Does anyone here watch “So You Think You Can Dance”? If so, do you know how Mary Murphy has the Hot Tamale train… well imagine her screaming “Woo Hoo!!!” and that is what we were saying this morning. 
It was a fun day filled with general session, make & takes, classes, and lots and lots of stamping buddies! I think that was actually one of my favorite parts – reconnecting with friends I haven’t seen in a while, meeting new folks while waiting in line or in classes or swapping, and its been so fun to meet folks who visit my blog and stop me to say hi!
As with yesterday, I have more photos on my facebook page – http://facebook.com/nwstamper, but here are some of my highlights from today.
The day started with general session and I had my littlest stamper with me to enjoy the show! Ok, so she enjoyed the first half of session and then napped the second… but that is ok, she didn’t need to learn about how to connect with Gen Y!
The keynote speaker was the hilarious Jason Dorsey who works for a company that researches generations and their characteristics and trends. It was fascinating to hear what research shows is the difference between generations, for example – Baby Boomers prefer communication via phone whereas Gen Y strongly prefers text and email to phone calls when being reached out to. And the interesting thing was sitting next to my mom and watching us both nod our heads along to what he was saying!
But before he took the stage… and look at this cool stage… was a welcome by Shelli Gardner
She talked about the convention theme and Stampin’ Up!’s commitment to supporting demonstrators who want to build their demo-ship “my way” and growing our talent and businesses in ways that are right for us.
And of course, she had to show a super cute project! (I’ll post a better picture tomorrow if I can! And I’m totally going to CASE parts of it so I can show you some cool details in later posts!)
I worked on Make & Takes – more on that tomorrow! And though I shopped at Momento Mall again over lunch, check out how fun the lunch area was set up.
I had classes in the afternoon… and if you are curious about the types of things you can learn at convention, today I took the following classes:
- “I am a Leader” with Brian Pilling – I always love classes with Brian because he has such an interesting take on the topics. In this case it was more about what are the characteristics/extremes of a bad leader and where is a middle ground that you can be more effective and helpful. I’m always trying to figure out how to be better for my team and so I loved the insight!
- “I am Open for Business” with Carrie Cutney – Carrie is one of the frequent speakers at SU events and this was a good class for hearing some basic ideas for how to find new customers and stamping friends, tips for responding when people find you, and ways to expand your business.
And tomorrow, its more sessions, more make & takes, more classes, and I’m going to get more pictures of the displays!
So, before I sign off for now so I can catch a few more Zzzs before the day really begins, I thought I would share two more things that always impress me about Stampin’ Up! and convention:
1. Stampin’ Up’s support for demonstrators with families! Even at a corporate event, they allow and even encourage demos with infants to come participate by providing “mother’s lounges” on either side of the general session floor. These rooms are walled off sections of the main stage floor with carpeting (so you can put your baby down), gliders, changing station, and a TV so you can see what is happening up on the stage!
2. The friendship and sharing of other demonstrators! Stampin’ Up! offers incentives and benefits for building an supporting a team, but certain incentives only take into account your first 5 levels of downline. However, I am connected to a wonderful woman named Julie Gunhus who I am 8 or so levels below, but she has always been super inclusive of myself and my team at events and takes time to answer questions and even includes me in the cute gifts she gives her downline at convention. Like this adorable bag tag! I mean, seriously, isn’t it cute!?
Oh, and before I sign off, I should make sure to share the Stampin’ Up! news that was announced today at convention.
Day 1 Announcements:
- Watch for fun Stampin’ Up! ads in magazines such as Parents, Better Homes & Gardens, and Family Fun coming next month.
- My Digital Studio 2 has a release date! August 1st with additional features coming out as free updates following that. Awesome new features include designing 2 page spreads at one time, being able to use different color “ink” for different parts of a stamp image, being able to recolor DSP, embellishments, and stamps, and much more!
- Great upcoming incentive trips and managers reception locations including a weekend getaway trip to San Diego and manager’s reception (if you have the title of Manager with SU) will be in January at Harry Potter’s Wizardly World in FL! Extra incentive for me to promote to manager in the next few months!
Alright time for a little more rest! I’ll share more with you soon!
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