smilingrid: #HerConference (part one!)

If you read through my #HStoHC posts from when I attended with Emma, you might think you know how Her Campus does conferences. I know I did!

Hooooo boy was I wrong! Maybe "wrong" is too definite of a word... #Her Conference in NYC was just so much more than I could have expected! With twice the time and twice the attendees, I guess I should have figured it out, but the weekend still managed to fill me with wide-eyed excitement and pure wonder. Before I get into the incredible advice from all of our crazy impressive keynote speakers and panelists, I thought I'd walk you guys through some of the things that were the same on both days!

The conference was held in New York City! Specifically, we spent our days in the Faculty House on Columbia's gorgeous campus, but we interns stayed in Tomes Square and got to explore a little bit! I love spending time in the City That Never Sleeps and loved the feel of our environment...

...though we did have a few hiccups with city living- Gabby and Coleen were waylaid by pigeons and it took some time for all of us (other than Cara- native New Yorker!) to get used to the high-stakes jaywalking of NYC.

Upon entering the Conference, we were fed really well! With a Chobani spread like this at breakfast, miles of Chipotle for lunch, and pop chips, luna bars, and other goodies (like mini cupcakes!) to snack on, we were the happiest of collegiettes.

The conference was spread over three floors. The food and keynotes were held on the first floor along with the Her Campus shop (hi Allison!). Interns descended upon the table- I'm pretty sure each of us bought the "Better Than Pajamas" sweatshirt (...which I'm wearing as I type this. I may or may not live in it from here on out. Heads up, outfit posts are going to get pretty uniform)

The second floor held many of the panel rooms AND it was home to our sponsor tables!

Intel had tables on tables of devices to play with and super nice employees to show you how things work!

they also had a selfie station! The green screen let us play around with the background and there were a hole bunch of fun add-ins like stickers and frames!

For example:

Pretty cool, huh?

They also had a charging station (so smart!) and bottles of Intel INK nail polish- you killed it, Intel!

The eff.Y.bee station was nearly too cute for me to handle- bunting AND tassels? Can you decorate my new bedroom? -and their jewelry followed that trend!

They're also in the process of designing a Her Campus bracelet with a crown charm! Put my name down, please!

Luna gave us all nail files! Probably one of the last things I expected as a freebie from them, but it's super cute so I'm pleased with the surprise!

Sometimes you've just got to put deliciousness under glass? As long as you keep giving me other Luna bars, I won't try and break the glass to get at these!

I took FULL advantage of the Luna snack station! I ended up making a snack bag of Luna bars and pop chips for the train and it was glorious.

This was our Social Currency table! Like #HStoHC, every time you tweeted, instagrammed, facebooked etc. you'd receive a ticket to enter into raffles from our sponsors! We had some seriously AWESOME prizes from undies to Intel devices.

The best constant from Saturday into Sunday, though? Hands down, the people! Whether it was hanging out with the other interns, helping the full-time HC staff, or meeting and freaking out over all of my blogging buds from the HCBN, the two days of #Her Conference were filled with amazing conversations and connections!