On May 1st I had the amazing privilege to attend the Northeastern Regional TpT Meet-Up in Binghamton, New York, hosted by the Western New York TpT Team. I was invited by the sweet and talented Literary Sherri, and honestly had no idea what I was getting myself into! I Googled Binghamton when I got the invite and when I discovered it was only a 5 hour drive away, I asked my husband what he thought. He said he would drive me and was up for it if I wanted to go... so (of course) we went!
I discovered about a week before we went that the genius herself, JEN JONES, was going to be presenting and I was flabbergasted!! I immediately knew I truly had NO CLUE what to expect from this meet up and the butterflies started to flutter the more I thought about it! A few days before we left I received my shiny new business cards and matching pen & notebook from VistaPrint, so I was all ready to go in that department. But mentally, I still had no clue what to expect. I was actually still reeling, at that point, from an unexpected shout out on Instagram and Facebook from TpT for my Healthy Test Treat Notes. It's still surreal to me to think about that... they hand-picked my IG photos of the healthy snacks and notes I left for my students all week and turned it into a collage photo they posted on IG. It was super cool..
.....until they posted it on their FACEBOOK PAGE the next day and I about died. You can check it out here if you want. It went a tad viral. Well, in my eyes it was viral. Nearly 3,200 likes, 1,500 shares... that's insane. I'm NOT Deanna Jump, or Moffatt Girls, or Babbling Abby, or Amy Lemons., or Jen Jones... that's expected for any of the top sellers. I'm just little ol' seller me with 500 followers on TpT and minimal sales to feed my shopping addiction. It even circled back around to my friends. Someone in our area shared it and tagged her in it and she commented that she's a good friend of mine and tagged me in her comment. I mean, seriously...that doesn't happen.
SO, needless to say my mind was already BLOWN after those two days of insanity. Then, we hopped in the car and drove to New York... and my mind exploded AGAIN!
The meet-up was a mini version of the awesomeness and mind-blowingness to come in Vegas next month. It was fantastic. I learned so much, met so many AMAZING people, and networked a lot. I learned a lot about myself as a teacher and a seller, and had an all-around blast. The only thing I can say about it in a negative way is that it was too short. I could have stayed there so much longer. We all felt that way - it was THAT great.
We started the morning off with breakfast, meet & greets with fellow sellers through a selfie challenge...
I met this sweetheart, Connie...
and hung out with Shelly, from Appletastic: Blossoming in 5th Grade
unbelievable... this doesn't include the Google Drive link with over 3,000+ pages of donated resources. WHAT!?
THEN... JEN JONES (yeah, THAT Jen Jones of Hello, Literacy!) presented...
She taught us so much about being a better seller and providing great customer service to our buyers. I am forever grateful for her willingness to share her expertise!
.....AND A HELLO LITERACY SHIRT!
We had our own photo booth and photo sesh..
I could totally rock a stache...
We spent time collaborating in a variety of groups throughout the day. We talked about social media, marketing, collaboration, blogging, and so much more. My favorite session of the day was when we talked with other sellers in small groups about key components to a good product. We passed around a product of our own we had brought and commented on what we liked about them. It was so encouraging. I loved it! That is something I would love to do with other sellers more often. I guess I could organize that....
There were also giveaways... and EVERYONE won something. How sweet is that?! I won some Blair Turner Paper goodness and $10 to Teaching in the Tongass. That was cool. Her clip art rocks. So does Blair Turner.
And we did a Teacher Tool Exchange. Susan from The Math Spot is my Flair Pen soulmate. As soon as I spotted that chevron cup and the pens.. I was done.
Don't let this picture fool you. I took pictures much too late. This table was PACKED.
My tool was some Creative Paper goodness, and Ticonderoga neon pencils. Because, duh!?
Every detail was impeccable.
I also got to meet AMY from TEAM TpT!
I got to ask her who orchestrated that insane shout out I mentioned above... she told me the gal's name and I can't wait to hunt track her down in Vegas and give her a giant thank you hug!
Overall.. it was wonderful. It was inspiring. It was encouraging. I was blown away... and it was only a fraction of the size of Vegas... so can you imagine what THAT will be like!?!
Just one more reason my blog/store is named the way it is.. I am truly O-H SO BLESSED!
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