First of all, if you haven’t seen the re-cap of Day 1, make sure to click HERE first to get caught up!

Night 1.

I feel like I should begin with how badly I slept the night before. We had a VERY late night at Saint Ann, and fell into bed exhausted. As I stated in my first recap, we had to squeeze three people on a king bed. One of us falls asleep standing up, so she didn’t have a problem. The girl who slept in the middle slept with her mouth open, so I had to sleep on my left side all night. She also kept getting hot being between us so she would flip the covers off of her, which would then in turn make us both freezing again. Let’s just say it was a long night.

8 am. Breakfast.

We stood in line for about 15 minutes at the coffee shop in the lobby only to then realize there was free coffee and breakfast upstairs. We ran up there, scarfed it down, and made it into the ballroom just in time for the very first part of the conference! We then sat in the second row… out of about 30 rows…. nerds.

Amber Venz.

Girl.Boss. Amber Venz, the President and co-founder of rewardStyle kicked us off in serious style. She is brilliant and I love hearing her speak. I think I learned more in this hour and a half than I did in the entire conference. Her and her husband Baxter have revolutionized the way consumers shop online. It is truly crazy to see how large e-commerce has grown and how it is only growing faster and faster each year.

Takeaway: Amber touched a little on working with brands. She said to make sure to know your price and stick to it. The worst is when you charge one brand this amount $___ and then tomorrow you are charging hundreds or thousands more. Your following hasn’t grown over night. How can you explain this price increase? You can definitely assess at a later point, but make sure you aren’t all over the board with your charges. People will quickly start to distrust you when you charge them double the next time they want to work with you.

Panelist.

After Amber talked, we had some amazing panelist share some insights. My favorite of course was Louise Roe. Have you read her book ‘Front Roe‘?? I have been wanting to write a book for quite some time, so she was an inspiration to me!

We then had a couple of men talk. One was from London and one was from China. It was so interesting to hear them both. Did you now that if you compare our Black Friday with China’s similar concept, that they make billions and billions more than us on that one day? How in the world can I tap into that market?!!? Did you also know that Europeans have over 30% more blog readers? Also, when you pair two London bloggers together, they only share 20% of their total following?!?!! I seriously have so much work to do in order to have people overseas discover my blog!! Right now, I am about 87% America! If you know of anyone that wants a guest blogger in London or China, let me know! That is definitely where it’s at, haha!

Lunch.

Rodial sponsored our lunch on Friday at Americano. Everything was SO DELICIOUS. They gave us goody bags with their famous contouring powder (which I wore to the White Party on the last day) and their Dragon’s Blood Discovery Kit!!

Afternoon.

I took a YouTube class right after lunch. We got to pick three classes and this was my number 1 choice. I learned how to set it up, how to edit, what cameras to use, and how much time it actually takes. I think I will wait awhile to get mine going. I definitely don’t want to spread myself too thing. At least until I can do this blogging thing full time. But, when I finally set my channel up, you will NOT be disappointed. I won’t say more than that, but I can let you know it will go along with what I am already doing/sharing on my blog ;). I have been wanting to start one for quite some time now!

Brand Meetings.

My first brand meeting was with Joe Fresh. I am pretty excited about working with them. They have really re-vamped their brand, and I love, love their laid back style. Be on the look out for a collaboration (coming soon, I hope)!

My second brand meeting of the day was with ModCloth. Did you guys see my first ‘Nautical‘ post that I did with them? Next up: swimsuits and wedding! Be on the lookout. I love ModCloth and think they have some really amazing stuff. I am excited to keep partnering with them!

Luckily, brands just want to hear what you are about, what your interests are, and who reads your blog. When you reach out, keep those three things in mind. Keep the convo natural and they will do the rest. They just want to make sure it is a good fit! They are more about who you are, and who your readership is, rather than how much you are going to sell for them. BE YOURSELF.

For the conference and the brand meetings, I opted for this gorgeous bib dress from BCBG and this color-block tote from Henri Bendel. I wanted to look professional, but still had to represent myself and my brand. I paired the look with some tan pumps that I have posted on a different Work Wear Wednesday post. I own these pumps in four colors now! I got tons of compliments on this outfit, and will definitely be wearing it to work this week.

Garden Party.Joe Fresh hosted the most AMAZING ‘Garden Party Chic’ themed party out in front of The Joule Hotel. They had swings COVERED in flowers. There were actually flowers everywhere!!! In fact, one of my friends was actually stung by a bee while we were waiting in line for a drink five minutes after we walked in. She had never been stung before, and her father is severely allergic, so we were in crisis mode for the first thirty minutes of the party. We also had to keep an eye on the bump for the next 24 hours.

After the bee sting shock wore off, we got to enjoy the party. The party was still amazing, and they served the most amazing drinks made with some kind of almond vodka. Yes, I felt like we were drinking all weekend! Other than a sever allergy attack on my part, and only being able to wear one contact the entire weekend, this was one of the highlights of the conference. Joe Fresh really impressed me with the way they decorated and executed the event!

For the event, I went with the insanely gorgeous Keepsake Tunic. When I got it in and tried it on I almost squealed. Well, maybe I did squeal a little bit! It is so amazing! I love shopping at BNKR and I am never disappointed. I mostly shop there for big events, like Fashion Week and the rewardStyle Conference. Also, you have GOT TO BUY these pink suede mules. I am so obsessed. I am definitely going to get them in more colors and they are UNDER $100!!!

Dinner.
After the party we walked down the block and got a table for twelve at Dallas Fish Market. The food was excellent and the waiter just kept bringing us shots and drinks on the house! I didn’t mind, because I knew it was going to take a little something extra to help me sleep in that bed!!! Luckily, one of my roomies got to stay in another room so I had most of the bed to myself (finally).

Long Day. Amazing Day. But Day 3 was by far the BEST day… so stay tuned!!

xoxo A