Design Bloggers Conference, Part 1

Last week I flew to the glamorous, sunny side of our country and visited Los Angeles  for the Design Bloggers Conference 2013. The temperature was 84 degrees and the sun sprinkled my face with freckles and lifted my snow cast spirits upward. Little did I know that the only time I would see the blue skies was on the 2 hour ride to my hotel when I arrived. I was so riveted to my seat at this conference that I  barely had the opportunity to venture outside again until my 4 am return taxi ride back to  LAX  3 days later! (click the arrow to read more)

The conference was jam packed with celebrity speakers, business leaders, editors and design contemporaries speaking about interior design and the integration of technology (blogging, social media and oh so much more!) and interior design not only today but into the future.

Today I wanted to share with you some of the staggering statistics from the social media world and thoughts on where the design industry is headed.

Adam Japko, President of Design Sherpa, opened the conference with a few statistics:

~ Traditional media reaches around 20,000 viewers/day

~ Twitter reaches over 4 million/day

Additionally:

~ Charlotte Moss shared that there are 750 tweets sent every second

~The average Facebook user posts 415 pieces of content per year

~ there are over 70 million WordPress blogs worldwide

~Pinterest is exploding

~ Twitter adds 500,000 users a day

Yes, I think social media is here to stay, don’t you??

Windsor Smith, founder and creator of Windsor Smith Home, Inc. and Windsor Smith Home Collection, believes that blogs can be compared to the Literary Salons of the past where ideas and designs are exchanged and discussed. She also believes believes blogs give our followers  a chance to “dream, drool and swoon” ~ love that phrase!

Of course, in order to be a successful blogger you  have to have a blog readers can subscribe to and  finally I do thanks to KEZA!  Just click on the RSS icon on the top of the right sidebar!

A few more highlights from  our speakers…

Barbara Barry contended that “writing and design go  hand in hand” and that out of scatteredness comes focus ~ certainly true for me and blog writing!

Leslie Carothers, founder of The Kaleidoscope Partnership, an 11 yr. old international social media agency for furniture and interior design brands, believes in using online OlioBoards to illustrate your designs dimensionally. Olioboards can be kept  private or shared with anyone around the world with the FREE platform Olio has created.  What an amazing tool for working with people online and expanding your client base beyond geographic borders!

Jennifer Medhitash, an interior designer in New York has gained great exposure from her blog, Dec-a –Porter by being consistent and taking photographs with her point of view.

The last speaker of Day 1 was Newell Turner,  Editor In Chief of House Beautiful.  He is someone who has embraced  every facet of the latest technology and integrated it into his publications. House Beautiful is a leader in this area.  For example, the cover of the March issue of House Beautiful features and scannable icon that will bring up enriched digital content on your device.  Of course this is ONLY the beginning.  Mr. Turner has successfully combined print material (which I still love to read in my bed) with up to date digital integration with iPhone, iPad and other mobile devices.

A perfect combination for the future.

photo courtesy of Courtney Price

It was  clear from all of the speakers that digital evolution is good for the design community and we all need to embrace this change.  Of course, this is design and visual is still Queen!  An image will always be worth “1000 words” ~ that’s why I have lots of eye candy coming in my Part 2 post tomorrow!

The Design Bloggers Conference 2013 was over the top inspirational and I am re-energized and ready to conquer the world of digital design!  Please take some time to browse through my new website and blog and let me know what you think!   Don’t forget to subscribe and share with your friends for the poshest news in design!

xo,

Pamela

Note:  professional images via Design Bloggers Conference website

 Contact me about Pamela Copeman Design Group services.

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