Should You Go Wild?

What do you get when you put thousands of planners in one location?

Chaos! And Go Wild.

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend my first Go Wild this year. I was going alone and didn’t have any friends going. To say I was nervous is an understatement! But I quickly learned there was no need to be nervous. Most everyone was welcoming, and there was so much going on that it didn’t matter if you were alone.

Go Wild is quite expensive, but I highly recommend attending at least once if you can afford it. It was fun to be around like-minded individuals and meet people you’ve chatted with online, and the speakers were quite inspiring! I feel like I took a lot away from most of the sessions.

How much did it cost me? Here is a rough estimate.

Ticket $720
Hotel $1055
Airfare $12
Lyft $111
Food $190

Total $2076

I did have a single room. I didn’t want to room with anyone. You could share a room to lower the cost. I used airline miles for my flight; otherwise, it would have been around $250-300. The Lyft includes to and from the airport and one off-site meet-up. The trip back to the airport has half of the total. It must have been a busy time! It was still cheaper than renting a car and paying for parking/valet at the hotel.

I have celiac disease, and I door-dash some groceries to my room. I ordered snacks, breakfast, and items to make sandwiches. The food also includes two hotel breakfasts, one airport dinner, and snacks. It may have been different if the area around the hotel had more gluten free options. I researched ahead of time, and nothing safe was within walking distance.

There are ways to make it less expensive, especially if you don’t have dietary restrictions.

You do get a ton of swag, both from the conference and from other attendees. I did swaps and tablemate gifts, but those are completely optional. I sat at the Happy Planner sponsored table and received the Retro Sunset box (retail $49.99), a pencil pouch, a bracelet kit, and several discs.

We also received items from Archer and Olive, Altenew, sticker books from Amber Plans Her Day and Mojo JoJo, stickers from KrissyAnne Designs, a bunch of Zebra items (mildliners, brush pens, Sarasa pens, and more), Pipsticks Hello Kitty sub, A Kel of a Plan self-care planner, and an Erin Condren bag filled with even more goodies! I’m sure I’m probably missing something…

Not all of my tablemates brought gifts, and I was okay with that—those who did also brought smaller gifts. I was grateful for this because I was worried about the room in my suitcase and going over the weight limit! I thought all the tablemate gifts I received were thoughtful and mostly items I will use. Hopefully, others thought the same about mine!

VJ from Notiq was my favorite speaker. She gave me a lot to think about. Martha Stewart had a lot of funny responses to questions. I also really enjoyed V from Under the Desk News. They spoke a lot about TikTok but the ideas behind it could translate to other social media. And, of course, I was excited to see Frank Warren from Post Sewcretys. I started reading the Sunday Secrets when they first started.

Would I go again? Yes. Would I go if I couldn’t truly afford it? No. Don’t get me wrong—I had fun. I met some people. But I wouldn’t go into debt to attend. The sessions could have been longer and focused more on planning, personal branding/social media, productivity, etc. I also found the morning line-up before each day stressful and poorly run.

I heard some people lined up around 3 a.m. when we weren’t supposed to be in line before 6:30. I heard the ADA accommodations were supposed to be limited to two per sponsored table, but that was not enforced. I also heard some volunteers were “saving” spots at their table for friends, which they weren’t supposed to do.

I feel like if there are rules, then those should be followed and enforced.

I’m curious about how some of the other conferences compare, but I don’t know if I will get a chance to attend any of them since Go Wild was so expensive. Does anyone want to sponsor me?! 😂