Interview - Northwest Yoga Conference

We sat down with Melissa Hagedorn to learn more about the 1st annual Northwest Yoga Conference.

TravelingOms.com: Why did you decide to start a yoga conference?

Melissa Hagedorn: I started it because it is what I wished I had been able to attend in previous years. Most yoga conferences and retreats are far away – you go to some white sandy beach to get away from the cold Washington winters. That sounds amazing, but most people I know can’t afford to do that. I wanted to create that immersive yoga retreat vibe locally.

TO: What were some of the hardest hurdles when starting a new conference?

MH: I would say the biggest challenge was that I am just a yoga student. I am not a teacher with tons of industry connections already in place.

TO: How did you overcome that?

MH: I reached out to my local teachers and they were all receptive to the idea. They emailed the information out to their connections and it grew from there. I had originally planned for a fairly small event but something in my head kept saying “go bigger” so I did!

TO: I’ll say – you have what, 36+ workshops? For not being connected, that’s a lot!

MH:  We advertised in the local yoga newsletter and searched the Internet for various teachers and workshops. We put up a link on our website to solicit presenter proposals. All together we ended up with about twice as many applicants as workshops.

TO: How did you decide which presenters to bring onboard?

MH: The hardest part was turning people down. But being a new conference, I wanted us to have some credibility. That meant bringing on people who knew what they were doing. So having some sort of past experience presenting at events played heavily in our decision.

Also, we wanted a balanced offering with sessions for complete beginners to introduce them to yoga, for yoga students like me to deepen our practice, and for advanced teachers to deepen their knowledge.

TO: Do you have any advice for teachers looking to present at events?

MH: We didn’t make a decision on the presenters until after the presenter proposal deadline, but I found I gravitated towards those that got their applications in early. I think I had more time to contemplate their workshop idea and it had time to grow on me.

Also, the more thorough and well thought-out the proposal the easier it made my job. I didn’t have to track people down for more information and could really get a sense for what they were going to teach immediately.

Lastly, we looked at how willing and able they were to help promote the conference. We needed to get the word out so people who came to us with stellar marketing ideas and who seemed really invested in making the conference a success, stuck out.

TO: Thank you, Melissa!

 AT A GLANCE

•        Event Name: Northwest Yoga Conference
•        Location: Lynnwood, WA (Lynnwood Convention Center)
•          2012 Dates: February 18^th and 19^th
•         Number of Years Event has Been Going On:  First year!
•       Estimated Attendance: 300+
•       Number of Presenters: 35-40
•       Types of Presenters: Wide variety of yoga (kids yoga, kundalini, iyengar, chanting, meditation, yoga philosophy, workshops specific for yoga teachers, etc.)
•       Website: www.nwyogaconference.com
•       How to Submit a Presenter Proposal: Applications are available in the spring for presenters to submit workshop ideas. 

More than 300 yoga students and instructors are expected to attend the first annual Northwest Yoga Conference–the only yoga conference in the Seattle area– which will take place on February 18 and 19 at the Lynnwood Convention Center in Lynnwood, Washington.

If you would like to have your event highlighted on our blog, please contact us at jslis@travelingoms.com

Interview – Caribbean Yoga Conference

This week we went behind the scenes with Kimberly Moon of Bella Luna Yoga to chat about her newest undertaking: creating the Caribbean Yoga Conference.

TravelingOms.com: What prompted you to start the Caribbean Yoga Conference? 

Kimberly Moon: I was visiting Jamaica for Bella Luna Yoga and got to know the yoga community there. There are some amazing teachers and students, but the industry is in such infancy right now I wanted to do something to help it grow. I am hoping this conference will help spread the word about yoga further into the community.

TO: How did you go about deciding on the faculty and presenters?

KM: We began planning about 18 months ago. With this being a new conference, I really wanted to start off strong. I sat down with the CYC Director of Programming, who formerly worked in Kripalu’s programming department, and we put together a “Dream Team.” We wanted to bring in some presenters that already had a proven following to ensure people would make the trip to see them.

TO: So a big part of your decision to bring someone on is his or her established following?

KM: Yes. For a large conference such as this, we need to know ahead of time that the cost of bringing someone down here will be offset by the audience they will draw in.

TO: What do you look at to establish if someone has enough of a following?

KM: One great indicator is their social media reach – number of facebook friends and/or Twitter followers. Another would be the size of their marketing database. Someone who has hundreds of people they connect with consistently (for example, with a monthly newsletter) will be able to help us promote the conference to their fans. Also, we look at previous events they have been at or workshops they have taught to gauge public interest.

TO: Is there anything else you look for, besides following?

KN: The established following is for our heavy hitters. But we don’t want to go into an emerging market such as Jamaica and fly in the entire conference faculty. We want to choose some presenters locally as well since they will be the ones staying behind to cultivate the yoga community after the conference is over. We want to establish relationships between local teachers and local students. So location can be one criterion in our decisions.

In addition to location, we want to have presenters that fit with our theme. This year our theme is Seva (community service). Therefore, the amount of community service our presenters do factored into our decision – many of them have started non-profits or contribute to charities regularly.

TO: Are you are open to presenters reaching out to you, even though when you start planning for next year you may already have an idea of whom you want?

