So I am back from Alt, I actually came back Saturday but have been relaxing a bit and celebrating my birthday (I turned 27 yesterday), so sorry for just now getting around to posting a recap!
I learned a bit, networked a lot, and enjoyed spending time with like-minded people over the last few days (Hi to Jess, Gaby, Chassity, Courtney, and Amanda! Also enjoyed chatting with Molly & Sally, Mackenzie, and Bailey! And a hi to my roomies Jeran and Hollee). I won’t lie, it was totally mentally draining, not to mention a bit physically exhausting (blisters on feet, headaches) experience, but overall I left feeling like it was worth it. Not sure I will go back, but I enjoyed the experience for what it was.
From a personal and professional standpoint, I have some reflections for you, based on what I experienced from Wednesday to Saturday:
- You really can find common ground with anyone if you try hard enough. No, we’re not all going to be fast friends and want to connect after the conference, but a conversation can be made much more enjoyable if you really try to connect and find commonality somewhere. Try this in your daily life, even in conversations with complete strangers.
- Continual learning is really so important. I, for one, do not want to stagnate… which is half the reason I wanted to attend Alt. I want to keep growing and learning and filling my brain with what anyone else wants to teach me. What boring people we become if we stop learning. So I urge you to try to learn something new. Whether you want to take a cooking class, sign up for a class at the local community college, teach yourself something from online tutorials — whatever it may be, I urge you to continue to learn.
- Bloggers are a mixture of really good and really bad dressers. Seriously, it’s true. I should say something cliche here like, “All that matters is that each of these woman had their own individual sense of style.” But I don’t really subscribe to that school of thought. If you look like a wack-a-doodle, people will peg you as one. Creativity in dressing is a great thing, and I admire it and strive to have creativity in my own wardrobe. But looking like you got dressed in the dark is another thing.
- Iphones, Instagram, Twitter, etc. are not conducive to retaining information. To the girl who played on her phone for 1 hour during what I thought was a particularly interesting panel, and then said afterwards, “That was so interesting!” I’m not buyin’ it. Attention and focus is really needed to get everything out of an opportunity like this. Sure, I checked my Instagram feed when something wasn’t particularly “speaking” to me, but I was appalled when I saw so many people on their phones during (what I thought were) interesting panels!
- Lastly, one Alt focused point: the Alt Summit survival list that EZ from Creature Comforts created was really spot-on. If I were to add to that list, I would say bring Emergen-C Immune Support and chug one every morning (before you brush your teeth), Ibuprofen for your pounding head, and these blister band aids because they are AMAZINGGGGGG!
I also wanted to share what I wore. I definitely kicked it up a bit in the color department and was so happy that I did. I think my closet is making a shift, and I am excited to share where that leads!
Top left: BCBG Dress (only $80 – I got an XXS) and BCBG Shoes // Top Right: H&M Pants and Ann Taylor Blouse
Bottom Left: J Crew Sweater and Madewell blouse (old) and BDG Jeans // Bottom Right: J Crew Blouse (sold out)
Top image by Justin Hackworth, edited by me
