I love pinning with Pinterest, and I love conferences. So, when I heard the Pinners Conference was coming to Minneapolis I had to check it out.
On Friday night I had a little appetizer. Dana White, creator of A Slob Comes Clean, was speaking at the conference. We also had the pleasure of listening to her talk at our church on Friday night. She has a fantastic approach to “reality based cleaning and organizing”. Hearing her describe the “container concept” totally changed my thinking about my stuff. Check out her podcast about Containers and Limits and How They’ll Change Your Life.
The admission was free, thanks to a KS95 coupon code. Thanks KS95! I also snagged a street parking spot, so parking was free as well. Somehow that just makes the adventure that much sweeter. My mission was to wander through the conference and stop at all the yarn and knitting items since that is what I pin the most. I entered and the wandering began.
As I entered the Exhibit hall, I was greeted with loud pounding sounds. Tandy Leather is the 2018 National Sponsor for the Pinners Conference and they had a free Make and Take. I created a personalized leather luggage tag with a stencil and some markers. My new luggage tag seems to be a bit more sturdy than my usual method of tying a length of a brightly colored chunky yarn from my stash to my luggage.
I was not sure what to expect. As I wondered I saw a lot of stenciling on pillows and dish cloths. And even more wooden, rustic signs with kind words and quotes. I went methodically, row by row, and did not see any fiber arts at all! What? So, I wondered back and forth again, yup, it was true. NO knitting or crocheting to be found, not in the vendors, and not in the class list. Hmmmm so what is the Pinners Conference all about? My favorite boards are about Books to Read, Sheep, and Everything Knitting. I can understand not have sheep present, even though I love pinning sheep. But, the fiber arts seemed a bit under represented!
If I was not told the title of the conference, I would have thought the vendors and classes were more representative of an Etsy Conference (see below). It seemed more like a conference to bring Etsy stores to life.
I just did some quick googling and found details for an EtsyUp conference a few years ago. The focus was on how you, as an Etsy Shop Owner can increase sales through story telling, marketing, utilizing tools, etc. I did not see one for 2018.
Even though I was left a bit confused, I did get some lovely personalized wedding gifts! It was a great morning spent at a fun conference with interesting vendors and speakers.
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