Last year I walked into my very first LTK Conference in Dallas, Texas knowing absolutely nobody else attending. I walked away with new friends that I still keep in touch with today (and like, a boat load of free product).
If you are an LTK Creator going to your first LTK Con and have no idea what to expect, this post is for you. I’m sharing all my LTK Conference tips that I wish I could have told myself on that first day, along with outfit ideas and everything you need to know for a great conference weekend.
I started my blog, Whimsy Soul, back in 2015 and immediately jumped on Like To Know It when I discovered it. I’ve been using the widgets and the LTK App for years, and affiliates make up about 35% of my income now. Last year alone, LTK drove over $75k dollars of revenue for my company (and that’s just LTK! Not the other platforms I use when a brand isn’t on LTK!)
After years, I was finally invited to the 2023 LTK Conference in October in Dallas. I had to see what all the fuss was about, so I immediately purchased my ticket, flights and hotel.
How Much Does LTK Con Cost?
Let’s break this down!
I attended in 2023 so all these numbers are based on this:
- Ticket: $400
- Flights: $300 (used points)
- Hotel: $1050 for 3 nights
- Food In Dallas: $150
- Ubers from Hotel to Airport: $60
- Nuuly rental: $80
- Other outfits: $65
Total: $2105
So, as you can see, this isn’t a cheap event by any means.
How To Get Invited To The LTK Conference
It’s not a secret that getting invited to the LTK Con is elusive and mysterious. To be honest, I was a little confused why I hadn’t been invited before, as I’ve been pulling easily $50-60k per year for a while
They handpick creators, usually the people who use the app a lot but also ones who drive a lot of revenue. This is an event for the top influencers to come together, meet a lot of brands, network and learn.
You will get your invite around early summer and the conference is now in the fall, usually September or October and it’s always in Dallas. If you are part of the Reward Style Facebook group, you can keep tabs on when invites are going out and make sure to check your email.
If you really want to go and didn’t get invited, it’s always worth it to ask your LTK Rep if there are extra invites that could be passed out. That’s the only other way to secure an invite.
I was invited back for the 2024 conference but I have such a busy fall and the conference overlapped a press trip I already had scheduled, so I had to skip it. I will probably attend in 2025 though. If I get invited back.
Tips For The LTK Conference
Ok, now here’s how to maximize your time at the conference and help you be your best self!
Get There A Day Early
My conference started on a Monday and lasted for 2 days. Instead of flying in on Monday, I flew in on Sunday. This gave me time to rest and prepare for a busy week ahead.
Do yourself a favor and get there a day early to rest!
Stay In The Brand Hotel Or Nearby
Creators are given a discounted rate at the host hotel, my year was at The Thompson in Dallas. These hotel rooms go very quickly, I wasn’t able to secure one since the hotel booked up almost the same day invites are sent out.
Instead, I book The Mint House in Dallas, a couple blocks away from the host hotel. You won’t want to be any further since you don’t want to be living in Lyfts as you shuttle yourself to and from Downtown Dallas for the event.
If I had to do this again, the second they announce dates for LTK Con, I would squat on the Thompson Hotel on something like Hotels.com where you can cancel for free. Then, you know you got a room at the host hotel (they’ve had it at the Thompson for a few years now).
If you know people going, it’s also helpful to split a hotel room so you can save a lot of money. I didn’t know anyone so I had to foot the bill myself… though I did love how big The Mint House rooms where, they are basically mini apartments and all that space to unwind after the long conference days was really nice.
Bring A Large Checked Bag
I can’t stress how important it is to brig a large checked bag with plenty of room (and weight) to bring home PR goodies. You’ll get a massive tote bag and so much gifted PR product, your head will swim.
I got Tarte, Bondi Boost, hair hot tools, shampoo, lotions, a Stanley cup, lashes, creams, notebooks… no way that would have all fit into my carry-on bag.
The idea of the Brand Hall is to be able to network with brands and hopefully work with them, but also to try out their products. I found during my year that most brands weren’t actually interested in working with influencers (or, perhaps – as a curvy woman I wasn’t someone they wanted to work with).
Out of the 30 some brands, only 5 were willing to exchange contact information and none of them answered my post-event follow-up emails. Many brands had the audacity to tell me to “DM them Instagram to talk about a collab!” *insert clown emojis*.
