What an amazing way to end this weeks Guest Blog with the closing Keynote from Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project and a walking tour though Salt Lake City with SNOW! A really big, heartfelt thank you to Petina Watkins for sharing her fantastic tip to Alt Summit in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. Thank you Petina for documenting your whole trip and taking the time to share it with us! Also, Petina is the marketing manager for Oye Modern, be sure to pop over and see the great work she is doing there too! -Jenny x

Closing Keynote with Gretchen Rubin – image by Brooke Ashley Dennis from alt summit flickr here and here

Final day of the summit and the Closing Keynote speech was presented by Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project.

Closing Keynote: Designing Your Life

Speaker: Gretchen Rubin author of The Happiness Project

I had just purchased ‘The Happiness Project’ at the airport bookstore on the way to the summit. So I was one chapter into the book and keen to hear what Gretchen had to say. Her speech was inspiring and was about how to design your life for greater happiness. The most important message I took from her speech was that even the simplest changes in habits can enhance your life greatly. Whether it’s getting a few more hours of sleep at night, minimising clutter or exercising more often.

Favourite Quotes:

“If you get rid of the clutter, you don’t have to organize it.”

“One of the best ways to be happy in life is to make other people happy.”

“If you cram your life with the things you love, there’s no room for the things you don’t.”

Walking Photography Tour – Image from oye modern.

Next up, we had a choice of several different activities – Skiing at Solitude Ski resort, a Sundance Film Festival Tour, Thrift store shopping, design classes or a foodie tour were just some of the choices. Being a very inexperienced photographer who only takes pictures on automatic, I decided on the Walking Photography Tour with Tracey Clark.

The best surprise for the last day was that it started snowing! I haven’t seen that much snow before so I was extremely excited taking way too many photos.

I love snow! images from oye modern

My time at Alt Summit was amazing and a really rewarding experience. When you write a blog it can seem lonely at times so it was great to meet so many other design bloggers, share stories, network face-to-face and learn from one another.  The classes, panels and talks were all inspiring. I had a lot of fun sharing the information I learned with you and and I think a lot of aussie design bloggers would gain a lot from attending Alt Summit in 2013.

- Petina x

image by Justin Hackworth from alt summit flickr

Today Petina is sharing day 2 of Alt Design Summit and with each day I’m becoming more and more determined to go along with her in 2013!  If you have a blog or are considering starting one, this week’s Guest Blog is a really great opportunity to learn from the pros. I especially love everything that the ‘Growing A Readership’ panel had to say, that is completely true of all the blogs I love reading. Thank so much Petina! – Jenny x

Better Homes and Gardens Roundtable Pitch Palooza – Images by Justin Hackworth and Brooke Ashley Dennis from alt summit flickr here and here and i like you world

Welcome back everyone! Today began with Roundtable ‘small group’ discussions led by industry experts. There were a lot of topics to choose from and I decided to attend ‘Pitch Palooza – Better Homes & Gardens wants to hear your ideas’. It was a great small group and I came away with lots of ideas on how best to pitch magazines. I was also excited to win a free book!

Ben Silberman Keynote Session and Lunch – images by Justin Hackworth and Moss + Isaac from alt summit flickr here, here and here.

Keynote Session And Lunch

Next up was Lunch with Pinterest founder Ben Silberman ‘How Pinterest became the next game changer.’

Speaker: Ben Silberman, Founder of Pinterest

Be willing to try new things.

Be close to people that inspire you. Dream big. Stop talking and just go do it.

Move fast and break things.

Favourite quotes:

“People succeed because they just don’t stop.”

“If you don’t bet on yourself, no one else will.”

“Discovering things about the world will help us discover more about who we are.”

“There are so many things that are just good enough – why not pick the one that’s most beautiful?”.

Ben gave my favourite speech from the whole summit. He was also the only speaker to ever get a standing ovation at Alt Summit.

Growing a Readership panel – image by Justin Hackworth from alt summit flickr

Growing a Readership panel

Panelists: Jordan Ferney of Oh Happy Day, Kelly Beall of Design Crush, Nicole Balch of Making it Lovely, and Maggie Mason of Mighty Girl.

Commit to creating good, original content.

The more clean and polished your blog design is, the more people will believe it.

Work smarter not harder.

Don’t check stats everyday. You are putting energy in the wrong place. Develop compelling content instead.

Less is more.

Personal narrative – share who you are and your readership will grow.

Don’t sit on ideas. Just start.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more panel tips and some pics from the spectacular Friday night sponsored mini parties.

- Petina x

My necklace and Fruit Martinis W/Citrus Ginger Crème – images by Justin Hackworth and Brooke Ashley Dennis from alt summit flickr here and here

We are taking a trip across the globe to Salt Lake City, Utah, USA with this weeks Guest Blogger, Petina Watkins. Petina is the marketing co-ordinator at Oye Modern and was very fortunate to attend Altitude Design Summit a couple of weeks ago. This week Petina will be bringing us some of the highlights of her time at the worlds biggest design blogging conference. Thanks Petina! -Jenny x

Hi, I’m Petina!  Image from i like you world and Oye Modern

Fellow Bloggers & Creative Friends – Are you keen to learn about the art of blogging from some of the best design bloggers in the world?

My name is Petina and I’m in love with good design. I’m the marketing co-ordinator at Oye Modern – an Australian online jewellery store committed to seeking out the best and most innovative modern jewellery designers from here and abroad.  I also have a personal design blog called I like you world.

Last week I attended Altitude Summit, a design conference for bloggers in Salt Lake City, Utah. Stick around as over the next few days I will share with you highlights of the conference including what I learned from the business panels, and photos of the amazing parties put on by Alt Summit. Today, I will be telling you about what happened on my first day in Salt Lake City.

Grand America Hotel - Image by Brooke Ashley Dennis from alt summit flickr

Getting from Sydney to Salt Lake City took over 24 hours travelling time, 3 planes and several hours in transit. I finally arrived in Salt Lake City giddy with excitement and also slightly worried about whether I’d packed enough warm clothing.  I needn’t have worried. Checking into the Grand America Hotel where the summit was to take place, I quickly realised that the hotel was well heated.  It was also, as the name implies, very grand!  I had arrived a day before the Summit began so I had a chance to have a good look around the hotel.

Images by Moss + Issac from alt summit flickr

There were chandeliers everywhere, a beautiful toy store, a ‘ladies’ cocktail lounge (men were allowed), a cupcake shop and a macarons stand.

I went downstairs to register for the summit and received a big gift box, which all attendees receive. Free goodies!

What’s inside…? Free Goodies!  Images by Moss + Isaac from alt summit flickr and  oye modern

I also met my two roomies, Jana from Little Bird Soda Co. and Dayle from Made by Soda Pop, who I’d only previously met on Twitter! We bonded over cocktails and shared stories into the wee hours.

Room service in my fancy room? Yes, please!  Image from oye modern

Tomorrow I will be sharing with you the first round of panels and photos of the amazing White Party. See you then!

- Petina x

Getting read to learn! - Image by Justin Hackworth from alt summit flickr