Design Influencers Conference - What Is It REALLY All About?
This is the 10th Anniversary Year of Adam Japko’s Design Influencers Conference, formerly the Design Bloggers Conference. It is going to be EPIC!
The Design Influencers Conference, taking place in San Francisco from March 1-3, is the premier industry event for interior designers and lifestyle bloggers who are involved - or who want to become involved - in the influencer marketing space to partner with brands for paid collaborative opportunities.
But, it is also so much more.
I have attended 8 of the last 9 conferences and, without a doubt, it is the best investment I make all year in building upon the relationships that matter to my life and business, as well as learning from experts inside and outside of our industry who so generously share their knowledge and expertise, and in being inspired by the keynote designers and the beauty they create.
Does anyone remember interior designer Barbara Barry’s keynote? I have never heard a voice more beautiful, nor been more inspired by a keynote presentation (although Nate Berkus’s 2015 keynote came close..and he is keynoting again this year, too!).
Barbara: if you happen to see this: thank you. I will never forget the way you described beauty. If those of you reading this missed her 2013 presentation, read more about it here on the blog of interior designer, Jennifer Mehditash, who was there with me. Jennifer’s interview with Barbara is like reading a piece of poetry.
Speaking of Nate Berkus keynoting this year again…. one of the most profound statements he made in his 2015 keynote, which I think we all took to heart, was this one.
This image came from the Top Takeaways From The 2015 Design Bloggers Conference post I wrote for the Hadley Court blog, which won Best New Design Blog at the 2013 Design Bloggers Conference, when those awards were still being given out.
The Hadley Court blog is owned by Midland, TX based interior designer, Leslie Hendrix Wood.
If you’d like, you can come back and read that post, here.
Every Design Influencers Conference starts with an inspiring keynote or two, and this year, not only is Nate returning, but the very witty Alexa Hampton and the talented Miranda Kerr will be inspiring us all, as well.
Along with the inspirational talks by the keynotes, comes learning, the chance to reconnect with long time good friends and make new ones, the ability to meet potential new clients for my own business, the opportunities to help my current clients connect with those who could be important to their success and the fun times the brands create for all of us with their Instagrammable Moment set ups, parties and contests!
This is an example of how a sponsor created an Instagrammable Moment for all of us, and it is one of my very favorite images from a previous Design Influencers Conference. They created all of these cute sayings on handheld bubble shaped signs and we all got to choose our favorites.
So smart and a lot of fun and the hashtag: #bathtubselfie is a thing on Instagram!
The learning opportunities available to everyone who attends are enormous. I am excited to be speaking again myself this year, alongside other fabulous speakers who will be full of information that will help you (and me!) learn.
Not a single one of us will ever know every detail there is to know about every aspect of online marketing and influencer marketing and the in depth sharing of knowledge is one of the key benefits of attending this Conference. In addition, the slides from every presentation are available for those who attend.
Below is an image I created that might help those of you looking to #DesignWealth into your businesses, even if you can’t attend.
I created this from snippets of photos I took while attending the 2018 Conference, using www.canva.com. Canva is a wonderful graphic design tool that is free to use.
If you have Canva’s PRO version, (well worth the money) they now have a background remover tool that works with one click. You don’t get quite as clean an edge as you do with Photoshop, but if you don’t need PERFECT, it works like a charm!
The man on the upper right? That’s Adam Japko, the CEO of Esteem Media, and the founder of this incredible conference.
He normally serves us all wine at 10 am…..which definitely helps us enjoy ourselves throughout the rest of the day. You know his wine blog, right > WINE ZAG?
One of the fun outtake moments from the 2014 Conference for me was that a wine expert, Jeremy Parzen, spoke at the Conference and then later, when Jeremy was in Houston, several of us that live in Houston got invited to a complimentary exclusive dinner at a new restaurant where we got to sample a multitude of delicious wines.
It was a great evening and would not have happened had it not been for Adam’s love of wine and attending the Design Influencers Conference.
As I mentioned above, I will be speaking at this Conference, and I hope, if you have an interest in how you can use your knowledge and expertise in new ways to generate 24/7 income from your website and social channels, that you will attend my Tuesday morning session.
It was a CHALLENGE for me to complete a presentation that only lasted 22 minutes, while leaving 8 minutes for questions!
I normally have an hour when I speak, and to get all I want to share into 22 minutes? Not possible, but I hope every slide and word will help you see and understand the strategy necessary to give yourselves more time and place freedom, as you begin building short term 24/7 income into your websites and social channels and long term wealth into your businesses, by creating sellable business assets that don’t rely on your presence.
If you are attending and if, after listening to my presentation, you have further questions, please email me here: leslie@savourpartnership.com.
And for those of you who are interior designers reading this, I invite you to join my free, private Facebook Group, #DesignWealth, where there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of more FREE tips for you on how to drive the traffic necessary to #DesignWealth into your websites and social channels.
In addition, we often have discussions about interior design industry issues in general — and I create other opportunities to share that often help advance the careers of the Groups’s members.