So, you absolutely should try your best to make good PR connections and get new brand deals out of the conference, but don’t have your hopes up to high. It may not happen…
Plan Outfits That Reflect YOUR Brand
In a room full of fashion influencers, you can expect that everyone is going to be dressed so incredibly well. It’s easy to dress the way you *think* and LTK influencer should dress, but I instead recommend you dress in a way that fits your personal brand.
Personally, I wore a pink Sezane pantsuit one day which helped me stand out in the crowd of white and tan. Another day I wore a monochrome blue outfit which also was on brand for me (a colorful girl) and made it easy for all the new people I met to remember me.
One evening for the cocktail hour, I went with all black and cowboy boots, but the top still had some sass to it. You’ll want something that feels like YOU and makes you feel confident!
Get To Events Early (Room And Buses Are Crowded)
This isn’t the time to be fashionable late. Get to each event, conference speaker and cocktail hour right on time. A lot of people are attending this conference and seats fill up quickly!
If you have friends, ask them to save seats in conferences or on buses. You’ll be doing a shuttle bus to the final awards ceremony and they are rather small, we had to wait about 45m minutes for our turn to get into it. So, don’t be running late since you will miss out on things.
Give Yourself Downtime
Rest is SO important for events like this. You can’t be go go go 24/7 and expect to be your best self. Even if it was just 1 hour between the brand hall and cocktail hour, I gave myself time to retreat to my hotel room and rest.
I was honestly surprised sometimes how nice it was just to sit in silence after being around so much noise and people for 3 days straight.
I also loved using downtime to bond with my new friends! One night we got late night snacks in their hotel room and another we escaped a cocktail hour early to go swimming on their hotel rooftop pool. So nice to unwind this way.
Leave Time To Network
Community > competition is my motto. You should have a few goals when you arrive to the conference and one of those goals should be networking with other creators. I would not have been able to survive and thrive for 9+ years in this industry if it wasn’t for other creators I’ve befriended.
Sharing ideas, working together on photoshoots, being support systems is all so so important. You never know where connections will lead you. So, make sure to leave time to get to know other women and CONNECT!
Plus, you may find really great friends. I’m so thankful to have met Anabeth, Kendall and Stef on day 1 of the conference. They took me under their wing and it was a blast hanging out with them. I would have felt like a fish out of water without their friendship and kindness. We still keep in touch!
Other good goals are:
- Meet x new creators from other states or niches
- Get 10 email addresses from brands in the brand hall
- Meet your LTK Rep IRL to form a bond
- Take an OOTD every day and post it to LTK
- Learn 1 new thing you can apply to your business
Bring A Tiny Fan
Pro-tip from my friend Kendall – the conference rooms can get stuffy and hot. It is Dallas in late summer/early fall after all! If you run hot, bring along a small, portable fan to help keep you cool.
Expect Surprises
Usually at the Cocktail Party, expect surprise appearances. The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, or actors or artists may come out and do a performance. That’s another reason not to be late to things – you may miss out on something really cool.
Bring A Portable Phone Charger
You’ll be out all day networking, learning and taking outfit shots. Make sure you have a great portable charger on hand! I love this one, I take it with me on all my travels.
Eat Meals Before Cocktail Hour
Cocktail hour has food, yes, but it’s more like tiny finger bites and will not be enough food to fuel you after a long day of networking (and a night of drinking!)
I wouldn’t have thought of this if it weren’t for my new friends who have done the conference before. They knew it was key to have a proper dinner before the cocktail hour so they wouldn’t be ravenous or sloppy drunk during the event.
Share A Lot To Social Media: Milk The Clout
I want to challenge you to think about the long game and PR optics of attending the LTK Con. Many brands and PR people who are at the event will still keep tabs on who is there. They know that people who are invited are great at moving sales, so if they are casting new influencers for a campaign, sourcing from people who went to LTK is a great place to start.
I made it a point to post a lot on Instagram and TikTok about being at the conference, posting the LTK logo everywhere and just being LOUD about being there. Flaunt the fact you are there. Put it in your OOO email, post it to Threads and Linkedin.
When brands try to work with you in the fall for Q4 campaigns, find a way to naturally drop the fact you were at LTK in the convo. Gotta milk the clout!!
