What I loved about Alt Summit ✨

Alt Summit is a magical place where ideas begin, dreams come to life and you can wear, do or be anything you want to be. As soon as we stepped into the conference, there was color and confidence everywhere. Girls walked in with ginormous puffy sleeves, fluorescent jump suits, patterns on patterns and bright colors. I love that you can literally be whoever you are, and everyone around you accepts you for whatever that is. Palm Springs is the perfect location for Alt Summit. Colorful and so accepting.

On the Sunday morning before Alt I experienced conference fomo. I was not speaking until Thursday so I chose to fly in on Tuesday morning instead of staying all five days. Once I saw the conference Facebook group heating up, I texted Hiliary to convince her to leave early…and an hour later we were on the road for our 12 hour road trip to Palm Springs.

Moral of the story: putting your business first requires sacrifice, but provides you with opportunities, knowledge, motivation and community. Don’t have conference fomo next time. Research your options, save your money and invest in your future. I grow unlike any business around me because of how I invest of education.

How to Make the Most of Alt Summit

I am so glad we arrived in time for Joanna Gaines to take the stage on Monday morning. We learned SO much on Monday and Tuesday. Not only from the speakers and classes, but how Alt Summit works and what we need to do to make the most of it. If we were thrown into it on Tuesday afternoon, it would have been a totally different experience.

Alt Summit was celebrating 10 years this year so it was longer and bigger than ever before. There were classes in 4 different hotels. The only catch was that the hotels were 15 minutes apart, and a lot of the classes overlapped.

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Here’s what we learned for next year:

• Don’t just look at the titles of the classes. We missed some really powerful talks by really powerful women because we didn’t realize who was speaking. I would recommend making a list of topics you want to listen to and speakers you want to learn from. The app is sooo easy to navigate!
• Rent a car or drive. The people that had to catch the Shuttles or wait for Ubers missed a lot more of the conference than those of us that had cars. I would recommend driving to each hotel, parking and walking to the conference area on Sunday before the conference begins. Figuring out parking and directions on the first day had us missing out on a lot of great subjects.
• Know who you are and what you do before you get to Palm Springs. What is your message? What is your goal? I do a lot of different things but I knew before I got to Alt Summit that I was coming as a brand photographer and speaker.
• Make a list of 2-3 goals for the week. Passing out x amount of business cards, connecting with x amount of people, learning about x from 3 different speakers, taking x amount of brand pics, etc.

Speaking at Alt Summit

We laughed. Some of us cried (🙋🏼‍♀️) 😳 and all around it was a dream come true to speak at the ever-so magical @altsummit in Palm Springs.

This is not my first time speaking in front of large audiences or teaching on subjects I’m passionate about. But it is the first time I stand in front of a room of girl bosses and have a pic of myself on every slide. Haha. Too much Kylee!

My topic was: “How to Take Pictures of Yourself without Having an Instagram Husband” and it was SO well received. I have been tagged in SO many pictures of women putting this stuff into action right away.

Public Speaking without Anxiety

I was so proud of myself for choosing to be excited all week instead of choosing to be nervous. It took a very conscious decision to keep good vibes and push out any and all anxiety. But I did it.

I spoke in front of a completely foreign audience with absolutely NO anxiety or panic. Even the normal kind that you get 5 min before you walk on stage. If you don’t have anxiety, you don’t know how big of a deal that is. Kinda a weird thing to take pride in and share on the internet, but I have to because it’s a huge part of my life and journey.

You can do hard things. And sometimes you can even do them without your mental health getting in the way.

Messages I received on my way back to Utah:

“Thank you so much for your talk. Truly – you are tied with Asia Rau and Matt Molen’s newsletter talk for THE MOST valuable of the conference. Thank you so much”

“Your class was incredible today!!! I seriously had the feels and learned so much. Def one of my favorite classes! You were also an excellent speaker and did a great job keeping us engaged and giving us so many take aways. Can’t wait to try your presets.”

“you were amazing! so motivating AND i learned so much. also totally teared up 😭😂 THANK YOU!! 💛✨”

“Me me me…I cried beautiful tears for a beautiful story! Thank you for inspiring us💕”

I couldn’t have done it without my hype girl, @hiliary.kastudios! She bought her Alt Summit ticket and planned a trip to Palm Springs just to be my wing girl. And she was absolutely the best wing woman. I LOVED speaking at Alt Summit and meeting new people, but the greatest memories were all the fun times with Hil. We have twin brains, and every time we travel together or attend a conference together, I remember just how similar we are. I LOVE to travel with Hiliary.

Memories I never want to forget:

• 12 hour road trip conversations
• sketchy motel
• Airbnb hoppin’
• typing contests
• car jams
• Rayce
• hotel commutes
• deep life conversations
• hanging out in bed with our laptops
• delicious meal sharing
• rule breaking/trespassing for pics / peer pressure
• dancing in the Airbnb
• mcdonalds oatmeal err day
• the stye
• frolicking in the desert sunsets
• omelets
• no shower shoes
• naps under the cabana poolside
• so much driving + good conversation

I’m feeling so grateful for these incredible and career changing opportunities, but most of all for my people. I was lifted up in prayers, kind messages and good vibes. Thank you for thinking of me during these big moments. Love all your support.

Kylee Maughan

Kylee started Kylee Ann Photography 9 years ago, and has since grown from a one woman amateur show to a full associate team. We shoot 50-75 weddings a year, and thrive on kindness and service. After a year of teaching Intro to Photography at the local technical college, she discovered that helping other entrepreneurs create thriving businesses is what fires her up! She hosts semi-annual Kylee Ann Sleepovers all over the US, speak at conferences and teach online courses about running a small business and marketing.

kyleeannphotography.com/kylee