Hello all! Now I am finally back on the West Coast again, after spending the last 4 days in New York attending Lucky FABB. What an amazing experience! If you’ve been following along on Instagram or Twitter, you may have seen my quick updates and snapshots of the fun. It was such a whirlwind trip – and though I’m glad to be home – I wished it could have lasted longer. Here are some of the highlights from the event:
Eva Chen, Lucky Editor in Chief, heads the first panel.
The next panel deals with Community ROI: Turning Your Readers into your Advocates, headed by Erica Domesek of P.S. I Made This, Gabi Gregg of GABIFRESH, and Alisa Gould-Simon, of Pose.
The next panel features a conversation with Eva Mendes, who just released a collaborative line of clothing for New York & Company. She seems so down-to-earth, funny, and all-inclusive that I can’t help but love her – and she demonstrates her scarf-tying prowess with a proferred scarf from an audience member!
After lunch, Bryanboy arrives and has some great advice for up-and-coming bloggers. He says “You don’t need business cards – THIS [gestures to face] is your business card!” By this time my phone is completely dead, no outlets are available to charge it, and I am furiously taking notes.
The next panel discusses 5 Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make, with Lindsey Calla of Saucy Glossie, Amber Venz of RewardStyle, and Mattias Swenson, of Bloglovin’. Amber Venz is particularly on-point and has some great business advice for blog growth.
The next panel is with Aliza Licht of Donna Karan International, Suzanne Schloot of Kate Spade, Stephanie Horton of FarFetch, and Amy Cole of Instagram. I am jotting down quotes as fast as I can from Aliza Licht, who is a wealth of great advice (as she’s been with Donna Karan 18 years!).
Finally, the last guest is Kate Bosworth, who has just released a collaboration with Topshop. She seems to be a nice, but very instrospective, person, and appears a bit unprepared for speaking in front of an audience. Her answers tend to go on for awhile and off into tangents, and I notice some audience members sighing and shifting in their seats.
The outfits and accessories worn by attendees and speakers of FABB were of course FABULOUS – but due to a dead phone and an almost-dead camera battery, I’m only able to snap a few shots. How cool is that Kate Spade typewriter purse??!
On the left: my seatmate Liz from Elizabethology was such a sweetie!
I finally got a photo of myself in front of the step-and-repeat – in my DIY Ballroom Skirt from a Shower Curtain! (tutorial coming soon!)
The next day featured smaller panels inside the Conde Nast building – above is celebrity makeup artist Jake Bailey showing us how to do camera-ready makeup…and amazingly, he doesn’t use any concealer! Stay tuned for some great tricks for creating the perfect makeup for photos. 
And Leandra Medine from the ManRepeller also gave a talk about her journey and advice to aspiring writers. It was actually supposed to be a panel for How to Pitch a Story to a Magazine…so I’m not sure what happened there.
From my Instagram feed, from left to right: me in the hotel room, before leaving for Day 1; the weather report, LaGuardia iPad station.
Top row: The first panel from Lucky FABB, a shot of the conference hall, my registration materials.
Bottom row: my DIY Sparkly Dannijo-Inspired Pendant Necklace, the entrance to the conference on Day 1, sidewalk chalk message.
Top row: Lucky office in the Conde Nast building, Jake Bailey during the camera-ready makeup panel, Ramon-Kia giving a panel on SEO tips.
Bottom row: delicious cake pop from Paige Denim, Fabletics hoodie I fell in love with, me holding a pair of Paige Denim sparkly holiday jeans.
On Day 2 I also participated in a casting for a P&G Voices of Beauty Blogger representative – I doubt they’ll pick me, but it did afford me the opportunity to go up to the Lucky Magazine floor (escorted every step of the way and with heavy security).
There it is behind the double doors! We didn’t go inside, though.
The Lucky FABB gift bag was off-the-hook: it weighed like 80 pounds and was stuffed to the brim with products and gift cards! There must have been at least 50+ items in that bag, worth even more than the cost of the ticket to attend.
And finally, some photos from the streets of New York: there were a whole bunch of people in costumes near Times Square, including Batman, Spiderman, Disney characters, and the Mario troupe.
For some reason, whenever I go to New York I’m only able to get a photo of the Naked Cowboy’s rear end. Happens ever time.
The only other conference I’d ever been to was IFB Con in February 2010 – which led to a fateful meeting with my idol Corinne Leigh of Threadbanger.com…and segued into me writing articles for them for a short time. As well as making tons of other fun blogging friends and contacts!
Have you guys ever been to a blogging conference? What was the experience like – and was it worth the cost of attending?
xo
Carly
So jealous that you were able to go, I’ve always wanted to attend! It looks like it was fun and super informative, too. Next time you go we will have to plan to go and stay together!
PS~ That skirt… I’m DYING!
xo ~ Lia | Smart n Snazzy
Lia ~ Smart n Snazzy recently posted…DIY ~ Tom Binns Inspired Barbed Wire Earrings
Thanks Lia! We will have to do that definitely 🙂 I certainly got some great tips and ideas for the blog, so all in all, I think it was worth it to go – but the cost of the hotel room was astronomical. Staying all together is the way to go!