KM: Absolutely! We have a Presenter Proposal link on our website that stays up year round. Each and every Presenter Proposal we receive through the website we read through and consider.

TO: What is your best advice to presenters looking to break into the larger conferences?

KM: Most importantly, grow your following. Use social media to connect with people who may have never experienced you in person. Begin a marketing database of relationships, so if asked, you know exactly what you can bring to the table. Start looking for smaller local events to establish yourself as a presenter. Usually smaller events don’t have the budget to bring in people from out of town, so being local is a huge benefit. Go to the bigger conferences and network, network, network. Get your name out there. Come on down to Jamaica and say hi to us in person, so we know who you are when your Presenter Proposal comes across our desk.

TO: Great advice! Thank you Kim!

AT A GLANCE

• Name: Caribbean Yoga Conference
• Location: Rase Hall Resort and Spa, Montego Bay. Jamaica
• Dates: Feb 2-5, 2012
• 2012 Theme: Seva (community service)
• Number of Years: First Year!
• Number of Presenters: 21
• Types of Presenters: Yoga, Meditation, Dance, Music
• Website: http://caribbeanyogaconference.com
• To Submit a Presenter Proposal: http://caribbeanyogaconference.com/?page_id=383

The 1st Annual Caribbean Yoga Conference | February 2nd – 5th - Montego Bay, Jamaica 

For it's inaugural event, the Caribbean Yoga Conference is landing in beautiful Montego Bay, Jamaica for 4 days of sun, sand, seva and sangha. The conference lineup includes workshops for all abilities with world-renowned instructors including Seane Corn, Simon Park, Paige Elenson, Sadie Nardini, Kathryn Budig, Jenny Sauer-Klein, Jason Nemer and Toni Bergins. The conference will also offer a rockin’ beach concert with MC Yogi and opportunities for morning meditation and noon yoga on the beach. There will also be plenty of time to just sit back, relax and connect with community. A unique element of this conference is its scholarship and sustainability program, which is geared towards Jamaica’s youth workers. The aim with this program is to spread the reach of yoga related tools to the marginalized children of Jamaica. See you in Jamaica!

If you would like to have your event highlighted on our blog, please contact us at jslis@travelingoms.com

WEBSITE HELP: Check Out the New Om Profile Layout

Below is a quick video tour of the new TravelingOms.com profile page. There have been quite a few changes, and we want to introduce you to them one at a time. Here is the initial overview. Look for a deeper dive into how you can use each element to your benefit in future blogs.

Some of the most important changes to highlight are:

• Use of subdomains to link directly to an Om profile. For example, my profile can be found at http://jennslis.travelingoms.com. This makes it easy to share your Om profile on business cards, your website, social media websites, etc. Go claim your subdomain today!
• All elements brought onto 1 page instead of clicking through multiple pages per Om.
• Tagging per Om Profile (instead of per video). This allows the Oms to be found easier in searches.
• News stories allows you to link to any external story either from you or about you, to give a clearer picture of how you interact in your yoga community.
• Videos brought front and center since they are a very important element of your Om profile that allow event planners to get a sense of who you are and your presence.
• The ability to contact the Om through the website instead of sharing their personal email/phone publicly. 

If you have a TravelingOms.com profile, go on in and start using the new features! If you don't have a profile yet, what are you waiting for?!?!? They're free, see you there!

Namaste,

The TravelingOms.com Team 

Welcome to the TravelingOms.com Blog!

We are so excited to begin this journey with you! The TravelingOms.com blog will be a mixture of site feature updates and yoga-related events. We would love to help promote you, so if you ever get an itch to write a blog about an event you taught at or attended, please contact us to be a guest blogger. We would love to have you!

TravelingOms.com was born from an idea sparked in Savasana at the Midwest Yoga Conference. So many conferences feature the same teachers and speakers over and over. Yes, because they are good is a factor. However, another big factor,  revealed after some subtle inquiries of conference planners, is because they are known. People putting on these conferences have never had anything besides word-of-mouth to rely on. They hear about someone, go experience them and remember them for their next event. That makes it a pretty difficult industry to get into. Like the (vegan) chicken-and-the-egg theory - how can you get your name out there as a travel teacher if no one has ever heard of you to hire you so others can get to know your name?

TravelingOms.com is turning this process on its head (Sirsasana anyone?)! Our website allows conference and workshop planners to experience you through your TravelingOms.com profile. Not only can you put up the normal info - like a brief description, contact info, and fee information - but you can also create an entire experience by linking to audio and video files showing your presence. By adding media files, you are allowing someone who may have never seen you in person get a feel for the way you teach, speak, carry yourself, and connect with others. No longer do conference planners need to travel to see you in person. It's all right there in your TravelingOms.com profile!

Don't have any videos? Bummer. But if you have a cell phone that can record video, you can change that! Just have a friend video you teaching or doing whatever it is you do best and upload it to YouTube. YouTube is completely free and will do all conversions necessary to make your video web-ready. Then just log into your TravelingOms.com account and link to your YouTube video. Simple and free - we like that!

While TravelingOms.com is still getting populated, it is completely FREE. So there are no excuses! As an added bonus, anyone who creates a profile during this beta period will receive 2 months free once the monthly subscription rate of $7/mo sets in.

What are you waiting for? Go create your profile today!