My Facebook Group is a vibrant and active and positive community, with 1300+ of the top luxury interior designers and e-designers working in North America today - all of whom are very generous in sharing their knowledge.
If you’d like, please Request To Join here.
A note: this Group is only for professional working interior designers and I fully vet each member myself. A professional website + your email address is required to be a member.
If you have these things and qualify, we will ALL look forward to meeting you there!
As I mentioned above, another reason I attend this Conference is to create opportunities for my company’s clients that might further their success.
This year, one of them, Susan Kaenig, the founder and CEO of the new female empowerment home decor brand, Be | OUTSPOKEN, will also be at the Conference and I look forward to introducing her to many of my friends who will be there.
Susan has an amazing background in the #womenintech world, where she was an inventor in the virtual reality space. Several companies are still licensing her patents today, including IBM, Hewlett Packard, etc.
It was Susan’s experiences in the male dominated tech community that gave rise to her line of limited edition #statementdecor hide rugs, each reflecting one of Susan’s original artworks.
Speaking of influencer marketing, Rachel Viloria Moriarty has been hired as Susan’s official brand ambassador and Rachel will also be styling the Be | OUTSPOKEN space at High Point Market in SALON G6058, right down the same aisle from Design Influencer Conference moderator, Stacy Kunstel, the co-owner of Dunes and Duchess.
I invite you to follow Susan on Instagram at http://instagram.com/be.outspoken.decor. and, if you are attending, get to know this fascinating woman/artist/inventor/executive/mother/wife…and fashionista!
Lastly, for me personally, I want to say the most important thing for me, besides my own business interests, the speaking, the brands, the learning, the opportunities, is the chance I have, outside of a non market setting, to deepen the friendships with people I hold dear.
These two images capture this for me, but I have many more I am going to share later.
First is this image from the 2018 Design Influencers Conference that I took, right after some of us arrived and were meeting in the cocktail lounge at the Beverly Hilton.
In it on the bottom far left is my/our dear friend, Liza Jones, who just passed away in Dec. 2019 of breast cancer. Many of us were close to Liza, and we have started a hashtag in her memory: #LIVELIKELIZA.
Please be looking for information coming soon about a fund being setting up in Liza’s memory, on the platform of Veronika Eagleson, the CEO of #DesignHounds, the premier influencer marketing site for interior designers and kitchen and bath designers.
A group of us, utilizing Veronika’s broad reach across her platforms, and combining ours with hers, are creating a way for others to take advantage of the opportunities to attend these events that meant so much to Liza.
Also in this picture with Liza here:
Bottom R: Deborah Von Donop,
L to R, top: Linda Holt, Lori Carpenter, Peg Kusner.
Lastly, this is my very favorite picture of all ever taken…. it is of me with my dear friend, Linda Holt. Linda took this selfie of us.
After the 2018 Conference, where Linda and I roomed together (and I found out I snored - loudly! ), Linda and I spent an extra day together on Rodeo Drive, oogling all of the lavishness of that mecca of wealth.
It is my joy to share with you now, that Linda will be the featured designer in the #SPRING issue of the consumer facing shoppable luxury lifestyle publication, #SeasonalLivingMagazine, which I co-edit with Sam Henderson, for another client, 5x Arts Award winning indoor/outdoor furniture manufacturer, Seasonal Living.
If you’d like, see more about Seasonal Living Magazine here, on Business of Home’s website.
Linda is known for her fresh, lively, vibrant, colorful aesthetic and it brings me so much joy that a worldwide consumer audience will now get to know her work….much better!
Be looking for the PRINT copy of the #SPRING issue of Seasonal Living Magazine at #HPMKT in Seasonal Living’s space in IH 310 and if you’d like to subscribe to the magazine so you are the first to see Linda’s wonderful feature in it, you can do so on a complimentary basis, by clicking on this link, http://seasonalliving.com/bonus-mag.
Linda: you rock my world in all ways, and I know your own presentation, right after mine at this year’s 2020 Design Influencers Conference, will blow everyone’s socks off.
Thank you for all you contribute (and have contributed to all of us), with respect to your humor, your kindness and your knowledge of Iphonegraphy!
I have so many more things I could say, and want to say, about this wonderful Conference, and I will write a Part 2 to this.. but for now, I want to say: if you haven’t registered yet..or you are still on the fence, do it right now at http://designinfluencersconference.com/register.
I promise you, it will be the best investment you will make in your business this year, especially if learning how to develop 24/7 income opportunities + working with brands as an influencer are priorities for you.
Adam and Luba: thank you for all you have done in creating an event that has led to so many, many, many happy memories for me and so many wonderful friendships.
I look forward to your next 10 years and all it will bring forth in new opportunities for community and collaboration.
Happy Anniversary!
Leslie Carothers
@tkpleslie
Chief Energizing Officer
www.savourpartnership.com
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PS:
Still On The Fence?
See this post about the Design Influencers Conference from another very good friend, Carla Aston
https://carlaaston.com/designed-for-designers-blog/design-bloggers-conference-should-you-go