There was so much that happened at the Design Bloggers Conference 2012, it’s a challenge to sum it all up. We figured that we couldn’t summarize the conference any better than our attendees, so in this blog post you’ll find a comprehensive collection of their highlights, recaps, and tips gleaned from the conference, along with lots of photos. We trust you’ll find them entertaining and informative.

Best of Design Bloggers Conference 2013

I am finally home and unpacked from my fabulous trip to Los Angeles for the Design Bloggers Conference. Once again, we are so very honored to have been voted Best New Design Blog of 2013. This was the first time I attended the conference, but it certainly won’t be my last. It felt like old home week in some odd way. Although I only knew a handful of people when I got there, I felt I left with many new friends. There is something magical that happens when you bring together a group of kindred spirits who love blogging and design. Read more…

Design Bloggers Conference 2013

This time last week I was in Los Angeles at Design Bloggers Conference. I had thought of going before, but the timing never seemed right. This year I decided to take the plunge and it was so worth it. For my Atlanta friends, DBC is moving to Atlanta next year! I have already registered. Be prepared, this one will sell out quickly. I spent most of my time with these two amazing ladies. Amanda of Amanda Carol at Home and Jen from At Home in the Northwest. If you have read many blogs, I know that you have heard it a million times, but the relationships that I have built through blogging have truly changed my life. These women and several others are my mentors and my sounding boards for both my professional and my personal life. It is a complete bonus to be able to spend time with them face to face. Read more…

Design Bloggers Conference 2013, Recap!

This past week, the Design Bloggers Conference took place here in Los Angeles – and with that came lots of events, parties, and the arrival of so many fabulous designers and bloggers that I’ve come to know and love! This year, it was an honor to attend the actual conference itself, as the Material Girls were nominated for a Hall of Fame Award in the category of Best Overall Blog! The start of the three day event kicked off with an invitation (courtesy of the lovely Bethanne of Currey & Company) to interior designer Michael Berman’s house for a dinner party. We were fortunate enough to have had a really beautiful day with this amazing view of the downtown and LA basin from the backyard pool of Michael’s house! Read more…

Top Design Highlights From the Design Bloggers Conference

Last week I attended the third annual Design Bloggers Conference (DBC) in L.A. The lure of a star-studded speaker line up, networking with fellow bloggers and visiting L.A. design showrooms brought almost 400 bloggers to Universal City for an action-packed few days. The conference was inspiring, informative and fast paced, bringing together many people who had until then only known other attendees as avatars to “up” the game of design blogging. And DBC’s creator, Adam Japko, is the same Adam Japko of WineZag, so return attendees knew to expect the surprise wine tasting at some point throughout the two days. Read more…

Design Bloggers Conference, Part 1

Last week I flew to the glamorous, sunny side of our country and visited Los Angeles for the Design Bloggers Conference 2013. The temperature was 84 degrees and the sun sprinkled my face with freckles and lifted my snow cast spirits upward. Little did I know that the only time I would see the blue skies was on the 2 hour ride to my hotel when I arrived. I was so riveted to my seat at this conference that I barely had the opportunity to venture outside again until my 4 am return taxi ride back to LAX 3 days later! The conference was jam packed with celebrity speakers, business leaders, editors and design contemporaries speaking about interior design and the integration of technology (blogging, social media and oh so much more!) and interior design not only today but into the future. Read more…

Design Bloggers Conference, Part 2

As a first time attendee to the Design Bloggers Conference, I will admit to being a little intimidated by the list of attendees, over 300 of them! With so many well known designers and bloggers with their thousands of followers and me still struggling with the # and @ signs of Twitter, well, perhaps you can understand my trepidation. Have no doubt though, I AM DETERMINED TO GET THERE! Attending this conference was definitely a step in that direction! Upon my arrival to the hotel, I walked down the never ending hall and soon saw the brightest, most welcoming smiles all the way from Atlanta, Georgia: the dynamic team Joanne Kandrac and Kelley Kole! I could just feel the warmth of Kelley, one of the Brizo 19 (Fall 2012) and to finally meet her work partner was a treat. With that, the reconnecting and networking with friends began and my anxiousness melted away. Read more…

From Design Bloggers Conference to Ronald McDonald

Part of the experience at Design Bloggers Conference is networking as well as listening to many of the keynote addresses and feeling energized from these days spent *buzzing* and this year was no different. I decided to really breakout of my shell and let people know a little more about me - mainly through my few minutes on the podium thanks to the gracious invite from Adam Japko. I know,.. your thinking.. but wait, she has said this already! Yes, I started but I didn’t actually share WHAT I said - and that is important for you to understand why I am sitting with Ronald.. and no, he did not visit us a DBC in LA, although I think he should have! Enough of that, this is the important part. As part of my talk I shared that…1. I was born in LA! Yes, LA. But, moved around a lot.. ended up in Portugal.. and then in New York. 2. Talked a little about the kiddos.. (sorry no pics).. a little about scary movies and TV Shows, really design related I know..3. Talked about my design business in Portugal. The one I left behind, to start a new life in NY once an opportunity presented itself for our family that we could not say no to .. and all of this, in 2008.

