Showit United 2019: Recap of the best damn conference around

Personal

This November I attended my first ever photography conference. I’ve attended workshops, retreats, and put together my own styled shoots but I’d never been to a conference before.

Truth be told, I didn’t know there were such things for the photography industry. Those were things that business executives and people with “real jobs” attended…not something for us creative types.

Well, I can’t begin to tell you how wrong I was because there are a handful of conferences for us photographers. And the creme of the crop is the Showit United conference. So naturally, once I decided I wanted to start attending conferences, I told myself I had to be at this one! I booked my ticket (a whole year in advance) and patiently waited for November 2019.

So, what makes Showit United so unique? That’s a complicated answer but I’ll try to sum it up.

It’s an annual event: The conference has been going on for about 8 years so they know how to put on a god event.
It focuses on business: how to better your business, how to think about business differently, how to enhance your creative skills to produce better work, etc.
It’s not just about business: business is important but the real focus is on fostering community. And building relationships we did! I met photographers whom I now call some of my most amazing and treasured friends.
It’s like camp but for photographers: we get to attend keynote speaker sessions with creatives at the top of their game but we also get to attend breakout sessions, styled photo shoots, and a gala…a freaking gala y’all! Oh, and if you want it, you can have pool time…pool time in November friends. That’s just what the doctor ordered for this Minnesota girl.

If there was an overarching theme for this year’s conference it would be fostering relationships and grace.

Relationships are SO important in the service industry and photography is no different. We talked a lot about how we build and maintain relationships with our various communities (our family, friends, clients, virtual community) as well as maintaining the most important relationship of all: the relationship we have with ourselves.

So yeah, Showit United it pretty friggin sweet. So sweet in fact that I’ve already secured my spot for Showit United 2020. I have a feeling this will be an annual “must do” for Lauren Baker Photography from here on out. 😉