I’ll be perfectly honest, before attending this event I had NEVER heard of BlogFest OR Idea World.
When I received an email about attending I was expecting there to be a few hundred people attending some workshops and training seminars about fitness. When I arrived at the convention center I was completely floored to hear AND see that there were about 14,000 PEOPLE in attendance. I was both impressed and intimidated at the same time!
The premise of Blog Fest is that it’s a leg of the Idea World Fitness Conference that is full of Fitness professionals and bloggers who come to learn about the latest new workouts, equipment, nutrition, networking and great education! Since it was hosted in San Diego this year I was able to run stay at home and then drive into the conference each day. During registration they provide a great HUGE schedule for the Blog Fest events AND Idea World events showing all of the workshops, workouts, and seminars. They had some amazing speakers this past year and it was great to sit back and learn about how to share your story, integrate fitness into your brand, and even some social media information! There were also a TON of amazing brands that showed up to sponsor food, workouts, and even some amazing swag! Another great feature of the conference is that each day there is a HUGE expo put on full of so many amazing fitness brands that would allow you to sample their products (food), try out their equipment, and buy some amazing clothing!
The highlight of my entire time outside of all of the great education, swag, and general awesome environment was my workout with Blogilates / Pop Pilates Cassey Ho! I’ve been following her youtube channel for YEARS and I love her workout videos and find myself finishing them feeling stronger and more encouraged to be healthier! The workout itself was HARD! She basically walked through her whole new course with the group and she started it off by saying “There is no pause button in this workout, I know you pause at home!” HAHAHAHA. I was like, this woman is looking into my soul!
So the real question is….Would I Attend Again?
In a heartbeat!
I think now that I know what I would be walking into I wouldn’t feel as intimidated and would better know how to plan for the event.
Here are a few of my takeaways from Blog Fest 2018:
- Wear realistic workout clothes. The conference was split between two locations which meant LOTS of walking in and outdoors to get to the seminars and workshops. You need to be comfortable and able to break a sweat if you’re trying to make a class in 10 minutes.
- GO TO THE WORKOUTS. They put them on, make an effort to go! This year I wasn’t able to really hit ANY of the workouts because I was dealing with taking Tobi to and from the vet after he was missing for a few days.
- Bring a water bottle!! The event did an amazing job at hosting some great meals together (including breakfast & lunch) sponsored by some kick butt companies and there were always PLENTY of bars to grab to get through the day. I talked with the representatives, grabbed some of their product and then had snacks for the rest of the day when I felt my energy lagging (I’ll actually be doing a giveaway with one of these awesome companies soon!). Just remember that water is KEY! They have plenty of water re-fill stations and trust me with all the walking you’ll be doing, you’re going to need the water!
- Have business cards! This is a great networking opportunity that you don’t want to miss. You can get to know other bloggers and fitness trainers and make sure you have your information on hand to hand to them.
- Put yourself out there. I consider myself a pretty outgoing personality but for some reason I didn’t really do that this time. Maybe I felt out of my element and that I wasn’t “in shape” enough to talk to these women, but I know that was just me limiting myself and not really getting to know others. It IS a little intimidating since a lot of these women have been going to this event for years and kind of have a girls club situation happening, but that doesn’t mean you can’t break into it.
- Notepad + Pen = IMPORTANT. There are so many good presentations and speakers with such wise words that you’ll want to take note of. I learned some great information that I hope to apply to my brands moving forward.
- Go to the EXPO and participate! If they are doing demonstrations on new cycling bikes or TRX workouts, just give it a go. No one is really watching you so it’s ok to look like a fool!