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Design Bloggers Conference Wrap-Up...

Spring is in the air ( thank god) and the best sign of that is the dizzying array of design events happening all around the country one after another. It’s like the Hollywood awards season. Last week I was in California for the 3rd Annual Design Bloggers held in sunny L.A. Last year as a first time attendee I was too naive to not know what I didn’t know. That old saying “ignorance is bliss” is true. This year I was feeling much more comfortable going as I knew I’d be meeting up again with some friends I’ve made this past year while attending many design events along my journey through the world of design blogging. After considerable thought and meeting so many design bloggers from all over the country and the world for that matter, I’ve concluded that within social media and with all its nuances and streams of delivery and at the rate at which information is traveling, that in order to be authentic (thee “buzz” word of the conference) we all simply have to define our own voices; find a niche that defines our own unique authenticity either to do what we love to do , do what we want to do or do what we dream of doing. One of those scenarios will work. Read more…

Design Bloggers Conference Top 10 Highlights

The Calico team had an amazing time at the Design Bloggers Conference! We enjoyed ourselves so much, we decided to highlight our top 10 favorite moments and experiences during this wonderful conference.

1. The Print Transition:

Newell Turner, editor in chief of the Hearst Design group talked about the transition of print to online. He spoke of the recent “scrub” of popular design magazines—Elle Décor, House Beautiful and Veranda—editorially, design-wise, art direction—to freshen them, update them. Newell was one of the first editors to embrace social media as an extension of the print magazine—and he’s using it in quite novel ways. Read more…

Design Bloggers Conference 2013 - Pearls of Wisdom

If you were sitting with me right now, and happened to ask me, “So, How was the conference?” I would say…’INCREDIBLE!” ……..and then, if you were to ask for details…you might find yourself here tomorrow, still listening to my deconstructed tour through one amazing week. Fully aware of my propensity for going off on tangents…I am going to go all ”Dragnet” on you (Google it)…and stick with “JUST THE FACTS” I have reduced the Conference to Pearls of Wisdom, allowing myself ONE TAKEAWAY point and ONE “FIRST” IMPRESSION DESCRIPTION OF EACH SPEAKER AND a quote (or paraphrased quote)…THAT Had an impact on me. Read more…

2013 Design Blogger’s Conference - Recap

We are back from the 2013 Design Blogger’s Conference, held in Los Angeles. Wow! What a great event! The two-day conference was jam-packed with informational sessions as well as inspirational talks from some of the world’s leading interior designers. We attended mainly to see how our customers (interior designers) are using blogs. By the end of the two days, we were stunned by how savvy they were technically and how connected they were via social media. There was a Twitter feed projected on a screen the entire conference and #DBC2013 was the top trending hash tag in Twitter for day one. It’s making me rethink this whole Twitter thing! Read more…

Design Bloggers Conference 2013

Styleture recently joined other interior design bloggers, new media innovators and industry leaders for the 2013 Design Bloggers Conference in Los Angeles, California. This premier conference brought together the world of interior design and new media, emphasizing the importance of blogging, social media and more. The two-day conference was filled with inspiring and heartfelt speakers, excellent networking opportunities and even a mini concert by a Grammy award-winning singer! Adam Japko, founder of the DBC, opened the conference with these wise words: “Social media is about human beings and human connections.” Blogging is a way to make connections with followers by sharing a piece of who we are in every post. This speech set the theme for the rest of the conference. While there were many excellent speakers and presenters at the DBC, here are our three favorite standouts: Read more…

My First Experience at the Design Bloggers Conference

For me, attending this years Design Blogger Conference was like opening that box of chocolates and not knowing what you’re going to get. Not only was it an experience to travel to a new place (more about the LA experience in the next post) but it was also a new forum or means of meeting people. It’s super easy to meet people when you’re young and in school - you hang with your clique year after year. And even meeting people online, you can get a sense of what they are about from what they share or post on social media (their ‘voice’). What you can’t get though is the sound of their laughter, the brightness of a smile, a goofiness in their mannerisms or how polished their fashion style really is. Attending a design blogger conference, you get all that PLUS wine & sake tastings, social media takeaways, swag-bags, the thrill of contests, photo opps, showroom parties, dinners, and the moments when a presenter really speaks to your heart, mind and soul - not to mention the new connections for collaborations you’re able to make ‘in real life’ with sponsors. Read more…

Design Bloggers Conference From the Eyes of a Portland Girl

I was just in L.A. for the Design Bloggers Conference representing Garrison Hullinger Interior Design with one of our interior designers, Nicole Copko. As I am newer to the design industry (a little over one month) and am spearheading our marketing and communications engagements, this conference was going to be a perfect way for me to dive right into this industry. I knew that I was going to be gathering new useful verbiage, knowledge, meet influential people and create relationships with designers and awesome bloggers, but it was more than I could even conjure up. Everyone at the conference was welcoming and had valuable perspectives, stories and information to share with me. Read more…

Wow! What a Conference We Had!

