I'm back from Convention in Salt Lake City, and after a few days of catching up on delivering orders, paperwork, emails, dividing New Product Samplers, and especially sleep, I have lots of tidbits from Convention to share!
OMG! (<<<and I don't use that term lightly!) Convention was SO much fun! Darla and I had the most fantabulous time this year! Much better than last year for a variety of reasons, but mostly because it had all sorts of surprises and extras that we didn't see last year.
I wish I could share it all with you RIGHT THIS MINUTE! And, had I known I would have so much to share, I wouldn't have bored you with last week's "what goes on at Convention" blogs. Psssh! Those don't even begin to describe our experience! It was jam-packed and pee-your-pants-fun!
Thankfully, Darla has an awesome camera, and between the two of us, we captured more than 900 photos and videos (well, they are mostly using hers, because hers are in focus)! I've been trying to pick out my favorites and go over my 44 pages of notes (I majored in journalism, so I can't live without my notepad).
Hopefully, you'll get a taste of all the excitement…because I want YOU to come with us next year! Seriously, we would love to have a whole Too Cool Team representin' at Convention 2011 (mark your calendar—July 13-16, 2011)
Convention 2010 First Day Tidbits
This was the line of demos waiting to get into the Salt Palace Convention Center. Nearly 2800 extremely excited women (and a few men) were anxiously awaiting the opening of the doors, and the line went half way down the block. Fortunately, I had a Make & Take Helper VIP pass so I didn't have to wait at all. Darla's flight was canceled the day before, so she hadn't arrived yet (not the best way to start the trip).
I headed straight to Momento Mall to see what exclusive goodies we could purchase. My VIP pass got me in there fast, while others waited 2-3 hours! What a time-saver!
By far, the most popular items were the cool Craft Tote and matching Lap Top Bag made out one of my favorite patterns in the Greenhouse Gala Designer Paper. I was impressed with their quality, they were padded and lined with fabric that matches more Gala paper. And the tote pockets are perfectly sized to carry ink pads, punches and even 12×12" paper. I had to get myself one of the totes, but didn't think that my husband would go for the laptop bag, since we share our laptop…hee! I debated for 3 days whether he could live with flowers…
I also loved the Regal Rose and Cherry Cobbler tees with "Stampin' Up!" written in letters from Jayne's Type Alphabet. One of each, please! Check.
There were also incentives and business tools for sale…
Pop-up Scrap Can for workshops, shopping totes…
Designer Series Paper and ribbon sampler rings…
Stampin' Up! ruler, key chain and pens…they even had Salt Water Taffy in Pear Pizzazz, Melon Mambo and Peach Parfait flavors…I always wondered what those colors tasted like! 🙂
We all picked up our groovy Convention bag, filled with stamp sets we would use for our Make & Takes, plus some catalogs and keepsakes. You ain't seen nothing, until you've seen 100's of women with bright Pumpkin Pie polka dot totes walking the streets of SLC! More than once I heard, "what's the deal with the orange bags?" LOL!
Between the stamps in our tote, and the ones I received as awards and gifts, I came home with whole lotta rubber! It's a good thing I made room in my suitcase!
Too Cool! How exciting is that! Imagine yourself coming home with all of those sets—Play Time bay-bee! You can see a sneak peak of one of the sets in the upcoming Holiday Mini called Paisley Prints (top left).
I also had my Make & Take Helper training on the first day. Here I am with the coordinator, Donna Griffith. She is wearing a "Share What You Love" apron, which was also available for purchase in Momento Mall.
And I just adored the cute flower name tags that her team made for the Helpers! It's made with the Flower Folds Die, with a jumbo brad and button in the center. They made 120 of them for all of the demos who helped with one of the five Make & Take sessions. Wow, that must have taken forever to add all of those rub-on letters! It's details like this that really amazed me!
I met up with Darla just in time to get our groove on at the Flower Power Party! Are you ready for this?!
Far out, man! I can't tell you how much I enjoyed flipping my long hair around all night! And our platform sandals, courtesy of our local Goodwill store, were a hoot, and not at all difficult to walk in. Thanks to my downline, Pam Huskey, for helping me turn into my alter-hippie-ego.
Of course, my camera was on the psychedelic setting…kinda sets the mood…it's what the night would have looked like on acid. Can you dig it, man? Here I am with Stampin' Up! Web Developer, Mark Jessen, and Darla and I also got a picture with Dale Fillmore, the company president.
The party had lots of fun stuff to do. There was a scavenger hunt, qualifications for the game show on closing day, product demonstrations, plus a strolling group of singers.
We got our faces painted with flowers and peace signs, and hula hooped. There was even a hula hoop contest and Twister game going on…we passed on those.
I loved that the whole Stampin' Up! corporate team dressed up! Shelli Gardner, our lovely Stampin' Up! leader, is in the center in the tie-dye dress, along with her husband, Sterling.
After a very long and fantastically full day, we headed back to the hotel, and the wig came off! Nice! We were hot and exhausted already, and the real convention hadn't even begun yet!
I've got many more highlights to show you, including some fun project ideas, so stay tuned!
Angie
Lookin’ good! Gotta tell you that brings back fond memories. You see I wore stuff like that to school.
Where were all the hiphugger bell bottom pants????
Can’t wait to see more.
There were some awesome outfits, Shirley! There were lots of bell bottoms and short skirts with go-go boots!