
• Having blog and event sponsors is absolutely a possibility if you have engagement with your readers even if you do not have a huge following yet.
• Events are where it’s at. Throwing a party, getting married, celebrating a milestone ~ make it special, make it beautiful and unique and blog, blog, blog it!
• Magazines are here to stay, as they should because so many, like the new Anthology are like books, pieces of art you want to keep
• Be honest in your online presence and in your blog
• The opinions about what to share personally on your blog, are just that personal and they vary widely. There are no rules. It is totally and completely up to you
• Social media does work to grow your following, when done right
• There are some new thoughts on etiquette and ethics in this online world of today and Grace took the time to write up a great and thorough article about this very subject that you will definitely want to read
• People I had a chance to meet for the first time and get to know better  that you should definitely check out if you don’t already know them EZ, Erin, Jamie, Liz, Kellen, Christine, Joy, Meg, Grace, Gabby, Laura, Heather, Tina, Danielle, Sarah Jane,  Karey, Ali, Amy, Joslyn {and that’s still only a fraction of the people I met and still want to meet}
• And NieNie ~ I’m speechless when it comes to expressing how I feel about meeting NieNie. She is such an incredible human being and just as beautiful in person.
• And hilarious. Did I mention, that a lot of these ladies {and Ben} had me cracking up. Talented and funny ~ now that is a double threat
• Speaking of a double threat. Know your worth
• Ladies, {men you still seem to do better with this one than we do but if you need a little reminder as well}: We need to value the work we do ~ stat.
• The project runway speakers, Seth Aaron and Mondo = totally inspiring and I admit I haven’t even watched the show.
• Opportunity is all around you. look for it. 
• Think outside the box
• I am an artist, and for a girl who didn’t really want to blog,  I have officially accepted ~ I am also a blogger.
• Confident, accomplished energy is at ease, grounded and lovely to be around. Desperate, needy, chip on your shoulder because it’s not happening fast enough is rather unpleasant to be around. You don’t have to wait on anything to 'happen' before you embody the confident energy ~ just be it.

That’s it in a nutshell. The rest of the info I brought home with me is still sinking in and will find it’s way to this blog to share with you, I am sure. Want to see more photos and read more posts? If you are at all passionate about this online creative world I highly recommend attending Alt in the future. Just remember, after reading so much about these kinds events, go in with an open heart and no expectations ~ let it be your own experience.