A couple of months ago, I told my readers about ShiftCon 2016, a conference for natural and green living niche bloggers (or anyone!). I attended this conference December 1-3, 2016 in New Orleans, LA and had a blast! Here is a recap of the event in case anyone is considering attending in the future.
Event Wrap-Up: ShiftCon 2016
I arrived the day before the conference and was so excited to go. In the weeks building up to it, I became more and more nervous as I have never attended a blogging conference of this size before. I made a list of classes I wanted to attend and got settled into my hotel.
Upon first entering the conference, I was greeted by Leah, the founder of ShiftCon and it was amazing to meet her after corresponding with her via Facebook for a couple of years. She is just as energetic and full of life in person as she is online.
The first day was a vendor expo and I was very excited to meet up with so many great brands. Many of the brands were even from the pacific northwest, where I live, and that was super exciting to me. I recognized quite a few brands at the expo, but there were many more I didn’t and that was perfect! The brands at the expo were excited to talk to bloggers and excited to work with us and make connections. I felt that even though this was my first time attending a conference, that I jumped right in to make some great connections right away. The expo went on all three days of the conference and that was a good thing because even though it wasn’t as sizeable as some other conferences, the brands were very much into connecting with us each individually and I needed 3 days to get all the way through it.
There first night ended with an opening ceremony dinner and I was enamored with the beautiful backdrop for ShiftCon 2016. It was hand-made felt succulents. This matched the real succulent centerpiece on the tables and I just loved it so much as I am a huge fan of succulents and cacti.
Before I get into the second day, let me just pause here and say that there was Swag for Days at ShiftCon. I couldn’t believe how much swag I was given. I actually had to buy a second suitcase to get it all home in. I am very grateful for the generosity of the brands to give us all so much.
On the second day of ShiftCon 2016, I did the 6:30 am Yoga (the was yoga both mornings). This was a great way to start my day.
I then had a delicious breakfast with a keynote speaker, Ron Finley. I don’t know why I didn’t take any pictures of any of the food I enjoyed at the conference! Probably because it was so good, I ate it! All the food served at ShiftCon is Non-Gmo and Organic. I felt like I ate like a queen for 3 solid days there.
After breakfast, there were classes and tea and snack breaks. I was disappointed my health got in the way the first day and I missed out on 2 great classes. I am not sure if it was due to the much lower elevation, the humidity or NOLA or just plain old chronic illness type issues, but I was having trouble staying awake, my body got the shivers and i just had a general malaise going on shortly after the breakfast and into my first class. I was grateful that my ShiftCon sistas let me sleep in their hotel room for a power nap so i could come back fresh for the afternoon since my hotel as across town.
The Keynote lunch was with Dr Tieroana Low Dog. This was extremely interesting to me as she talked about dietary supplements. I was enthralled to get her book, Fortify Your Life and later in the expo, a chance to meet her, and have her sign it.
On the third and final day, some of my favorite parts were the Stories, not Selfies class and the class about making video work for you. These classes were very well taught and extremely informative. I have already started to implement some of the information I took in from them. The closing ceremony was with one of my favorite internet heroes- JP Sears. Yes, folks, he is just as funny in real life as he is on his videos, but he also so very sincere. I was so happy to be able to sit down with him for a few minutes and discuss some personal issues that I thought he might have some insight in and he had some great advice.
I have to say, I had more fun that I could have imagined at ShiftCon 2016. There was such a positivity there that can’t be described. The air was filled with laughter, women supporting women and brands that truly care about our voices and the consumers they make products for. If I had to use one word to sum of my feels for ShiftCon 2016, I couldn’t. There are far too many that wouldn’t even do it justice.
I want to thank Rainbeau Curves for believing in me and making my trip to ShiftCon 2016 a reality. Your continued support in my life means so much to me and is one of the many reasons I tell everyone about how wonderful the folks are there as well as how positive your company is for us curvy gals that love to live an active lifestyle.