Link All Your Conference Outfits To LTK
Bring a tiny tripod to take tons of content in your hotel room with all your outfits. Ask the other girls to help you take photos during the cocktail hours and events so you can share what you are wearing to your LTK.
This is a time of year when loyal, heavy LTK users are watching at home and they want to see what their favorite influencers wore. And they could discover you and shop your outfits!
Don’t forget to use videos to make the algorithm happy!
Things I Didn’t Like About LTK
Hey this wouldn’t be an honest post if I didn’t highlight the things that I didn’t like. I need to be fully transparent!
Breakout Sessions Gone
One thing I was really looking forward to at LTK Con was the extra learning sessions aka breakout sessions. I’ve been told that they had learning sessions where you could expand education in a niche topic from experts in the field, and other women using the app who are knocking it out of the park.
I wanted to learned! But in 2023 they took that away.
What was left was only the Keynote opening and closing, and while they had some good speakers I didn’t feel like the education I got from these was a good enough replacement for the lack of breakout sessions. With those gone, everyone spent all their time in the brand hall and it sort of felt like a giant gifting party instead of a place to network, share ideas and learn.
I am fairly certain they brought those back in 2024 so fingers crossed it stays that way! To me, the point of a conference like this is to network and learn – not just get a lot of free product.
More Representation
I know the LTK team is trying to bring more representation to the creators attending the conference but I felt like they could still do more. Representation is SO important. There was just a tiny group of us curvy and plus size creators, and a slightly larger, but also small group of creators who weren’t white.
As LTK expands and grows, I hope they can continue to ensure their top creators and the creators getting invites to their conference better reflect the diverse group of people who are creating on the app, and shopping from the app.
Mean Girl Vibe
I was so thankful I met my friends on day 1 at check in and they took me under their wing. While I absolutely met many wonderful, kind, genuine women at the LTK Con, I also met a lot of cliches and low-key mean-girl vibes. The kind that will ask for your handle and then decide if it’s worth talking to you or not. Or judge you based on your shoes.
At lunch, for instance, I was placed at a table where I didn’t know anyone. I tried so hard to talk to the girls at my table and everyone mostly ignored me. The girl next to me chatted with me for a couple of minutes and then turned her body to spend the rest of the meal chatting to the other women.
I totally felt like I was in high school again and like, for what? We’re all adult women with successful businesses, yet I found myself in some situations of gatekeeping and cliches. So bizarre. So, know this DOES happen here, and don’t let it surprise you.
If you run into a mean girl, keep trying: I promise there are plenty of kind souls at the conference. You just have to go find them…
What To Wear To The LTK Con (Outfit Inspo!)
Ok, now for outfit inspiration for LTK Con! I was super stressed by this and spent a lot of time looking on the LTK App, Instagram and blogs to try and get a feel for what people wore to the event. It was all over the board, to be honest.
Some people kept it pretty casual during the conference days, others dressed up more. As I chatted about above, it’s important to stay true to your brand but you should also have some fun with outfits. It’s a great time to make a great first impression and sell your LTK followers on your outfits.
For the conference days, go with something fun, memorable and comfortable. You’ll be on your feet a lot in the brand hall, and sitting in the conference room, so keep that in mind when building a wardrobe.
The cocktail party night is when people break out styles that align more with a date night, or girls night out. Think tiny dresses, leather pants and heels.
The awards ceremony on the last night is truly a time to live your inner red carpet glam (or, White Carpet!) This is the best time to whip out your best fancy fashion. Some girls even went as far as to hire a beauty glam squad to go their hair and makeup before the show.
When in doubt, bring cowboy boots. It’s Dallas, after all!
I highly recommend you use a service like Nuuly to rent outfits. I rented a pair of Collette leather pants that I kept since I loved them so much, along with a top I wore at the cocktail party and a glam dress I wore for the awards ceremony.
I love this shirt. I wasn't convinced it would be a good buy, but it fits like a dream and the little hearts are so cute! I love to wear it backwards.
- Classic shape
- Comes in many patterns
- Good weight
- A little stiff, needs to be washed to get soft
I invested in a good white cowboy hat on a trip to Arizona and it's my favorite thing to wear in the Southwest and Mountains.
I hope this helps you plan for your conference year!! You may just see me there and if you do, come say hi!!
2 comments
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