Okay, I am going to name drop without any shame because I still feel so privileged to have been in the same room with: Barbara Barry, Charlotte Moss, J.D. Carter, TV’s “Million Dollar Decorators” Ross Cassidy and Jeffrey Alan Marks. And of course, many, many others. This was my third year to attend the conference for Interior Designer Bloggers. The first year I was totally a dear in headlights. Last year, I actually started understanding some of the social media lingo. And now this year’s conference lifted me to a higher level of understanding I believe because I actually was able to breathe calmly and not panic when I couldn’t get online when all around me were tweeting and taking iPad notes & etc. I knew who I was and what I wanted to achieve at the conference and where I wanted to take this amazing endeavor of Life and Design for my precious and fellow Baby Boomers that I so love and care about their future. Read more…

A Few Laughs from Design Bloggers Conference

I was honored to be the emcee for the awards presentation at the Design Bloggers Conference this week, and to loosen-up the crowd I gave a little talk about how receiving the award for Best Blog in 2012 had catapulted my business to new heights! Have a look: I got my own magazine deal!…I accompanied Mr. Clooney to the Oscars!…And I was a special guest of President Obama! See what being an award-winning design blogger can do for you?! So, cheers to this year’s winners!! Best New Design Blog: Leslie Wood, Hadley Court. Best Design and Graphics: Grace Bonney, Design Sponge. Best Writing: Maryam Montague, My Marrakesh. Best Overall Blog: Stacey Bewkes, Quintessence. I hope you enjoyed my little joke just as much as the DBC folks did! More exciting things unfolded while I was there, so more to come! Read more…

It’s an Honor Just to be Nominated… And Other Stories From the Design Bloggers Conference

I went to my first ever Design Bloggers Conference {DBC} in L.A. last week. The Socialight is a new endeavor for Boyd, and we wanted to learn the ins and outs of blogging in the design world and connect with like-minded people. So off to La La Land I went… It’s An Honor Just to be Nominated…Our humble (yet fabulous) blog was nominated for The Best New Design Blog at the DBC… which is apparently akin to The Best Picture of the Year at the Oscars. It’s kind of a big deal. Sadly, The Socialight did not win. I did try to Jedi mind-trip Leslie Wood of Hadley Court on her way up to accept the award… but it didn’t work. I jest! In all honesty – I was surprised and really proud that The Socialight was nominated. Especially considering the pool of talented bloggers on hand at the DBC. So – while I might joke about wanting to trip Leslie… what I actually mean to say is that it truly is an honor just to be nominated! Read more…

Design Bloggers Conference 2013

I recently journeyed to the West Coast, Los Angeles to be exact, to attend the 2013 Design Bloggers Conference. While the weather was a little cold for Southern California, I did find warmth amongst the 200 + designers who attended the conference. LA-based designer Windsor Smith, who recently showcased her design chops at Veranda magazine’s concept home “House of Windsor“, jump started the conference with her talk on “Interior Design Trends in 2013.” Here she rightly proclaimed that “Black was the Queen of all colors”, I couldn’t agree more. Susanna Salk, correspondent for the “Today Show”, was a great addition to the line-up. I enjoyed her presentation “Designing Outside the Box: How to Share Your Design Aesthetic With the World.” She’ll be coming to the Boston Design Center this spring – so make sure you stay tuned for more details! Read more…

Design Bloggers Conference 2013

I am finally getting the chance to sit down and share with you a little bit of my experience from the Design Bloggers Conference in LA. To sum it up in one word— AHH-Freaking-mazing!! It was well worth the price of admission and then some. And to all my Atlanta friends- it has been announced that next year the DBC will be in ATL! and Yes I’ve signed up!! Unfortunately I left my camera at home so I had to rely on my phone for photos and my dear friend Jen from At Home in The Northwest shared some of her photos with me. Being able to be surrounded by like minded people with a passion for design was truly a magical moment for me. I’m totally cracking up at our eyes! We all had a very long day and that was also the day we had a wine and Sake tasting during one of our sessions. Those design bloggers know how to party! There was an awesome line up of speakers including Windsor Smith (whom I didnt get a photo of). One of the great take aways from Windsor was that: “Everyone deserves to have beautifully designed rooms”. I couldnt agree more! Read more…