 |
| This picture of the main stage is from StyleCon's official Instagram profile |
I attended the first annual StyleCon convention in Orange County this past weekend. TOPSHOP was a major sponsor so they had a pop up shop there and a ton of beauty companies were also in attendance. I was there as a volunteer not an attendee so I did not really get to experience the event fully. This was a little upsetting at the time because I had planned to walk around and take pictures of the booths and share it here. While volunteering I was assigned to help with the main stage and to help the panelist and presenters on an off the stage.I was bummed at first that I was not going to get to check out all of the booths, however I think being stationed at the stage was really a blessing in disguise. I was front and center to all of the panel's and I got to hear some amazing conversations about being a blogger and creating an online presence.
One of the first panels I listened to made me roll my eyes when I first heard what it was called "How to take the perfect selfie" inside I was like great, this is going to be great, beautiful people talking about the pictures they take of themselves. To my surprise it was actually one of the most informative panels of the day. For awhile it did seem to be going the shallow and vain route, but to my delight the conversation took a turn for the better when the audience began to ask questions. I did not know any of the bloggers on this panel, but I fell in love with Lavenda from Lavenda's Closet. She was probably the realest blogger I have ever heard speak about Social Media. She talked about Essena Oniel's campaign "Let's be Game Changers" and really was trying to convey how important it is as bloggers and internet personalities to be responsible. Responsible about the message we send girls. That our Instagram feeds are part real life part business. Our posts are planned and edited. They generally are not raw. We need to let people know that. When they asked the panel what they did to grow their Instagram following from the hundreds to the thousands. A few of the panelist's were coy and gave the standard "oh I was consistent with my postings", which i wholeheartedly agree with but it seemed like they had no interest in really sharing what it took. Except for Lavenda, she was honest once again and said "I hustled my ass off" and to me that was amazing to hear. She went on to describe the steps she took to connect with other bloggers and create content for her blog along with discussing how long it took her to grow her following. It was honest and raw and instantly made me a fan of hers.
Another part of the day that I am grateful I had the opportunity to experience because of where my volunteer duties landed me, was really really seeing some of the bloggers I had loved for so long and seeing how the acted under pressure and around "fans". I found some new amazing ladies to follow and also realized that I needed to UNFOLLOW some of my previous faves. Meeting Kathleen from Carrie Bradshaw Lied was so fun, she was a southern belle with the friendliest personality and meeting Tess Holliday was probably the absolute highlight of my day. Both of those ladies were so sweet to their fans and took the time to connect and converse with everyone. However some ladies were the total opposite, which was really sad to see. Sad to see how ungrateful they seemed to be to the people who took the time to come to the event and spent their money on tickets just to get a chance to meet these ladies. So sad.
There were so many local bloggers at the event it was great to see how many Orange County gals are blowing it up in the blog-o-sphere! It was so motivational and overall the event seemed like a great success and I was thankful to get to play a small role in it. And it definitely inspired me to attend more events like this in the future. I was bummed out that I did not get to walk around to the vendor booths and snap some pictures for the blogs, but hopefully I can make up for that next year. If you care to, check out #StyleCon on Instagram and @StyleConGirl's tagged pictures to see more of the fun times from the day!
