When was the last time you felt utterly loved and accepted for who you are and what you do?
For me, that warm, cuddly (and hilarious) blanket happened during the Bloggers at Midlife Conference at the JW Marriott Las Vegas earlier this month. At the same time I was feeling loved and appreciated, I also also felt a bit like a deer in the headlights overwhelmed with information and not quite sure what to do next.
For the most part, I enjoy flying. Most airports have food and shops. And my connecting flight through Detroit Metro Airport meant I got to walk through the tunnel of light and sound:
The early evening flight on Delta Airlines meant that the plane chased the sunset across the country. By the time we landed in Las Vegas, the sun was down and the night life had begun. Thank goodness I had a new friend to navigate the thirty minute drive to the hotel.
I went to my assigned gate A3 at DTW (Detroit Metro.) Met Jesus. Minutes later, gate changed. Thank you, Jesus.
The conference was two days packed solid. Here are snippets of wisdom captured in my handwritten notes:
The conference was sponsored by Domain.ME, Boiron, Nissan, John Hancock Insurance, Osteo Bi-Flex Joint Health, Feedblitz, Lincoln Financial Group, Galderma, Madison Reed, Chico’s, Mother Head, Prudential, Vibrant Nation, Artful Home, She Spark, Cabot Cheese, iBlog Magaine, Hashtracking.com, and Zappos. Each provided exceptional advice and awesome giveaways. There was also ample time to discuss potential business partnerships with the sponsors.
Hashtracking.com provided a real-time display of tweets. I know I tweeted a lot during these few days. In fact, our conference hashtag of #BAMC16 was tweeted more than 5,000 times, trended on Twitter, and had a reach of about three million people. That’s amazing and positive power in one room of only 150 people.
Of course, the best part of the conference had to be making wonderful new friends, and laughing for hours about the clown car escapade and disco dancing.
What on earth will the 2017 conference bring? I can’t wait to find out.