In 2005 I attended the Gospelcon conference with Aaron and a 9 month old Jessica. This conference was AWE-some.
The food was amazing, the hotel far exceeded any expectation, the speakers and topics were interesting, helpful and sought after and the location was central and interesting. What makes a great event?
Food is an obvious deal breaker - there needs to be great food, amazing food. And there needs to be a lot of it. Snacks and candy and bright colors. Presentation is key. Focus on the attendees - are they energetic? Bring in foods and props that evoke energy - Red Bull, purified water, Twizlers. Is the crowd or all around event more low key? Bring in calm colors, foods, hot drinks and purified waters.
The event itself has to be something your audience wants. Are you looking to have a girls weekend away? Then don’t advertise speakers or events on how to get stains out of your carpet. You need to take the audience out of their environment and put them in your own. Your environment needs to be bleeding with the message you want them to walk away with.
For example at Gospelcon’s 2005 conference there was no doubt that we were getting together to have a great weekend learning from the anticipated speakers and topics but to also have purpose on the internet and bring integrity to the web. Their signage screamed this without having to say a thing.
It was designed well, professional and there was pride in the “product” Gospelcon was marketing to us. What makes a great event to you, or have you been to one that blew you out of the water? What about it was so awesome?
posted on February 28, 2007| 10:40 PM EST
Aaron might want to add to this list and we’ll ask him specifically to dig in later but I’m going to let you in on some dirty little habits. And also ask you to inspire me to adopt new habits, maybe yours?
I blow my nose. In the shower. So self deprecating. Although I’ve made good use of the paper towels in our kitchen as of late I think we’d have less visits from the plumber to de-clog the drain if I could keep it in my nose for 10 more minutes.
Are you cringing yet? Because I am.
Aaron owns more nail-clippers than are sold in bulk at Sams Club. Every gas station we stop at on a road trip, EVERY gas station, he buys one. Why? Probably because the one he bought last time - it’s under his seat, and thats just too much work to bend over and retrieve. No, 99 cents in cheap enough to invest in a Brand New Nail Clipper!
He’s very good at keeping his pretty hands pretty. Me on the other hand, I think I’ve used a nail clipper a total of 10 times since we’ve been married ok since we’ve been dating. Ah what the hell, since I learned what one was used for. I’m a peeler. You know how Uncle Sal bites his nails at Thanksgiving before going to the kitchen to carve the turkey? And we all know he doesn’t wash his hands first. Well I generally pick at my toe-nails while watching TV and then I’ll shake your hand. It’s so nice to meet you.
If I eat dairy of any form or pop or anything carbonated; if I consume sugar in mass quantities - I burp. A lot. And in public.
Some things I’d like to adopt as good habits would be the ability to wake up before my daughter and have a grip on what my day is going to be like so when she wakes up I’m not a zombie waiting for nap time to come around.
I’d also enjoy the habit of being disciplined enough to do my hair every day. I spend money on the hair cuts and I give it about 2 weeks before I stop preparing myself for human contact. Although this hair cut is much easier to do. The curling iron - I bought you but you own me. You’re so damn intimidating.
Answering my phone would also be a good habit to form. I screen every call and unless you’re Aaron you’re most likely going into voice mail. I’ve gotten better but it goes in waves. I’m just not a phone talker. Email is so convenient and much more conducive to my hermit lifestyle.
Now it’s your turn. Give me one bad and one good habit you already posses. And I’m not asking here people, start talking.
posted on | 2:01 PM EST
We were sitting on the floor in her playroom putting a puzzle together when she pops up and runs out of the room …
Jessica: “Mom, you do the puzzle. Do the puzzle. MOM!”
Me: “Ok. Sure.”
Jessica: “I’m gonna poop!”
Me: “Uh. I’m going to do the puzzle.”
Jessica: “Yes.”
posted on | 12:34 PM EST
I went out this morning and bought the book and since I don’t want to post scanned images of my teenage diary’s just yet I’m going to go with the suggestion of posting about whats in my bag.
Fair enough.
This is my purse, or the luggage I carry around and try to pass off as a purse. There’s really no need for this size of bag for me. I bought it on a 4 hour shopping trip laced with freedom and a good jeans day. This is what’s inside my peice of luggage right now:
A diaper, which is incredily useful because Jessica’s potty trained. Has been for about a month.
Crayons that I stole from Village Inn Pizza Parlor last night. They were free.
A photo book I made from Qoop/Flickr of Jessica, a brag book if you will.
My wallet - we’ll get to this in a mintue.
The 2007 CHAMPS coupon book. I like coupons. Alot.
A Tampax tampon. Not because I “need” it - because they were free and I grabbed one in the bathroom. You never know.
A pen. A push pen, which are superior to all pens, any where.
A bib. This bib sucks alot of toe. But it’s washable and some times does it’s job of keeping Jessica’s shirt look less like her dinner plate than - well, her dinner plate.
Now to the wallet. Here it is.
In all it’s very boring, very safe glory. Whenever I’m looking to replace a wallet or purse I always have an image in mind that I’m trying to duplicate. A-l-w-a-y-s. I think this one repersents the “I’m a stay at home mom, but I want to fool you into thinking I’m not 21.” For a long time I had a stick up my butt about being older or “grown” already. This whole taking one day at a time thing was not working well for me. Alot of wisdom at 23 in present day? No. Just trying not to get to 60 before I lived through my 20’s.
More boring. There’s really only one very exciting kind of erotic thing in my wallet and thats coming. But here we see my license and an array of cards …
Such as the Sams Club member card, the Genworth Financial dental insurance card, 10% Natures Market member card, JP’s gift card worth more than my car, the debit card, the license, the hallmark member card good for pretty much nothing because it still has my maiden name on it and my old address. The Library card and to top it off the Priority Health Insurance card.
I do not own a credit card. But you might think differently when you see these reciepts …
These have been building up for a good 2 months. WAIT, are those my stamps? Sweet. There’s a tithe check we forgot to give to our church for the 2nd week in a row. I’ll be making a trip out there to get rid of this money soon. Other reciepts consist of this weekend’s shopping for clothes, a reciept from Butches for some amazing wine, our bank # reminder card from 5/3rd etc.
I also have some very outdated photos of Jessica and Anna in my wallet.
And next to these little angels in my wallet? Lying right on them? This is the embarassing part. The slightly erotic moment.
Other than the wallpaper sample for Jessica’s bedroom, that has not only been hung but since taken down and repainted, I also have a 8 year old Maurices punch card, all I need is one more punch and I’ll finally save $10. Remember, I love coupons. Along with these very innocent peices of memoralbilia I have a punch card for Pure Romance. With only 6 punches left. It was a bachelorett party and that’s all I’m disclosing.
Last but certainly not least we have the forgettable back pocket with an equally forgettable punch card for Main Dish.
And there you have it. Me in a nutshell? Lets hope not.
posted on February 26, 2007| 12:13 PM EST
