Late last Friday night I got back home from Salt Lake City, where I'd been invited to speak on a super cool panel about New & Traditional Media - super cool because it was with Deborah Needleman (WSJ) and Pilar Guzman (Martha Stewart). I also got to videotape conference attendees as they shared their personal style and thoughts on Jonathan Adler's bold new toilet paper roll designs for Cottonelle. It was a busman's holiday, and I was exhausted on Saturday morning as I woke up to play with Ursula in the fresh New York snow.
From these three days I want to share some sweet photographs and simply say that ALT is one great conference. If you are a serious home design blogger and particularly if you are a woman, this is mecca. To which I would also add the sidenote that if you are a male blogger you may find yourself totally irrelevant. When you put over a thousand passionate digital women in a luxury hotel in Utah - away from family and daily responsibilities - the last thing they are interested in is men.
What they are interested in is all the other amazing women they are among as well as networking around their shared passion. So it was really good that I was there to talk about Apartment Therapy, because that gave me a lot to share. I was very pleased to meet so many people who knew us, many of whom had been on the blog and had tons of traffic sent their way.
For myself, the days were long and the nights longer as conversations never seemed to stop. I loved meeting Gretchen Rubin over breakfast on Friday as well as hearing Ben Silberman's remarkable keynote that day. He and Pinterest got a standing ovation, which I'd never seen before at ALT! I spent two hours after our panel on Thursday drinking a bottle of wine with Deborah and Pilar and hearing about life behind the scenes in the Murdoch and Martha empires (all good). Having both fled Conde Nast after their magazines were unceremoniously shuttered, it was clear to me very quickly that these are incredible women and their current companies were extremely lucky to have them bringing their vision and talents to their magazines (WSJ mag and Martha Living). While they may technically be in old media, they are both totally new, strong, energetic talents. If anyone is going to help lead the transition to digital, it will be these two.
Beyond these notables, it was an honor to meet and trade cards with so many interesting bloggers and designers. Thanks to all of you, and I have a stack of cards and websites to check out. It expanded my world.
Finally, hats off to Gabby Blair, Sara Urquhart and their whole family and crew for putting it all together. It's an incredibly generous offering to the digital design world.
Were you there? If yes, please let us know what you thought in the comments below and see you next year!
PS. thanks, as well, to Laure Joliet for all these great pics.
(Images: Laure Joliet )
FUN INTERVIEW CLIP ON KSL TELEVISION
Here's a cool clip of my being interviewed about Apartment Therapy in the lobby of the Grand America. It's a very well done short interview and post from KSL Television in Salt Lake.
100 DIY Ideas for the 3-Day Weekend
Danielle's Charming, Classic Walk-Up
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
White Enamel Flatwa...
Party Recipe: Creamy Crawfish Dip
Perfect Summer Cocktail Recipe: Honey Bourbon Lemonade
Why does the world need a Jonathan Adler or any other designer toilet paper cover? Honestly. One more thing to do in our busy lives. If nobody likes to change out the empty toilet roll, why are we suddenly going to like putting a fresh roll into the decorative holder, then taking it out to use it and then putting a replacement roll in?
Cynthia
The Clutter Whisperer of New York City
I was there at ALT! I really enjoyed meeting so many amazing women! The talent is incredible! It made me want to work that much harder! Thanks for coming all the way to Utah to speak to us! Great stuff!
We met really briefly at the white party! The whole conference was fantastic and energizing. I think so many of us are toiling away in solitude, so it's nice to actually meet people who are doing the same thing and get it.
um, can deborah convince conde nast to put the domino backlist on zinio.com so we can freakin' buy it already?
@Clutter Whisperer--
You ROCK! I'm actually embarrassed that we live in a society that buys such items as decorative toilet paper covers.
I've had friends and family call on me to help clean/organize/de-clutter their spaces when they know that they need some tough love.
I'm known for saying, "What's the absolute worst thing that can happen if you throw away (or give, donate) that item? "
I was there, Maxwell, and had a phenomenal time! It was a whirlwind of social connections and information but absolutely a worthwhile investment of time, energy, and $s. Gabby Blair, Sara Urquhart, and the rest of the family (most talented bunch ever?!) did a bang up job! And, you, Pilar, and Deborah gave a great talk!
And, while I may have been one of the few male bloggers there, I think I did all right with the ladies. But, they'd likely say I was just one of the girls anyway. ;)
Thanks for coming out from New York to be a part of Alt! :)
I agree with Cynthiakay.
I also feel that way about napkin rings. The purpose of them is...?
I had a wonderful time at my first Alt!
One of the highlights of the trip was an interview with Ms. Emily Henderson. She is the bee's knees:
http://thenestinggame.com/2012/01/23/interview-with-emily-henderson/
I actually wonder how much AT was paid to mention the toilet paper covers? That totally smells like product placement.
Below is a toilet paper holder press release from Cottonelle. It is HI-larious. There is also a photo captioned, "Residents line up to get an autographed roll cover." See https://www.cottonelle.com/respect-the-roll/In-The-News
I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Are we consumers being punked? This can't be for real.
I plan to send this in to Saturday Night Live and Jimmy Fallon. Maybe they will do a skit. It's such a bizarre product. I would have much more respect for Cottonelle if they would produce toilet paper without the tubes, like Kimberly-Clark.
Cynthia
The Clutter Whisperer of New York City
Jonathan Adler graced the South Town Mall for a roll cover signing and demonstration over the weekend. It seemed the whole town turned up to meet the designer of the new roll covers. Lines of die-hard fans camping out for the event stretched around the corner. Lila West had been out there since midnight. "I just can’t wait to meet Jonathan. He’s such an amazing designer," she said.
Adler spent the day meeting his adoring fans and posing for pictures. He also demonstrated to fans how he respects the roll and afterward even signed roll covers for a lucky few.
"My spare roll gets to sit in an autographed roll cover. Now that’s what I call respect," said Jenny Hahn.
As a special promotion, 10 roll covers, autographed by the designer himself, will be given away. Be on the lookout for special instructions through our Twitter feed on how to get one of these limited edition, signed roll covers.
@Cynthiakay-
Signed roll covers??--I just threw up in my mouth.
Great recap Maxwell! I think you captured it perfectly! This was my first Alt and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It went well beyond my expectations and I’ll say that my expectations were high! The information was useful and the relationships I made impactful!
Like you said, If you’re serious about blogging, design….or networking to expand your creative business than this is the place for you!
As an aside: It was great talking design with you in the interview :)