The Design Bloggers Conference in Atlanta {#dbc2014}

I’m back from the Design Bloggers Conference in Atlanta or how the twitter fiends refer to it as #dbc2014. I’m still not quite sure I totally understand the “hashtag” thingy or how that’s supposed to benefit us? Anywho. I’m back from Atlanta. I caught a cold probably on the plane on the way there and it’s still freezing here in New York. It was a balmy 70 degrees when I arrived on Sunday afternoon. B L I S S!!!!!!

BTW, my custom business cards arrived the day after I left, so I had to scramble with a home-made card which served it’s purpose.

So, how was the design bloggers conference? On the whole, I have to say it was pretty friggin’ awesome. There were a lot of wonderful sponsors and the primary one is a company called Digital Sherpa. I also met a lot of very cool, very nice people and one of them…

yep. That’s Suzanne Kasler (!) who I’ve oft posted about as I adore her work. She gave a fabulous talk about her design process and what makes her hum. I wanted to get up and shout! me too, me too! However, I did manage to get in a little shot with her. (God, my hair needs trimming!) Suzanne is not only a super-star, but also very, very down-to-earth and humble. Love her!

I don’t think I have any shots from the first full day… (I spent considerable time trying to get twitter to open on my Ipad, but noooooo… password issues. What else is new?) but the second day… which I think was actually the best, for me, that is.

The D—vine Candice Olson. OMG!!! It was like TV come to life (if anything, she’s even more adorable and charming) and she was bemoaning something about decaffeinated coffee (a girl after my own addiction) and something about her wrinkles which made me want to slap her across the room. ;] Embrace ’em girlfriend. You’ve earned ’em and besides, you’re befriggin’ gorgeous as are your magnificent interiors.  Serendipitously, I had to step outside the conference room and was one of a lucky handful of participants who got a shot with her. This one’s on instagram. The lighting sucks here, however, Candice is genuinely nice, nice, nice and ever so gracious! I want to be like that when I grow up!

Above is Toma Clark Haines, (aka: The Antiques Diva) who is the most charming young American woman living in Europe. She captivated me with her story about how her husband landed a job in Paris, only unfortunately, she wasn’t allowed to work. (visa issues) “Imagine my good fortune, she said… I’m forced to go live in Paris and I don’t have to work!”  too, too funny… But believe me she works really hard at what she absolutely loves doing… and she has a brilliant business helping designers and private clients shop for antiques in Europe) —- verrrry inspiring talk. Loved it!

The conference closed with Adam Japko (the dude who puts this entire shindig altogether every year) interviewing the ubiquitous, beautiful, brilliant and immensely talented Tobi Fairley and Jennifer Boles from the widely read wonderful blog  ThePeak of Chic.   Lots of great advice for us design bloggers.

I spoke with lots and lots of other bloggers and designers. Most of the attendees are interior designers and a lot of them surprisingly, don’t have a blog (yet) and/or JUST got started. (I’m so glad I’m past the painful start-up learning curve)

Here are my take aways from #dbc2014

• WordPress is in. Blogger is out. (sorry googles, but you don’t have those totally cool plugins which I have to say that I LOVE!!!) ;]

• Be unique. (Hungarian Jewish girl from Indiana. That works, I think)

• Find your niche and run with it.

• Be original. Wait. That’s like unique isn’t it? But definitely original content, images, and/or presented in a different way.

• Be authentic. (Absolutely!)

• Content is king. (yeppers!) :]

• Write your own blog. (YES!!! I knew that so-called business coach is full of you know what.) Tobi Fairley said she gets phone calls from her Mother if she has someone else post on her behalf. And she gets more business when SHE is blogging. Have to say, I HATE it when a blogger has an obvious ghost writer. Just say so… if it’s a guest post. Right?

• Don’t blog because you THINK that’s what you’re supposed to do or because everyone has a blog now. Do it because you have something to say and do it because you love it.

I do love it, but I also love the sound of kaching.

(just being authentic) ;]

xo,

ps: more grisaille coming soon!

Related articles

• Featured Designer: Suzanne Kasler
• Italian wine tasting for 300+ #dbc2014 TY @AdamJapko
• Blogger Resources [VIDEO]
• Top 10 Social Media Marketing Conferences 2014