You Have Influence

Last weekend I had the honor of attending, along with 200 other amazing women, the first annual Influence Conference. I’ve been to plenty a blogging conference in my day but I have to say, this was my absolute favorite conference that I’ve ever been to. Why? The answer is really simply: community.

Community.

There was a sense of community at Influence that I’ve never felt at any other conference. At Influence, everyone just came as they were and were completely accepted and loved by the entire group. There were no weird conference cliques. No separate social circles. No rockstars. There was nothing fake or forced to be found. It didn’t matter if you came alone or with five blogging friends. Once you were there, you were part of the Influence community.

We laughed, we cried, we reconnected with old friends and made new ones as well. Real relationships were formed and much wisdom + truth was poured out. Whether your intention for attending was building your online brand and blog traffic or just enjoying a total girl’s weekend, I truly felt like all needs were met. The speakers were fabulous {this one brought me to tears while this one made me nod my head yes fervently and take notes at lighting speed} and the handmade market? Well, just take a look for yourself.

Yeah, it was pretty much Etsy in real life. Amazing.

It didn’t matter if you were a mother of five or a single college girl, either. I met some of the kindest, most genuine people in my entire life.

I shared a teeny hotel room with three girls and you couldn’t even see the bathroom counter with all the hair products that were happening. We did all those girly things like share clothes {Kacia and Raechel might have made a Stitch Fix believer out of me, but more on that later!}, talk about boys and curl each others hair. Naturally, I was exhausted at the end but realized when else in my life do I get a chance to do this? A chance to share a room with my amazing sisters in Christ and just bask in sweet community. I mean, let’s be real: usually I’m just home alone with my cat.

Anyway, those are just some of my thoughts that I couldn’t help but share. I hope y’all will consider joining us next year….same place, in Indianapolis…on September 26-28 {yes, we already have dates!}.

Thanks for letting me share my heart! I love you guys. If you’d like to stay connected with what’s happening with Influence, please check out the new Influence Network site.

And, here are some of the other recaps by my fellow community leaders and friends — for your reading pleasure!