SheCon Experience: Day One

This article was originally published at Two Savvy Sisters which is no longer active.

Miami Beach is a busy area all night long and I was awakened just about every hour on the hour by noise.  Our room was directly above the hotel’s valet parking desk and people were coming and going all night long.

Despite my tiredness, we were up early to have coffee and a bite to eat before heading over the Miami Beach Convention Center to pick up our conference badges and get started.

Speakers

The conference kicked off with a keynote presentation by Guy Kawasaki, author of 10 books and co-founder of Alltop.com.  Not only is his resume impressive, but so is he.  Guy was funny, informative and a great speaker.  The presentation was based on his latest book, Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions.  Cisco sponsored books for the attendees and there were a few extra so stay tuned for a giveaway in the next few days.

Other sessions we attended were on:

• Introduction to Affiliate Marketing
• You Can’t Really Make Money Blogging, or Can You?
• Vlogging is the new Blogging
• Family and Parenting
• Optimizing Your Blog on A Budget

We thought the content was excellent although one session I planned to attend was cancelled due to the speaker not showing up.

Events

The conference didn’t have any official evening activities other than the hotel’s included happy hour.  Happily, a few companies hosted get-togethers.  We attended a cocktail party hosted by Sleep Innovations which was attended by their spokesperson, Dara Torres.  She is an impressive woman and I never realized how tall she is!

In addition to tasty appetizers and drinks, everyone had an opportunity to have their picture taken with Dara and received a Rejuvenations pillow.  I also learned my card was selected as the day’s winner of a Sleep Makeover.  My husband and I have our pick of mattress size along with more pillows.  We’re super excited to get a bed for our guest room!

A fellow attendee was sponsored by Firehouse Subs and hosted a dinner.  We headed to her suite for delicious sub sandwiches, chips, cookies and brownies.  Somehow, I managed to find room and only wish we had this chain in my state!  Carrie gave us all bags that included a cute stuffed fire dog or bear with attached coupons.

Our last event of the evening was visiting the Sassy Suite sponsored by the Wine Sisterhood.  Yes, there was wine, but also appetizers, boas and tiaras!  Two massage therapists were busy giving arm massages which I greatly enjoyed.  This and a couple of glasses of wine were the perfect way to end the evening.  My favorite wine was Purple Cowboy which is a blend of some of my favorite reds.

The wine, massage and a new pillow were the right ingredients for a great night’s sleep…until a symphony of car horns at 6 a.m.  But that’s a story for another day.