5 Things I Didn't Expect at BlogFest

I can't believe it's been a week already since BlogFest! This week flew by. Probably because I'm still so tired. I've been looking forward to sleeping in on Saturday all week long. 💤

BlogFest was amazing, and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to attend. It was my first year so I wasn't too sure what to expect. Instead of doing a day-by-day recap, I thought I'd share 5 things that I didn't expect going into BlogFest.

How Exhausting It Would Be

Well, I did kind of expect this. I knew I was going to lead a group run and that there were going to be workouts, so this was kind of on me. I didn't exactly prepare for this conference, physically. I hadn't eaten, slept, or hydrated very well the few days leading up to the BlogFest, and I definitely paid the price on Day 1.

I had to skip the big Welcome Party dinner Thursday night because I was so exhausted! As well as the Friday morning workout. I was so bummed but knew I needed some sleep if I was going to make it through the next few days.

The New Way to Take Notes in a Seminar

I learned so much during the seminars. I'm a pretty terrible note taker, though. Always have been. That's where my phone came in so handy! The new way to take notes? Snap a picture of the presenter's slide! I did take some traditional notes as well, but snapping a picture was so quick and easy. I still need to go through all my notes/pictures and definitely plan on using some of what I learned in future posts.

A few of the "notes" I took

The Brand Connections

Oh, the brands! There was so much more emphasis on the sponsoring brands than I expected. It was called BlogFest, so I thought there would be a bit more emphasis on blogging tips and tricks. Best practices. That kind of thing. While there were a few seminars on blogging topics, it seemed there was more emphasis on learning about, and connecting with, the sponsoring brands. And working with brands, in general. Working with brands is pretty exciting, and I hope that I can do more of it in the future.

We were well fed throughout the conference!

The Swag and Samples

As bloggers, we were definitely hooked up! I brought home a big bag of swag the first night with so much fun stuff like a Takeya water bottle, a shaker bottle and other fun stuff from Great Lakes Gelative, earbuds from Larabar, wrist sweatbands from STRONG by Zumba, resistance bands from TRX and GymGo and so many goods to eat like dried California figs and Mariani dried fruit and SO MUCH MORE.

And that was just what the SweatPink/IDEA World team put together for us.

I snagged a lot more walking around the expo. :-)

How Much I'd Love Figs

I'd ever tried figs before BlogFest. Well, expect in a Fig Newton. I was so surprised at how much I fell in love with this little power fruit. I now love figs fresh and dried. Alone, on toast with cottage cheese or peanut butter, paired with cheese & crackers. I'm really excited to experiment with more ways to eat figs.

There is so much more I want to say about the things I learned and tried at BlogFest, so look forward to more posts to come. :-)
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I'm linking up today with Running on Happy & Fairytales and Fitness for Friday Five 2.0.