What I learned at Alt Summit NYC

Yesterday I talked about the differences I noticed between Alt NYC vs Alt SLC. One big difference was that Alt Summit NYC felt more like a conference, whereas Alt Summit SLC felt like a blogging retreat.

Although I didn’t walk away from Alt NYC with many tips specifically related to blogging, I left inspired nonetheless. Here are a few of my favorite presenters and the important things they had to say:

Grace Bonney of Design*Sponge opened the conference with the keynote, Surviving the Internet: Adapting to Change, Technology & Demands. Of all the speakers, she probably gave the most blog-related presentation. As I’m constantly fretting over the (lack of) number of comments my blog posts receive, I found it reassuring when she said that conversation has died down online. Instead, readers are simply liking or hearting or tweeting posts they like.*

Valentine Freeman is the Creative Editor-in-Chief for Ace Hotel, a position she explained she basically created for herself. She was part of a Nine by Five presentation that featured 9 “experts” talking for 5 minutes or less (or more, in a couple of instances). Valentine’s expertise was “snake oil” — which I think was her fancy word for vision. While I’m not 100% sure I followed everything she was saying, she was undeniably badass. I mean, the girl invented her own job at Ace Hotel! Plus, she sported a rad hipster bohemian style that I could never pull off.

Isabel Kallman of Alpha Mom was another Nine by Five presenter. She talked about how Steven Covey’s book First Things First — and the Quadrant of Priorities — changed her life in the early 90s. As much as possible, we want to be functioning in Quadrant 2, the quadrant of quality, which is important but not urgent work.

Fashion photographer, illustrator, and blogger Garance Doré gave the closing keynote, 10 Things I Wish I Had Known When I Started My Business. Although I knew the name “Garance Doré,” I was mostly unfamiliar with her body of work, but Garance’s presentation was one of the day’s best. She claimed it was her first time speaking to a crowd, which made her seem even more charming and approachable. In fact, I felt compelled to approach her afterwards to tell her how inspired I was by her talk — and to pose for a photo!

Among the many topics she covered, Garance shared her three rules of attraction when working with others:

1. Arrive on time
2. Arrive smiling
3. Do what needs to get done

She also touched upon three general rules of life:

1. Haters gonna hate
2. “No” is not a bad word (you don’t have to say “yes” to every opportunity)
3. Prove yourself every day for the rest of your life

There were French expressions that went along with each of those three rules, but seeing as though I don’t speak nor write French, I didn’t catch them!

But wait! There’s more! Come back next week for my final thoughts and photos from Alt Summit NYC.

{all photographs by Justin Hackworth}