Cristina Fowler Blog | Alt Summit 2019 | Conference Recap Part 1

I attended my very first blogging conference in June of 2017, and I was immediate hooked. There are several good ones out there, but it had always been a dream of mine to attend the Altitude Summit. And Alt Summit 2019 was coming up…

When tickets went on sale for this year’s conference, I decided against it. The price tag was a little rich for my blood. Then, on Black Friday, I won a coupon code that cut the price in half. I still couldn’t pull the trigger.

When I was chosen as a volunteer, and therefore getting the conference ticket FOR FREE, I couldn’t ignore the signs any more. I was off to Palm Springs and Alt Summit 2019!

Sunday, March 24

Day one began really early (or late, depending on how you look at it). My alarm went off at 2:45 am. I definitely slept in my clothes because I knew how hard it would be to drag myself out of bed at that hour. I was in an Uber and airport-bound by 3:15 am, a big ball of excitement and nerves.

So nervous…

After a brief layover in Dallas (by the time I got from one gate to other, it was time to board), I landed in Palm Springs around 10:00 am local time. Rather than head to the event on my own, I found a comfortable corner with an outlet and killed an hour reading until my friend and housemate Quiana arrived from Boston.

The calm before the storm…

Together, we took a Lyft to the Riviera, one of the four host hotels for this year’s conference. We were a little early, but we made our way around the huge ground to registration.

We walked under a very cool box archway and to the Chiki Pool for drinks, all courtesy of All Modern.

Along with our conference lanyards, we received a tote bag. We were told that there would be an event the following night where we could fill that bag with swag. Other than that, we were given branded All Modern water bottles and pointed toward various (delicious) flavored waters.

Sadly, I didn’t see much else in the way of food and beverage. So, we decided to try out lunch at the hotel’s Cafe Palmetto. We ended up eating with two other conference attendees: Amber and (another) Quiana. The lunch itself was okay, but it was lovely to hear from two other women about their journeys.

After lunch, we picked up our luggage from the valet who agreed to hold it for us and rushed to freshen up at our AirBnB. The house was lovely! Unfortunately, we didn’t really spend much time there. But it was still nice to have a nice place to come back to at the end of the long days.

And speaking of long days…

As quickly as we came, we had to rush right back out to our first session of the week: Having Impact with Your Influence – led by none other than my roommate, Quiana.

Some really great takeaways from that workshop:

You have four 4 possible action steps: read, watch, listen, take action. Not everyone is ready to dive into what we think of as “activism,” but at the very least, you should be making the effort to stay informed.
There ARE simple ways to take action: Educate, Amplify, SHARE. There is no shame in pointing people toward others who know more than you do.
Be kind; there was a time when you didn’t know better either. Don’t be afraid to show your journey.
It’s a process, and you should continue learning. For example, before going completely green, it’s okay to be “green lite” as you work toward a bigger goal.

It’s always fun to see your friends speak, especially when they’re delivering such a great message.

After the session, the long day caught up to me. I decided to head back to out AirBnB and go to bed early. I knew there was a lot of Alt Summit 2019 ahead. Read on…