Conference Tips: "Just Be You"

I can't believe it has been almost an entire month since I went to the SNAP conference.  Are you wondering why I haven't summarized the awesome time I had there?  I know, it should have been done already!  This is not that post, but it definitely is relevant to the biggest lesson I took home from the conference.

First I want to thank my roommate, Rebecca from Freckles Crafts, for reaching out to me last year and asking if I wanted to room together.  Best decision ever!  Aside from dorm days in college and a few times I was living in apartments, I have limited experience with roommates.  Regardless I'm sure we can all agree, even for a short amount of time, having a compatible roommate is ideal when you are away from home.  Rebecca and I were perfect together!

Rebecca and I at the Queen Bee Market

I attended my very first blogging/creative conference last year, Creative Estates.  I walked away feeling like I had learned so much and met many new friends.  Although I did have some insecurities being there because we had just started this site and I went alone (the conference was only a few miles from my home).  I'm not really sure what I wanted to accomplish by attending that conference and therefore I walked away feeling a little dissatisfied.  How can I feel accomplished if I never determined what it was I was trying to do?  This year, attending SNAP, I had specific goals.  The first goal was to just be myself.  I wasn't going to try and impress anyone by being something I'm not.  Coincidentally the conference theme was "just be you".  We all received beautiful necklaces from Amy Cornwell that reminded us of my number one goal.

photo credit: Amy Cornwell

I had an incredible experience at the conference simply because I decided to be myself.  I was comfortable and had fun!

If you're attending a conference in the future I suggest you do two things: 1) spend some time getting to know your roommate before the trip, and 2) "just be you"!  By doing just two simple things, I had the BEST time!

Business Card Organization

One of the best parts of attending a conference is getting the opportunity to network and make new friends.  I was able to speak to so many business owners and bloggers at the SNAP conference last week.  I walked away with hundreds of business cards; some from friends I already had met online and some from new friends.

Before the conference I knew I would need a way to keep all the business cards organized as they were handed to me.  I also needed a place to hold my own cards to hand out to all my new friends.  I explored the option of a few different business card holders but nothing seemed like it would allow me to carry hundreds of my own cards and still have room to place the cards I was receiving from others.  I came up with my own version of a card holder.

I used a small make-up bag I had received as a free sales promotion from Target last year.  I printed our logo onto cardstock and then pinned a piece of vinyl over the paper.  I used my sewing machine to zig zag stitch right over the vinyl.

For organizational purposes, I cut a piece of pretty foiled paper to fit inside the bag.  I rounded the top corners because it was difficult to unzip the bag with the sharp corners.

I put my business cards on one side of the divider and used the other side to store all the cards I received while networking.  This worked so much better than having to shuffle through a bag to find my cards (that's what I did last year at Creative Estates).

I love my little card holder but was also amazed by the simple {and brilliant} card organizing system provided in our swag bags.  Xyron gave all the SNAP attendees a hole punch and ring to hold our cards.

I used my own bag to collect cards during the conference but transferred them all over to the ring when I came home.

I can easily look at these cards and remember I met each of these people at SNAP.  

 

 How do you organize your business cards?

Mod Podge Covered Composition Notebook

I attended so many great workshops and heard so many awesome speakers at SNAP last week.  I knew I would be taking a lot of notes so I made a pretty notepad with our logo.  I remember last year at Creative Estates wondering who people were.  I wanted to make sure if you happened to bump into me or were sitting across from me at a table during a session, our logo would be one of the first things people noticed.

Supplies:
-composition notebook
-Mod Podge and brush
-scrapbook paper
-washi tape (not pictured)

Start by coating the cover of your notebook in Mod Podge.  Do your best to get a nice even layer so you don't have bubbles when you add the paper.  

Trim your paper to roughly the same dimensions of your notebook.  I say roughly because getting it perfect really isn't worth the stress.  Trimming the paper later is easy.  You can see in my picture I have a little gap between the edge of my paper and the black tape down the middle of the notebook.  Not to worry, the washi tape will cover any mistakes.

Apply a smooth layer of Mod Podge over your paper. 

If you want to add an image to the book, do this next step.  It would be fun to add a picture to make a great gift.  This project might show back up for teacher appreciation week or Grandparent's Day!  Use Mod Podge to completely cover your image on the notebook.  Most of the air bubbles will go away when the Mod Podge dries but try to avoid too many bumps.

I used washi tape to cover the little slice of notebook peeking out from under the paper.  If you trimmed your paper perfectly, you can probably skip this step.  I think the tape made the notebook prettier.  I love the contrast of the two patterns together.

For the matching portfolio, I simply printed our logo onto a full shipping label sheet and then trimmed it to fit.  Super easy!

I made a notebook and portfolio set for myself and my SNAP roommate, Rebecca from Freckles Crafts.

My notebook had an extra conference tool hiding inside; I used Mod Podge to have the conference schedule on the inside cover.  This was incredibly helpful and a great tool for everyone sitting around me wondering where we were supposed to be going next.  I will definitely do this for any conference I attend in the future!

 

Updated Business Cards for SNAP

I don't use Twitter nearly as much as I should.  Although I'm not very active I do want to share my contact information on my business cards.  I already have cards and don't want to order new ones for just one added piece of information.  Today I came up with the perfect solution - I created a sticker to add to the back of my cards.

My cards had a completely blank back which gave me plenty of room to work with. 

I'm going to the SNAP conference later this week and know I will be meeting a lot of new friends.  Last year at Creative Estates I came home with so many business cards and I struggled to put a face to every name.  This year I hope people will remember me.  But just in case they don't, they can flip my card over and see my picture! 

I created the image and then printed it onto shipping labels.

I trimmed the edges and then stuck my face and Twitter info onto the back of my cards.

I'm excited to hand these out later this week!