Hello Craft Summit of Awesome

On the heels of Rhinebeck, I took the Hello Craft Summit of Awesome plunge! How very fortunate I was that this amazing opportunity was held in the major city nearest me- Baltimore!

The venue was fantastic! The 1840's Ballroom made me want to get married all over again just to have the reception there. The lighting was not ideal for indoor photography, but hopefully I can share a glimpse of these cool diggs.
Upon arrival, we registered and then made our own name tags in the Make Something Awesome Area, which was open the whole time for our crafty pursuits.

The first session I attended was branding and Identity with Jeffery Everett. He spoke on logo design, brand, and how all of it ties together when marketing and growing a business.

Debbie Stoller and Laurie Henzel of Bust magazine were the Craftnote speakers and shared about how they started and maintained their DIY business for the past 18 years. Their story was interesting, inspiring and engaging. They followed up with a session on Shameless Self-Promotion, a talk well suited to the artists among us who just wanna make art!

Miranda Lievers led the next session on how to use light in product shots. This was quite informative and I was impressed by her tips for tweaking our technique ever so slightly for huge returns on our pictures. I found this session to be among my favorites.

My day wrapped up with a session called "Blogs, Books, and Magazines, Oh My!" led by Kate McKean, Lish Dorset, and Kari Chapin. Kate presented from a literary agent's point of view, Lish shared the blog writer's perspective while Kari shared her experiences as an author.
Her book The Handmade Marketplace was Amazon's #1selling craft book in 2010.

Day 2 highlights included an amazing talk by Caitlin Phillips of Rebound Books. She spoke about Craft fair booth set up and displays. Tina Seamonster offered some interesting insights on how every business has a story. Jay McCarroll of Project Runway Fame was the craftnote speaker on Day 2. Funny, authentic, and very personable. I wish him much luck in his future endeavors!

Danielle Maveal of Etsy spoke on Etsy success and offered one on one critques for Etsy Businesses. I enjoyed an interesting glimpse into the world of art galleries with Jaime Zollars and Diane Koss. There were so many opportunities for Indie crafters in these sessions. I attended one on email marketing with Amy Ellis.

Saturday offered sales talk, podcasting overviews, website tips and so much more. All Summit long there were opportunities to craft with letterpress, making sugar scrub, sewing tote bags, and making garland.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience! I met so many wonderful and inspiring Indie Crafters and my brain is full of information overload! I highly recommend this for everyone! Hope to see you at next year's Summit of Awesome!