Are you heading to a Create & Cultivate conference soon? Here are 10 tips to help you prepare for Create & Cultivate!
Last weekend, my friend/podcast co-host Maddy and I attended
our very first Create & Cultivate conference in Los Angeles, CA. We
launched our podcast last week so we were excited to connect with other
creatives, brands, as well as listen and learn from the different panelists.
Maddy and I were at the event from 8am – 8:30pm.
If you’re attending Create & Cultivate or a similar blog conference for the first time, this blog post is for you.
Here are 10 tips to help you prepare for Create & Cultivate:
Tip #1: Prepare your
elevator speech and introduction
You’re going to meet at new people at Create & Cultivate
so I recommend preparing your introduction and elevator speech before the
conference. If you haven’t heard of an elevator pitch before, an elevator
pitch is a 30 second synopsis of who you are and what you do.
In my sales class, we were taught to envision that you might
meet someone important in an elevator and you only have 20-30 seconds to
introduce yourself. While you may not be traveling up and down an elevator the
day of Create & Cultivate, you might be standing in line or sitting to
someone you haven’t met before.
Example Elevator Pitch:
Hi! I’m Emma and this is Maddy. We’re both Seattle bloggers
who recently launched the Content Creatives Podcast. We hope to inspire other
creatives to discover, grow, and own their brand.
What should your Elevator Pitch include?
- Your name
- What you do
- And your unique selling proposition or mission
statement
Tip #2: Make sure you
bring a pen a small notebook, pen, and business cards
One way I learn and
retain information is by taking notes so I was definitely taking notes
throughout the different panels. Usually at conferences, I’m so in awe/over
stimulated by everything going on around me that I don’t really retain
information. Looking back at my notes helps me remember the key takeaways from
the day.
Maddy also had a great idea of getting business cards for the Content Creatives Podcast. She designed these business cards on Canva, got them made through Vistaprint, and we handed them out to the different people we connected with throughout the day.
Tip #3: Bring a
branded tote bag
If you’re representing a company or your own brand, I highly
recommend bringing something functional and branded like a tote bag. Maddy and
I were ready to collect all the fun samples from the brand booths at Create
& Cultivate. Our tote bags also served as conversation starters. People
asked us where we got our tote bags from and we told them we got them made
because we launched our own podcast.
If you aren’t representing a company, I still recommend
bringing a tote bag. The sponsored booths gave out so free samples, food, and
drinks!
Tip #4: Look up the
sponsors ahead of time
Last year, I attended a blogger/influencer airline event. I
connected with another local Seattle blogger who recently came back from an
international blog conference. As she told me about her experience at the
conference, I learned that you could connect with the brand sponsors at the
event.
So before we attended Create & Cultivate LA, we looked up and decided which sponsors we wanted to connect with. We connected with Not Your Mother’s, Honest Beauty, and Brahmin throughout the day and made sure to get those brand’ s business cards.
Looking up the sponsors ahead of time is probably my most important tip to help you Prepare for Create & Cultivate!
Tip #5: Look up the
speakers and panelists ahead of time
After you look up sponsors of the event, I recommend also
looking up who the speakers are. While some speakers are on panels, other
speakers might be assigned to mentor sessions. You might get a chance to
connect with a speaker after the panel or during the mentor sessions of the
conference.
By looking up the speaker list ahead of time, you’ll be able
to decide if there are any speakers you want to connect with after they
present.
Tip #6: Look at the
schedule and decide when you’re going to explore the booths
One thing I learned during my first Create & Cultivate
LA conference is that the schedule is pretty jam packed. You might get a chance
to explore the brand booths before the conference or during lunch, but chances
are most people are wandering through the packed booths during those times.
Maddy and I selected a morning panel that we were going to miss so we could take the time to connect with Not Your Mother’s, Honest Beauty, and Brahmin. We were able to avoid the crowds, snap a few photos, and also exchange business cards with the brands.
Tip #7: Wear an
outfit you’re confident in
I always feel more confident when I know my outfit looks
good. Both Maddy and I decided to dress cute and stylish for the event. We both
unintentionally coordinated our outfits and wore midi skirts and floral tops.
Personally, I almost wore a white cropped top with my midi
skirt. But the day of the conference actually had rain in the weather forecast.
I decided to wear the floral top instead for a little more coverage. I also
wasn’t sure how comfortable I would be in a crop top after a 12 hour event.
I always recommend wearing comfortable shoes. I decided to
wear a block heel to the event and also carried and extra pair of slides in my
tote bag.
Tip #8: Stay hydrated
Create & Cultivate LA was a really long day. I ended up
drinking one iced coffee in the morning and another coffee in the afternoon. We
were running around so much that I forgot to drink water in the morning.
I highly recommend either bringing a water bottle or picking
up one of the free water bottles right when you enter the event. I also
recommend finding the water bottle filling stations. Please stay hydrated
during the event!
Tip #9: Go early
Breakfast on the agenda started right at 8am. Maddy and I
got to Rolling Greens in Downtown LA around 8:15am. This was plenty of time to
get through security and grab breakfast.
If you’re able to arrive right when the doors open, I would recommend getting there early. There were brand booths both inside and outside the space. Maddy and I snapped a few photos at the booths before the 9am panel started.
Tip #10: Come to the event with an open mind
Create & Cultivate LA was my first Create &
Cultivate event ever. I knew we were going to hear from celebrity panelists and
influencers changing the industry, but I wasn’t sure how it was all going to
shake out.
I was surprised how much I learned from Amber Torrealba/The Adobe Creative Cloud session on video editing with Adobe Premier Rush. Prior to that session, I’ve never thought of using slowing down or speeding up videos to create a dramatic effect. I also hadn’t seen the Adobe Premier Rush phone interface before. I ended up winning a 12 year subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud so I’m excited to use Adobe Premier Rush this year!
With the Inspired Inclusivity panel, I loved hearing what Adrienne Bailon, Nyma Tang, Sunita, Shahd Batal, and Arnell Armon wanted next for the beauty industry. As a consumer, I hadn’t thought about how I would want the fashion and beauty industry to evolve. So hearing their take on what needs to come next was insightful.
What other tips do you have to prepare for Prepare for Create & Cultivate?
Thank you for reading!
Love,
Emma
Photos: @madcrayy
Such great advice, especially about using your time wisely in order to connect with the brands you had researched before! I will definitely refer back to it for the day of, and you looked super cute! 🙂
I think you’ve covered them all! 🙂 So excited for Maddy and you. Launching your podcasts is so awesome and having each other is priceless. I know attending conferences can be nerve wrecking but it’s also a great learning experience.
Maureen | http://www.littlemisscasual.com