Draw! Pilgrim does Alt Design Summit - Panels, Designers & Dinner

Written
by
Jenny Butler
Writer
Jenny Butler
15th of February 2011

If you are a blogger of any shape, size and style of blog - this week really is for you. And if you are considering dabbling your toes in the blogging pool - you must keep reading. This week Pilgrim is Guest Blogging her experience at Alt Design Summit and all the golden bloggy nuggets she learnt along the way. This really is the best of the best when it comes to blogging advice and ideas - thank you Pilgrim for sharing! -Jenny x

Hellooo tuesday! Let's dive straight in to some highlights from day one of the alt summit conference.
image from pilgrim

Each hour there were three different panels to choose from, or a design camp class (sewing, calligraphy, tabletop photography, screen printing etc) you could take. There really was no shortage of options and the full list of panels can be seen here.

image from alt summit flickr

ADVERTISING BEYOND THE BANNER

Panelists: Erin Loechner of Design for Mankind, Liz Gumbinner of Cool Mom Picks, Maggie Mason of Mighty Girl.

Don't over-sponsor. Less is more. Don't fill your sidebar up with ads that will lessen the impact of each other.

Pitch to your passions. Work sponsors into your life, and write about things that you would write about whether the post is sponsored or not.

Consider hosting an event. Throw a campaign party - a great way to promote what you do, network with your peers and readers, grow your brand, and work with sponsors.

Talk shop with other bloggers at your level. Research your peers, get to know them, and talk with them about advertising rates.

image from alt summit flickr

Even lunch was an opportunity to learn. 'The Intersection of Design and Technology' was presented by HP and featured Seth Aaron and Mondo Guerra from Project Runway as well as Stacy Wolff, director of notebook design at HP.

image from alt summit flickr

SOCIAL MEDIA ETHICS AND ETIQUETTE

Panelists: Emily Newman of Once Wed, Grace Bonney of Design Sponge, Joy Cho of Oh Joy!

Formulate a comment policy. Comment policies can help filter responses. It's okay to let negative comments through, so long as they're about you, not the art.

Copying and stealing - pick your battles. You find your work on someone else's site. How did it get there? Why is it there? Who put it there and what is the effect? Don't assume the worst, and try not to burn bridges if/when you respond.

Tynt and Tineye. Tynt is a publisher tool which allows you to see what's being copied from your site and where it ends up. TinEye is a site which lets you conduct a reverse image search to see if your pics have been republished.

If you're submitting material to a blog, check their policy before contacting them. Keep it short, sweet and genuine, with a small selection of images.

Be Transparent. If you're receiving sponsorship, say so. Mention affiliate links. Accept free samples if they're a good fit for your blog. A giveaway could be paired with a banner ad or a sponsored post.

Consider global collaboration. Contributors could be paid in cash, promotion, or a barter arrangement. Show your intention to connect with and support contributors.

image from modern kiddo and pilgrim

Alix's shoes caught the eye of Mondo Guerra - the lady rocks a fine shoe!

The sponsor presence at alt was quite well done - there was a magical lounge area with never ending refreshments which was transformed a couple of times a day. At first it was the HGTV lounge and there was a huge glittery Statue of Liberty. Next it was the Just Shorn lounge and was strewn with luxurious New Zealand wool rugs. But my favourite transformation of all was the Honda lounge. Vintage Honda ads were hung and a range of classic Honda apparel was displayed in a pretty groovy way. Also there were pastries and coffee which may have swayed my opinion.

images from alt summit flickr,and modern kiddo

Dinner at a local icon? Don't mind if I do! Go outside in the freezing darkness? If I must. Lucky there was only a short distance between outdoor heater and car heater. But still no snow, so I had to make do with a small pile of filthy ice. Sigh.

image from alt summit flickr

See you tomorrow! - pilgrim x

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