I'm back from Altitude Summit (a.k.a. Alt Summit), and I have much to share with you. Alt Summit is an annual blogging and design conference held in Salt Lake City, and I attended it along with some wonderful friends of mine (Promise Tangeman, Liz Schultz, Alyssa Yuhas and Liz Fields). Networking was the main takeaway from the five day conference, but before I divulge everything, let's start with some highlights. SWAG There was plenty of wonderful swag at this conference. It was like Christmas. We were greeted with a box full of useful and creative keepsakes such as journals, stationary, jewelry, pencils, toothbrushes, candy, coupons and even soap. Christmas stockings have nothing on Alt Summit.

Alt was filled with parties every single night. Not only did that give me an excuse to play dress up, but it also meant more gifts including an awesome knitted monkey hat, a ceramic coffee mug and a hardcover copy of Deborah Needleman's new book, The Perfectly Imperfect Home. I read the whole book on the plane home, and really enjoyed it.

MEETING THE FAMOUS There were a couple of people at this conference that made my heart beat just a bit faster than normal. Namely the lovely Anya Ayoung Chee of Project Runway, Emily Henderson of HGTV's Secrets from a Stylist, Ben Silbermann creator of Pinterest and Kevin Sorbo....Okay, Kevin Sorbo wasn't really on my radar at all, but I happened to see him while hanging around at the Sundance Film Festival. Hercules! Hercules!

GIRL TIME Alt was basically like one giant sorority devoted to design and blogging. Almost every person I met was kind and wanted to connect. I've never seen people at a business event look so stylish and act that friendly. During the parties, meal times and everything in between, I got to build upon my current friendships and make new ones. It was worth every penny!

TIPS & TRICKS Two full days of classes definitely left me with a lot to ponder. Some of the nuggets of blogging and business that really stuck with me are:

- Act on your idea right away. Don't wait until the product or service is perfected. Just get it out there, and then improve upon it as you go.

- Original content is king. Great photography is queen. (I need to find a solid digital camera. My cell phone is NOT doing the trick).

- Your third sentence is usually your best. Start with that instead.

- Set boundaries with collaborations before you start.

- Only build partnerships that match your overall brand

- Giveaways are lazy blogging, and you legally need sweepstakes policies to coincide with them now. Eek!

- You usually will feel insecure and competitive when you're not producing your best work.

Check in tomorrow with a list of some new blogs and magazines I learned about at Alt.