Healthy Living Summit Day 1

I have so much to write about after this weekend’s Healthy Living Summit, I honestly don’t even know where to begin. The fun weekend all started Friday afternoon. I headed to the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Cambridge around 2:00 to check-in. At check-in I met the lovely Meghann, who recognized my blog name and I had a mini internal freak out! I love Meghann’s blog and have been reading it for years, so that was a pretty cool start to the weekend. I also got to meet Julie. I’ve been working with her on my blog redesign, so it was really nice to meet her in person. I picked up my badge, swag bag, and Reebok sneakers. Holy swag!

A month ago, we had all gotten an email from the ladies organizing HLS about shoe sizes – and the surprise did not disappoint! It’s like they knew that my favorite color was purple!

After meeting up with my favorite Boston blogger buddies Tracy and Amy, we headed into the first session. The Greatist founder Derek Flanzraich spoke about his experience starting The Greatist, the fastest-growing health and fitness start-up on the web. I’ve been reading The Greatist for a while now, so it was really cool to hear him speak.

Derek covered many topics in his session. One of the things he talked about was how important it is to know what your mission of your blog is, and to commit to it. He also talked about how important it is to develop a personality when writing your blog. Whether it’s your true personality or the personality you put on when you write your blog – your readers recognize it and will know when you’re being unauthentic. He also gave some great advice about content. He talked about how Greatist is all about slices of content. There’s no way they could write one article all about “How To Run a Marathon” – the article would either be the most massive article ever, or it would cheat the readers by not proving enough information. So instead of writing about one massive topic, write about small pieces, slices. So if you’re writing about marathon training, a slice could be “The Best Things to Eat After a Long Run” or “How to Avoid Blisters.” He gave me a lot of good ideas to take home. Thanks to Derek for a great talk!

Later that night was the welcome cocktail party sponsored by REBOOTizer! Everyone got 1 drink ticket at the door, which was A-okay with me. I knew I the next morning was going to be a tough wake up and I was driving. Gotta be safe! At the party, I got to meet so many bloggers whose blogs I’ve been reading for a while now. It it was kind of like meeting friends – you recognize everyone and know so much about them, but you’ve never actually meet any of them in real life. It’s a weird feeling to describe. First thing we did when we walked in was take advantage of the photo booth!

I met up with my Boston ladies; Tessa, Sara, Amy, and Tracy. And I also got to finally meet Chelcie!

The food all weekend was pretty bomb, including at the cocktail party. There was various cheese and crackers, spreads, veggies, mini whoopie pies! I tried the chocolate one and it was super delicious. They also had a popcorn and Taza chocolate station as well. I love the Boston area companies representing at the HLS.

At the cocktail party, I met some bloggers who I read all the time like Stellina and Katie, and some other Boston bloggers Stephanie and Becki. We had a great time chatting about live in Boston, blogging, and the summit. Overall, it was a really fun night and a great start to the HLS12!

Day 2 and MUCH more to come tomorrow!

Tagged as: blogging events, Healthy Living Summit 2012, Reebok