Welcome to next chapter of my awesome SNAP! experience!  Part 1 was so much fun to write, and I enjoyed reliving the great moments I had over the weekend with old friends and new!  Can you believe I have more to share with you?  Seriously there was so much packed into the short weekend I could probably write a book about it. I will spare you though {wink}

Part 2 is all about the learning.  There were some incredible classes offered, and conference attendees had their choice of classes ranging from Basic SEO, to learning how to use power tools, and everything in between!  I mean look at these options, and this was only one day!

While I wanted to attend them all, I chose to stick with the business centered classes because I felt like I would get the most out of them. SNAP did an amazing job at recapping some of the classes for us so I will point you to their blog where you can read the class notes if applicable.  If you have further questions feel free to ask, and I will do my best to answer! Here are just a few highlights from my favorite classes!

Photo by Emilie

I attended an amazing four hour photography class taught by Emilie of Photo by Emilie!  I was so excited about this class because it has been one of my goals for this year to learn how to use my camera!  She did an amazing job showing us how to take our DSLR cameras from auto and to manual.  I was so lost at first but with a little practice I started getting the hang of things and ended up with some pretty nice shots over the weekend!  I also ended up with a LOT of blurry photos which just proves practice makes perfect! Thank goodness for all of the lovely ladies who are willing to share photos with me and for the SNAP Flikr group or my weekend would be a blur (pun intended, ha!)

Happy Chaos:  Turning Your Passion Into Business

The panel for this class was amazing!  Lindsey from The Pleated Poppy, Ashley from Little Blue Boo, Jessica from Allora Handmade, and Liz from Dear Lizzy led this class.  Who could ask for more inspiration in one room!  Seriously!  I was so excited about this class that I was one of the first people in the room which was good because it was a full house! People were standing, sitting on the floor, and some were even in the hallway trying to listen in.  It was awesome, and I learned so much listening to how these women grew their businesses, balance work and family, and also how they took their passion to the next steps!  One of the best parts of this class is speaking with Lindsey from the Pleated Poppy and Maggie from Gussy Sews (who was in the audience) after the scession.  Two of my biggest business role models in one place and I got to learn from them both.  Wooohooo!  It was awesome!  I am of course playing it really cool in the photo below (inside I was jumping up and down like a little school girl, hehehe!)

Inside a Thriving Business:  The Turning Point

This was another awesome class moderated by Jessica of Allora Handmade and lead by Becki of Whippy Cake, Maggie of Gussy Sews, Susan of Freshly Picked and Gina of The Shabby Creek Cottage.  (please excuse the awful iPhone photo!)

This class was amazing.  It was all about taking your business to the next level.  Knowing when to hire, how to expand, dealing with copyright issues, gaining exposure, and setting goals!  Each of these women brought a different perspective and strength to the panel which made for an amazing discussion and learning opportunity!

Everything You Wanted To Know About Facebook Applications

This class had my head spinning!  If you are having a difficult time adjusting to the new Facebook timeline then you HAVE to read the conference recap on the SNAP Blog.  I feel so much better after attending this scession and I am actually quite excited about all of the possibilities that the new timeline can offer my business.  Careful though, because with the new design has also come some new rules on content, what is allowed in a header design, and most importantly new rules on using Facebook for Giveaways!

Basics of SEO

Another class that made a huge impact on me.  There was so much information in this class and I feel like I really could have used even more.  This class was taught by Dennis Geodegebuure who really knows his stuff.  The class was also moderated by Mandi of Vintage Revivals (who by the way is awesome) and she swears after putting into practice what she learned from Dennis that traffic to her website tripled!!!  You can visit Dennis’ website to learn more about SEO and he is also supposed to be adding the slides from his lecture to his site soon.  I did not see them posted quite yet so check back soon.

These classes were just a small glimpse into all that was offered at SNAP! I also had the privilege of taking a morning light photography class with Kristen Duke, a craft workshop with Poppy Seed Projects, and a class on how to use power tools!  So much fun!

Stay tuned for part 3!  I have possibly saved the best for last–The Queen Bee Market!