Conferences can be exhausting!!

Conferences can be EXHAUSTING!  Having just returned from the Signature Travel Network Conference in Las Vegas I was reminded how my clients must feel!  The alarm goes off earlier than it does on any other day and I walk literally 1 mile from my room at the Signature at the MGM to the Conference Center at the MGM Grand.  4 people movers, 8 hallways, an escalator, and finally I’m in a meeting room with a buffet breakfast set up.  While I love the different choices of teas and the raw sugar that I don’t splurge on at home, the overdone eggs and underdone bacon leaves something to the imagination!  Yes, I’m a picky breakfast eater and banquet food must please the masses. 

Breakfast seminar is followed by 2 seminars on email marketing and building your social media.  The caffeine is kicking in and I’m getting excited, rejuvenated, and taking notes like a crazy woman!  Lots of “why didn’t I think of that?”, “well of course!”, and “that makes complete sense!”, are running through my head.  I’m ready for the task. 

We break for lunch but it’s really not a break.  2000 of your “closest friends” in a ball room sharing a nice lunch while hearing a presentation from our board members and then vendors showing movies, slide shows and presenting on the 7 large screens throughout the room.  I try and plan my bathroom breaks where the woman’s room doesn’t have a line out the door, down the hall and around the corner.  I was sometimes successfully but most of the time not.  J

Lunch completed, I quickly glance at the back of my name badge as to what room and table I will be sitting at for the round tables.  Each product or vendor has 4 minutes to give you the introduction, highlights, specials and DING they move one.  This lasts for 2 ½ hours.  The room is kept cold to keep us awake and the caffeine is being replenished.  A chocolate chip cooking anyone???  Very informative and I walk away learning about a few products and companies that are new to me so this was a complete success.

Cocktails anyone?  Happy Hour is hosted by the Mexican Tourist Board and the bar is open.  Hot and cold hors d’ eurves stations, music and entertainment and this ballroom is again transformed.  I’m still in the same clothes that I was in VERY early this morning.  I’m now carrying a large bag of literature given out at the round tables.  My purse is getting heavy and I’m trying to text my colleagues to see what’s next.  I feel like I Love Lucy in the candy factory!  Next a “private” cocktail reception and onto dinner, AND tomorrow to do it all over again!

The days are whirlwinds and overloads of information.  Having belonged to a consortium but not really knowing how it affects me and my clients, I’m reminded why I am in the travel business.  Relationships, contacts, fun, adventure, selling MY knowledge and MY passion to clients who trust MY opinion…. Why should this be an epiphany?  Regardless of your business or passions, I think we all get caught up in our daily lives and need to be re-centered periodically.  This was my shakeup!

Through this business trip I find all the more sympathy for my clients with a 330am wake up call in order to get to the airport, find parking, check in, take the tram and make a 710am flight.  I promise to have more compassion when you check in early but cannot get your room for 14 more hours because that’s when your schedule allows you to get back to the hotel lobby.  Kudos to the travelers who have a wardrobe and make up to look fresh from 430am until 12 midnight.  I give high praise to the vendors at trade shows who sell their product in 20 seconds with glowing excitement.  I thank the employers who encourage employees to attend and managers who motivate their staff to put their ideas to practice upon their return!  GREAT conference in many, many ways!!!