My weekend at the Haven conference the recap….
I have to admit. I was so nervous about going,I had nightmares that no one would know who I was,that I’d be lonely the entire time, and that I would feel out of place. And since I was teaching, I was afraid no one would show up for our class.
I am not a super insecure person, but I have never been to an actual blogging conference before, I had no clue what to expect.
I found out at the Haven conference none of that was going to happen.Â
I was super surprised at the amount of people who knew me.And how eager the other blogger’s were to just chat. I was even more surprised by a few people who came up and said they were nervous or excited to meet me. What? me?! I felt so blessed!
It just proves, we truly need to give it up to the Lord and let it be,and roll with the punches. The time I spent worrying about what was going to happen never happened. I found by just rolling with it, I made new and amazing friends!
Oh,and that my SEO skills are complete crap and I am pretty much doing everything wrong. It’s amazing I have done as well as I have. The way I am going I should only have like 5 people reading me. 🙂
Here are some pics!
Some of these are taken with a regular camera and some with the ipad.
 The amazing ladies that put together the event!
 Me and my peep Gina. She is amazing and a great speaker. Wait until you read her book.
 Me and My new BFF Karen, AKA the Graphics Fairy. I can’t say enough about what a fantastic person she is.
 Kelly and I just hanging at breakfast. You can tell by her pose she is super saucy.
Gina and I teaching our class.We had some GREAT questions. I had so much fun!
Sweet Traci took this picture of me in Sandra’s and Brittany’s class. I FINALLY know how to cut crown molding! Thanks ladies!!!
 You know the coolest thing I realized while I was there? Where else is there a conference for 300 women who use TOOLS?
And Beth took a pic of me at the Ryobi booth trying out their new nail gun. LOVE.
I was pretty lame with the pictures.I spent so much time talking, I kind of forgot. I don’t have one of those fancy new-fangled phones that all of the young kids have yet either. I am a bit sad, I missed out on some great pics with great people. Next year!
There are some more group pictures of me and a really awesome one on Duane’s blog of us at when we snuck out to Anthro.
What I loved most about the Haven conference is hard to explain,but I will give it a go…
 -I LOVED the teaching part. It’s one of my favorite things to do. I love getting to help other people avoid my same mistakes.
-I loved meeting everyone I’ve known in the blogosphere for the last 6 years. It was a bit old home week. I loved finally being able to give a squeeze to this lady and this lady.
– While I loved the classes,especially Brooke and her brother Court’s SEO class(again, I am doing everything wrong.),I loved being able to make all of the connections between classes too.Â
-Loved meeting the sponsors and trying the new tools and products. Girls and tools are cool. Word.
– And I really loved having the weekend to unplug from real life and just focus on blogging and all that goes with it. It was perfect timing for me.It really made the creative juices flow and the wheels turn.
Plus there was some awesome SWAG.
I am going back for sure next year!
If you are reading this post at any other sites or blogs besides Jenniferrizzo.com, your rss feed,e-mail or in your reader this is stolen content.
*This was posted Via Jennifer Rizzo. com
That is so funny- I thought the same thing when I entertained the idea of going. “Nobody will know who I am”….only unlike you, I let it keep me from going. So glad you had fun and tried new things!!
It was great meeting you at Haven, Jen! Nice recap post. There were so many bloggers there, and so many I didn’t realize were there, until after the fact, that I have to figure out a way to meet even more next year.
This is how out of the loop I am. I thought Haven was something sponsored by Blogher and that it was going to be someplace like Chicago, so I didn’t even look into it when I saw it being mention on others blogs -lol. I only live 4 hours from Atlanta…I hope I can attend next year.
Hugs,
Penny
Thanks for the recap. I’m hoping to go next year after all the great things I’ve heard about it!
I’m laughing because I have an antique phone too. 🙂 People tease me all the time. But I think this weekend is my big weekend to get the “big girl” phone all the cool kids have. Anyhow, I wanted to go this year, but it landed on our vacation. And when I saw everyone’s recaps, I told my husband that I think I would be to nervous to even go, I would literally be star struck by all the big dog blogs. A deer in headlights. 😉 It’s encouraging to hear that your worries were put immediately to rest. So maybe next year I will jump on the Haven train! Thanks for sharing your recap.
It looks like everybody had so much fun at haven! Thanx for sharing your pics Jenn.
Glad you had such a good time at Haven! I love to decorate, but not into power tools. You go, girl!
Best time ever – loved finally meeting you in person!
Your super saucy friend,
Kelly
Sounds amazing. Would love to go one day.
I would have loved to meet you!! I saw you there but didn’t want to go up to you. You’re too famous 😉 Next year for sure!!
Hugs,
Jamie @ somuchbetterwithage.com
Your session was GREAT! I was fortunate that I knew a lot of bloggy friends before I got there, but YOU should not have worried!
I can’t believe you felt insecure because as someone mentioned above, you are so famous! I would love to attend a blog conference and if I got up enough nerve, would introduce myself to you!
It was so nice to meet you in person and I wish we would have had more time to talk-next year!! Oh, and I have barely any pictures at all either!!
Hi, Jen, it was so great to finally meet you, we’ve been hanging around blogging for a long time, haven’t we?! So happy you came to Haven and loved it. We were so happy with how it all went and can’t wait to do it again. Wish I had more time to sit and chat with you. Next time!
Hey BFF! I had such a blast hanging out with you finally, after all these years!! You are such a doll, just like I always thought you would be!
Don’t be a stranger, let’s keep in touch, I miss you already!
xoxo
Karen
Hi, I am glad you were there so we were able to take your class with Gina. It was very good info and made me more confident about pursuing making things to sell. I had to leave early for a flight, otherwise I would have run up after to meet you because I’m also in IL, just up near Lake Zurich!
Great photos Jen! Nervous …you nervous?! Can’t believe that! You look like you rocked it girl! Okay you have to share the SEO news for those of us that were not able to attend.Any information you could share would be great 🙂
xx
Anne
Jennifer….it was great to meet you! Had so much fun sneaking out, too. =) I’ll look forward to hopefully seeing you again in the future!