Hey everyone! Finally you will get the insider’s scoop! I am linking up with A Burst of First to tell you 10 Things I Learned in Vegas (at the TPT Conference)! Of course I learned 1,000 things that day, but you would never read that long of a blog post so here are the 10 that jump right out at me! And please go over to A Burst of First to see who else linked up!
1) TEACHERS ARE AWESOME!
I was going to save this for last but why wait?! I was all nervous because I was going by myself. There were ladies I knew that would be there but I did not have anyone to walk in with. Everyone was so friendly, sweet, and kind! I ran into Linda from Primary Inspiration who I have “known” on the interwebs for a couple years and we went to lunch and hung out! What a cool lady! If you want to go to a place with a funny name, try I Love Hamburgers at the Venetian-that is where we ate.
Anyway, everyone is supportive and the atmosphere is one of collaboration, NOT competition. We all were trying to share ideas and advice to help each other out, not to undercut anyone else’s business. None of these top sellers HAD to do a session and share their wisdom but they pretty much all did. Plus everyone else I chatted with and got to know was fun, kind, and helpful!
2) YOU NEED PRODUCT PREVIEWS
This was mentioned in a couple sessions I attended but I am not consistent with this. Time to get going! There is also a debate on what kind of product previews are best but basically it seems to come down to what you and your customers are most comfortable with.
Here is the preview for my Second Grade Back to School Starter Kit. These are the previews I am going with nowadays!
3) CCSS COUNTS!
I learned to make sure all those CCSS standards are checked off in the product upload tool. This was in the data session with TPT’s Ryan Van Meter and Kelly Dolling. I am gradually going back and redoing all my products to make sure applicable standards are checked off. Basically, they said it is important to help your product show up when folks search.
4) TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT YOUR “HOT MESSES”!
Time to revamp old products. Deanna and Deedee described some of their products from the early days at hot messes – lol – and mine are no different. I am starting to look over mine and improve some- even if it is just the cover!
Here is the first thing I redid when I got back: Editing Practice. I renamed it, redid the cover and replaced some fonts and made other improvements inside.
BEFORE AFTER
Here is one of my hot messes! Time for a makeover!
5) PICASA IS GENIUS
I found out from someone that Picasa can just make collages for you in the snap of your fingers. HELLO! I was spending gazillions of hours making them manually in power point. D’oh! But even Cara Carroll did not know about that – Erica Bohrer was letting us in on it and Cara joked, well that is great, but if you want to do it the long, hard way that takes hours, do it my way! Lol. That has already saved me a couple hours this week!
6) EYEDROPPER TOOL IS GENIUS, TOO
Another thing I did not know about is the eyedropper tool. It can be used for lots of fun stuff! Seriously, look into it! I love that it helps you match colors easily in your Power Points. No more guessing, “Um, that seems like it will match”!
7) BE COHESIVE
Meaning, have your product covers set up so people can recognize yoru stuff. For example, Annie Moffatt of the Moffat Girls has a very unique style and it is easy to identify her products. You want people to be able to see a prduct and go, “Oh, that’s hers! She is great!” This goes along with #4, revamping your hot messes. Getting all the covers to have something in common is a good goal!
8) FIND YOUR MAGIC FORMULA
This was mentioned a few times in a few sessions. Figure out what works for you and your customers. Erin Cobb said something like, Your Magic Formula + the Trends = Cha Chings. Obviously! It may take some thinking and mulling over, looking over data but you will find it!
9) GET PHONE NUMBERS!
D’oh! There were a bunch of ladies I wanted to meet that I have a collaborative blog with and some I know from around, but could not find! 800 people is just too many to wade through to find who you need. Next year it is all about getting #s and texting people to be like, “Hey meet me by the photo booth” or “Where are you? I am by the bar”!
10) THE CONFERENCE NEEDS TO BE LONGER
That is right, it was way too short. It flew by and there was so much packed into such little time. I wanted to go to so many sessions but could only pick 4. Plus, there was not enough time to meet everyone.
Thanks to Thistlegirl Designs for the clipart! I love using her stuff and you can find it in most of my products!
