Friday, October 30, 2015

SHAPE Blogger Meet & Tweet

Earlier this week I was lucky enough to attend the SHAPE Magazine Blogger Meet & Tweet. It was held up in Santa Monica at the Annenberg Community Beach House - talk about an AWESOME venue!

Sometimes I think Blogger/ Social Media events should only include your
handles... No one knows your "real" name in the social media world ;)

Let's get this party started!

SHAPE brought in some wonderful speakers and had an amazing day planned out for us.



I have to say, I think the first talk with Jennifer Widerstrom (one of the trainers from The Biggest Loser) was my fave! I could have listened to her all day. She was so real and relatable that I wanted to be her best friend (because not only would she shoot straight with me, but she could also help kick my butt and turn me into a BA like her!).


Although I am sure a lot of people walked way motivated themselves after her talk, which I TOTALLY did myself, I also loved that she motivated me to motivate others! She said that her strength as a trainer is believing in others before they believe in themselves - she's gotta believe for the both of them. A light bulb went off in my head and I thought "THAT IS EXACTLY ME". I want folks who interact with me (whether it is on social media, reading my blog, or in real life) to walk away believing in themselves more because they know I believe in them! I want to create a space where people feel heard and appreciated and that we can grow TOGETHER.


The other panels were great, but I felt like I had heard a lot of what they were saying at other blogger events (i.e. "Content is king", "You can't rush success", etc). I totally appreciate what all of the speakers had to say, but, for me, it seemed a bit redundant.

The ladies on the How to Build Your Brand panel

The Tone It Up Girls

I did absolutely LOVE the sponsor rotation that we did during our lunch break. The way it was set up was we were given something that looked like a bingo card and we had to get stickers from each of the sponsors before we left so that we could claim our "goodie bag" (intriguing, right?!).

I was pumped to go around and learn about all of the products, yes, but even more stoked because I knew some of the lovely ladies working at some of the booths (Bethany at the Brooks Moving Comfort booth and Katrina at the Garmin booth). YAY for big hugs and catching up!

Katrina is Garmin's ambassador contact and pretty AMAZING!

Some of the sponsors had activities for you to do. At the Seiko booth you dolled up your wrist/ hand/ fingers and had to take a picture of your arm on the red carpet wearing one of their watches. You got measured and fitted for a FREE sports bra at the Brooks Moving Comfort booth - FRICK YES! I even got a hand massage at the Skinfix booth.

Jumping for joy because I LOVE BROOKS!

While I was trying on the Brooks Moving Comfort bras I saw this
MUST HAVE shirt in the tent. #DearSanta

Of course my wrist candy was invited to the red carpet!

Thanks for the rub down!

Sure, why not have two vegetarians pose with the tuna guy ;)

Hearts on Fire let me try on their BEAUTIFUL diamond star necklace


I had heard from bloggers who had attended this event in the past that you walk away with a TON OF SWAG, but I really wasn't ready for how much we got. Not only did some of the sponsors give out some samples while we were filling our "bingo card", but when we went to leave, we got the biggest swag bag I have ever received. LEGIT, I HAD A HARD TIME CARRYING IT TO THE CAR!

The overflowing bag we were sent home with

These sponsors (along with SHAPE) went ABOVE AND BEYOND and really ROCKED MY SOCKS! It made the 6+ hours of traffic worth it (yeah, it took me over 3 hours both ways to get to and from the beach in Santa Monica...).

Stuck in LA traffic... Can you see my excitement?!

Trying to capture ALL of the goodies we got!

Some of my faves were the Sparkly Soul headband, the
Garmin Vivofit2, a Brooks Moving Comfort sports bra,
and an Erica Sara Designs bracelet.

Tons of beauty products to try out!

Legit it kept going and going!


Yup, even got a pair of waterproof boots!


A BIG THANKS to SHAPE and all of the sponsors for putting on a FANTASTIC event! I would totally attend again in the future if I had the opportunity (and if the opportunity ever presents itself to YOU, you should TOTALLY jump on it!).

Champs cheers to SHAPE for the great day!

What's the best thing you've ever gotten in a swag bag before?

6 comments:

Unknown said...

This looks amazing! How did you get in or find out about it?

SD Mom said...

Fine! I am going next year!

*krystyn* said...

Wow - that sounds like a fabulous event and awesome freebies you got!! Can you share who makes the "run happy" shirt? It is super cute!!

Carlee McDot said...

Krystyn - It is from Brooks. Their slogan is Run Happy (and boy do I ever ;) ).

Carlee McDot said...

Megan - I was told about it from some other (local and AWESOME) bloggers. Thankfully RSVP was still open and I snagged a spot!

*krystyn* said...

Thank you!!!