You hear of Continuing Education when you’re working in a corporate environment but don’t always connect it with events when you’re working in your own start-up. But connecting with professionals in your industry and learning more about related topics can greatly increase your company’s presence and can improve the quality of your work. I’ve been putting together a list of some conferences and events that I’ve heard wonderful things about and would love to attend in the future.
I’m attending Stationery Academy in Phoenix in July and I am so excited to be going. It’s an intense conference that is widely praised in the stationery world. They cover every topic that you’re going to need to think about when developing your brand like Your Core, Your Mission, Your Brand, Your Money, and Your Call. Stationery Academy has some of the biggest names in the stationery business associated with it. Companies like Whitney English, Shay Cochrane, Pantone, and Stationery Trends are all involved in some sort with the event. And even though it’s called “Stationery” Academy they often have attendees in other creative professions as well. They also just launched an online class called Creative’s Academy that doesn’t focus as much on the stationery aspect. If you think you might be interested in attending one day, you should go ahead and follow their blog and on social media (Facebook, Twitter) so that you can stay up to date and learn what you can before you attend.
The Makers Summit has just concluded for 2015 and I was so sad that I didn’t find out about it before it happened. It was held in Greenville, South Carolina and included speakers from such great brands such as Rifle Paper Co, Ink Meets Paper, and Williams-Sonoma. I hope to attend The Makers Summit next year and have subscribed to their mailing list so that I can stay up to date with all the info.
For those who are interested in exhibiting at the National Stationery Show, Tradeshow Bootcamp is basically a requirement. PaperCamp was held in February and is being held again in September in Los Angeles and I’m trying to figure out a way that I can attend. They’re also holding a webinar series right now that I’m kicking myself for not signing up for. They cover pretty much everything you need to know about selling wholesale and exhibiting at a show. But even if you can’t attend in person, you can join me and follow their blog to get a feel of what they are teaching.
Alt Summit (Altitude Summit) is a blogging and creative conference held in Salt Lake City. They are having one winter and one summer session this year. They haven’t announced their Summer speakers yet but the winter session had speakers from such brands as See Jane Blog, Dooce, Freshly Picked, Oh Happy Day, and Kate Spade. Alt works to help bloggers and creatives connect and form a community of support and innovation. I’ve heard wonderful things about it and hope to attend one day.
The She Speaks conference was started by Lysa TerKeurst and the Proverbs 31 team and is a conference for writers and speakers to encourage and empower them as they advance their ministries. This isn’t a conference for every creative but for anyone who has a blog and has questions about marketing, writing practices, etc it’s a perfect place to learn more about your craft while also being inspired in your walk with God. Some of their big speakers are Lysa TerKeurst, Lisa-Jo Baker, Liz Curtis Higgs, and Renee Swope. Courtney DeFeo has attended in the past and had a link up this fall for others to write about their platforms and what they learned.
Amber Housley has created an Inspired conference for creatives that is four days and is a conference about business and balancing work and life. They’re sold out for the April conference in Nashville, Tennessee but I’m on her email list to stay up to date on future events. Some of the speakers for this year are Mica May (May Designs), Jennifer Faught (Stationery Academy), and Kim Stoegbauer (The TomKat Studio). It’s a great lineup and is supposed to be a fantastic event.
Those are the big conferences that I know about and am keeping my eye out for a way that I can attend in the future. Are there any that I’m missing? I’d love to know about others that aren’t on my radar yet. I know that there are tons of great conferences out there for creatives looking to advance their businesses. And, if you’re attending one of these this year I’d love to get to know you so leave your handles in the comments so that we can follow each other!
