**Full Disclosure: As a PROUD Sea World 2014 Wildside Blogger, my family and I were provided with season passes and AdventureCon tickets (which included the Quick Que Passes and Food Passes for the weekend). I was not asked to write about my experience. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Photo Credit: Rachel at TheLinkFairy.com
Last year I attended AdventureCon for the first time. As soon as the conference ended, I was ready for the next one. AdventureCon is an annual conference hosted by Sea World San Antonio & Aquatica. It is a small conference with many of the same attendees from year to year, but packed full of advice, tools and tips!
We started Friday night at the Courtyard Marriott. We picked up our passes & sunglasses! This year, my husband and I decided to stay Friday night at the hotel. It made the Saturday morning so much easier on both of us.
From 9-11(ish) Saturday morning, AdventureCon sessions were at the hotel. Those two sessions were ‘thinking like a reporter’ and ‘how to be a great media source’.
Takeaways:
- Eye contact is very powerful. As is LISTENING.
- Using language that your audience uses creates emotional connections.
- Be curious! Ask questions and find answers.
- Be real, authentic and genuine!
- People relate to compelling emotion. You can FEEL emotion.
- Relationships are key!
- Step out of your comfort zone!
- Be loyal to the brands you love.
The rest of the day was spent playing around Sea World! We got to tour Roa’s Aviary, check out the Animal Ambassador Center, and go behind the scenes at the Shamu Theater. It was SUCH a fun day!
Sunday morning should have started at 9am, but with VBS at my church starting that evening, I wasn’t able to make it. Colleen sent me her {amazing!} notes from the sessions (‘Community Storytelling’, ‘Flip the Pin’ and ‘Secrets of Google+’).
What stuck out:
- Stories help us grow. When we engage our brain, heart or both, marvelous things happen!
- The stories we tell today travel father and faster than we anticipate!
- A story can define a generation (ex: D-Day, 9/11)
- Stories make communities better though passion, power, empathy and actions.
- How can you engage your audience through stories? 1) Know your audience, 2) motivate your readers, 3) show gratitude!
- When creating content for Pinterest: Look for things that aren’t being done to create your niche and stand out.
- Acknowledge people/brands you want to engage with.
- If you are a blogger on Pinterest, you should have a business account!
- Showcase your Pinterest boards by embedding them in a post.
- Only pin 5-6 things at a time (save the rest for the later by using a secret board).
- When creating a Google+ post: headline with keywords, keep it short, link to the article, link to a pin, add up to 3 hashtags at the bottom.
- Promote old posts on Google+.
- Find out what hashtags are trending by going ‘Home’ and then ‘Explore.’
If you had the chance to attend AdventureCon, would you take it?
AdventureCon was amazing and I hope I have the opportunity to participate again next year!!!
Leave a Reply