Pinners Conferences are the new Scrapbook Expo?

If I lived in the SLC area, I would have gone. One of the garden girls had posted about going last year and she said it was great. For the life of me, I can see her face, but I can't remember her name. The one that did the Tool School class at Two Peas.

I attended Friday. The booths were set up in aisles as you would expect. Around the aisles were tables and chairs where one could sit and rest or eat or perhaps craft a product purchased from one of the vendors. And on the outside edges of the space were curtained areas for classes. That kind of surprised me - I thought the classes would have been in the actual classrooms in the convention center hallway. Class attendees wore wristbands to show they had paid for the class. Wristbands were checked at the door. The way things were set up, you could actually sit at a table in the aisle and listen to the class from there if you really wanted to - although I didn't notice anyone actually doing that.

Becky Higgins was front and center when I walked in the door. Sizzix was next to Becky. Both Becky and Sizzix combined multiple spaces into one long booth. Stampin' Up! also had a huge booth. I bought a little We R Memory Keepers card pack from Scrapbook Steals.

Several vendors sold wood crafting products. I saw many women carrying around painted boards with sayings on them. The women were carrying them flat and carefully as the paint wasn't yet dry. I thought that was a fun way for them to spend their time at the conference - they didn't just shop, they created.

The variety of booths was interesting. Riley Blake Fabrics had a booth. Individual salespeople from Mary Kay, Tupperware, and Pampered Chef had booths. Whimsy, a local clothing store, brought in an actual trailer. There were several food, seasoning, or chocolate companies. I bought a quilted table runner from Blue Brit, a delightful lady who I've now looked up on Etsy.

I ran in to a friend who owns the local quilt shop. She said conference organizers called her and asked her to buy a booth. She would have been the only quilt shop there. She said she didn't know what she would sell. They suggested quilt kits. She decided against it, but came as a shopper to see what the conference was like. I'm not sure this would have been the right venue for her. But what do I know.

A Pinners Conference is an interesting concept. I go to Pinterest for ideas more than product. Ideas are free. The conference was about shopping. In atmosphere and product selection, it was similar to any other shopping experience held at a similar venue - annual Christmas boutiques, the What Women Want gatherings, Scrapbook Expo, even the County Fair. I don't know what I expected. I'm not sorry I went, but I'm glad admission was free.

I think the bloggers were mostly teaching classes. You can check out the class list on the conference web site. The classes I noticed included creative hair braiding, something on budgeting, and the wood plaque class I mentioned.

I agree - it's weird to call it a conference. Expo might have been a more accurate name.

My overall view of the Pinners Conference: someone is trying to monetize the popularity of Pinterest But I did enjoy the shopping!

We have the Scrapbook Expo and the Rubber Stamp Convention in SoCal and for years I've thought that they should combine the two. There's a lot of crossover and some of the vendors sell at both. The Pinners Conference sound like a sensible solution. Wish they'd have that here.