Giveaway - Y’all Connect Conference! {$129 Value}

On July 23, Birmingham will once again have a major social media conference: Y’all Connect. Focused on helping companies use social media tools wisely and efficiently, many experts will be teaching the basics of corporate storytelling.

The conference’s director, Wade Kwon, explains the value in this skill: “Many bloggers already know how to tell a good story about their kids or their lives, but businesses often stumble when talking about their own histories. We can help. Instead of selling and marketing, they will find ways to attract fans and customers through good stories and strong engagement.”

The speakers at Y’all Connect will include familiar Birmingham icons as well as national experts, all of whom utilize social media tools with great expertise. So far, this fantastic group includes James Spann, Ike Pigott, Andrea Weckerle, Nichole Kelly, Peter Shankman, Whitney Breaux, Shelly Kramer and Mack Collier.

"Y'all Connect is a conference aimed at CEOs and marketing managers who want to show how their companies stand out,” Kwon explains. “They may have used blogging and Facebook and Twitter, but aren't sure how to use them wisely and efficiently.”

This conference isn’t focused on theory and motivational speeches - there will be practical takeaways so that the attendees can leave and immediately put new ideas to use to expand their business’ social media platform.

"We expect 500 attendees, with half coming from all across Alabama and the rest coming from out of state. I can't wait to show off my hometown of Birmingham," Kwon states.

There will be a kickoff party on the evening of July 22, then on July 23, sessions and speakers will be scheduled from 8:30-6:00, followed by a closing night party. As such, there will be significant amounts of time for learning and networking.

The conference will be held at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center, and lodging will be available at a discounted rate in the adjoining Sheraton Hotel.

If you would like to attend, I have one conference pass to give away! To enter, follow the instructions in the Rafflecopter Widget below:


[CONTEST OVER]

But if you don’t win, I do have a Promo Code for the rest of you: Enter ALABLOGSWEET for $30 off regular tickets!

This giveaway is open until Monday, May 6 and the randomly chosen winner will be announced on Tuesday, May 7

Best of luck!

Christmas Shopping: By Hand Boutique

I’m going to try and feature some upcoming opportunities for Christmas Shopping, as we have an abundance of wonderful arts and crafts festivals this time of the year – some huge and well-known, and some smaller and harder to find.

One of those that you may not have heard of yet is By Hand Boutique, coming to Moody, Alabama (just East of Birmingham) November 12-13.

By Hand Boutique is a market made up of more than thirty local artists and crafters that make a variety of well-made items that are great for gifts.

They have a blog, By Hand Boutique, where they have featured some of the artists, and you can see some of their amazing creations! They are also currently hosting a giveaway at their blog for two $25 gift certificates to the market.

Details:

By Hand Boutique
November 12th, 7-9pm and November 13th, 9am-4pm
Hosted by Community Presbyterian Church, 825 Oak Blvd. Moody, Alabama

If you know of more great Christmas shopping festivals, bazaars, or shows, please feel free to email me at rachel@alabamabloggers.com

Something to do in your neck of the Woods

By Kristin

Something to get the creative juices flowing...

My girlfriends and I try to do something together every so often. We have been friends since highschool, and since we graduated almost 12 years ago...that is really saying something.
We don't talk on the phone everyday, we all have very busy lives, but we make that time to get together, to refresh our spirits. Sometimes you just need a time out from being Momma, Wife, Girlfriend, Daughter, and Sister.

We decided to try something new last night, and we headed out to Corks and Canvas. They are all over Alabama now, and under different names (Sips and Strokes is another).

For the $30 pricetag, you can BYOB (in my case it was sweet tea) and snacks, and then you are instructed in reproducing a piece of art work. All of the supplies are included, and you have an instructor available who is painting along, answering questions, and assisting as needed.

This is the original painting. With The Waves by Natasha Wescoat. I LOVE it...its so colorful and adventurous.

Well...our painting that we were recreating was based on With the Waves, and it was entitled Funky Tree...because lets face it, that is what it was.

Over the course of two hours, my girlfriends and I put our own creative stamp on this picture. We talked, munched, laughed, compared our masterpeices in progress, and generally had a great time.

Step One....The red, the blue, and the melding of the two.

Step Two...The hills...

Step Three...We penciled in our tree, painted the tree, and then added our circles.

And Voila! My finished product. Funky Tree a la Kristen. We added the colorful brushstrokes at the base of the tree to represent the leaves, and I outlined my tree in black.

Its not exactly perfect. But this is the first time that I have picked up a paintbrush to do anything other than painting a room...so I think I did a pretty good job. We all had such a great experience, and time FLEW by...it was pushing 9pm before we knew it.

This is the perfect activity for date night, or for a group of friends to get together and have a good time. And when you go...come back to tell us about your experience, and show off your MAD skills!

I blog at http://thedevinemrbaileyjackson.blogspot.com/ and I have fun stuff like meal planning (a must for working families!) and stuff going on in our world...drop by and see me sometime!


~Kristen