A Girl Named PJ

Alt Summit NYC felt very different to me than Alt Summit SLC.

I’m not sure why, but I felt less anxious the second time around. Nervous, yes, but not crazy anxious. Maybe it was because I didn’t have to worry about three days worth of outfit changes or because I wasn’t debuting brand new business cards. Perhaps it was because I’ve had the opportunity to work with a couple of brands I admire since Salt Lake City, validating the work I put into the blog.

Or maybe it was because I knew there’d be friendly faces — hello, Erika, Leslie, Sheri, Sarah, and Haeley! — awaiting me when I arrived at the Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia office. This time I wasn’t going in alone.

But the difference wasn’t just me. The energy at Alt NYC was different, too. Its tempo was faster paced than SLC. We attendees were on a one-day mission to mingle, learn, and network.

While Alt SLC virtually had its own wing of a hotel, providing lots of room to break away and roam, Alt NYC was confined to an event space flanked by offices and cubicles of Martha’s worker bees. Although bright and airy, it was crowded and loud; during several conversations, I had trouble hearing the person sitting across from me.

Compared to Alt SLC, which felt like a blogging retreat, Alt NYC felt more like a work conference. The presentations, while interesting, weren’t necessarily about blogging. Rather than sharing tricks of the trade — i.e. growing your readership, collaborating with sponsors, finding your niche — the speakers mainly talked about creativity, entrepreneurship, and social media in more general terms.

That’s not to say I didn’t take anything away from my experience at Alt NYC. I did leave feeling more inspired than when I arrived (albeit without a clear plan of action) and with many new blogging friends — hello, Seema, Ellen, Melanie, and the Obsession Session ladies! 

I also had the chance to finally meet Ashley in person. Yay! We’ve been blogging friends since before our sons were born, and she was just as down to earth and engaging as I expected she’d be. We even met up Friday afternoon to toast the start of summer with some Rosé.

(That was a crazy day! I met a high school friend for coffee near Rockefeller Center, Ashley for a drink in the West Village, and a college friend for dinner in Chelsea. Oh! And then she and I wandered back to the West Village for some Big Gay Ice Cream.)

Tomorrow I’ll highlight some of my favorite presenters, so please be sure to come back!

{all photographs by justin hackworth}