Alt Summit was completely different the second time around. Last year I spent most of my time buried behind my notebook, scribbling furiously, trying to keep up with all the wisdom and knowledge from every panel I attended. This year I took fewer notes, but still learned and experienced a lot of great things. Here are some wonderful women and what they taught me.
Jenny Komenda of Little Green Notebook
1. Banner ads are going away. Content campaigns are the future. You are a content producer first.
2. Engagement is more important than traffic.
• What does your comments section look like? Are you having a conversation?
• Are your readers clicking through your links?
• If you’re not sure how much your readers value the product links you provide, ask them via a one question survey.
• How is your social media audience and shares?
Jasmine Star
If you’ve never seen Jasmine Star speak, you should do it as soon as you get a chance. She’s incredibly smart, engaging, and inspirational.
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/20111051 w=640&h=360]
1. How does your story work into what you’re doing? Figure it out and share it with others.
2. Share your weaknesses, your personality, and your knowledge.
“You will be a success when you define what success means to you.” – Jasmine Star
3. Our work should only be measured by what we create. It should not be viewed in comparison to other people’s work.
P.S. Erin is not in this photograph, but I had to use it anyway. :)
Erin Loechner of Design for Mankind + Design for Minikind
Erin gave an invaluable talk on how to stop hoarding information and manage our crazy inboxes, social media, and task lists. I’m working through the steps and I WILL REACH INBOX 0. Someday soon…ish.
Amy Turn Sharp, Helen Jane Hearn, and AB Chao
Helen Jane Hearn of helenjane.com + Director of Content at Federated Media
I LOVE this lady. She’s smart, funny, and a very good hugger. Hmm…like…me…?
She gave us the lowdown on editorial calendars and why we should have one. Like you really need any other reason than because Helen Jane says so, duh!
“If you plan your blog content you can push it further…without the influence of others.” – Helen Jane Hearn
Think about it. If you’re writing all of your blog posts on the fly, then the chance that you’ll be influenced by what you see on your favorite blogs, Twitter, or Pinterest goes up exponentially. Not that you should NEVER write about anything you haven’t seen somewhere else, but having some sort of plan and sticking to it allows you to be more creative with your content. There’s a chance it will be more unique and much more you.
Susan Peterson of Freshly Picked
If only I could hologram Susan to my office every time I need a pep talk. That would be awesome. She talked about something that is a huge focus for me this year – generating passive income and scalable business ideas.
As I go over plans and ideas for future ebooks and courses, I’m going to keep this statement in mind.
“You don’t need to have all your ducks in a row to push something out. All you need is a duck.” – Susan Peterson
Everything doesn’t have to be perfect and finished. It’s okay to make changes down the road.
And there you have it. Some of the most important things I learned at Alt this year. I’ll be sharing more Alt inspiration over the next week or two, including the roundtable I led (The Power of Women: How Community Builds Confidence and Success) and Stefan Sagmeister’s amazing keynote. xoxo