I know many of you might be SOBConned out at this point but I thought Iââ¬â¢d share a bit about what the conference looked like from my perspective. Call it an insiderââ¬â¢s view of the conference.
So here are a few tid-bits from what I saw at the conference that you might not have seen:
- Liz ended up getting to the hotel way later and way more stressed than she planned because there was a service failure in the shipment of the purple bags. Long story short, after spending hours on the phone tracking them down she managed to get a commitment for them to be delivered to the hotel early Friday morning. And fortunately they were.
- Lorelle, Joe, Easton, and I donââ¬â¢t know who all else worked for a good while stuffing those bags full of goodies for yââ¬â¢all.
- Robyn Tippins grew up right down the road from where I live. If the accent didnââ¬â¢t give it away sheââ¬â¢s way more Georgia than San Francisco.
- In addition to being a phenomenal singer and song writer, Christine Kane is incredibly funny. At dinner Saturday night she had our end of the table roaring with a little help from Tony Clark and Ben Yoskovitz. Gorgeous and I were close to peeing our collective pants. Iââ¬â¢m surprised no beverages came out any noses during that meal.
- Speaking of funny people, Rodney Rumford had Gorgeous and I rolling too. He arrived at the hotel Thursday and we were able to spend some time with him before things started rolling. Rodney is a guy who is full of ideas and is a very innovative thinker. Definitely interesting conversation there.
- Andy Sernovitzââ¬â¢s speaking experience showed as he rolled in a bit before his timeslot with his presentation in hand. He gave us plenty of time to upload it and have him set up before he took the stage. A professional and a very nice guy to chat with too.
- Speaking of presentations, Rodney Rumford has Vista on his machine and wouldn’t you know his was the only presentation that ended up being incompatible with the presentation computer. Even the Apple users were even able to produce compatible versions. What do you suppose that says about Vista?
- Dawud Miracle gets this whole idea that business is about relationships as well as anyone Iââ¬â¢ve ever met. It was refreshing to hear how committed a man like him is to his family. If you get the chance, spend some time getting to know him. And thanks, Dawud for volunteering your blog for Liz and David to critique.
- Iââ¬â¢ve been a part of these sort of things many times before. One thing that stood out to me was how little went wrong during the event. Sure we had some challenges. But all of them were minor.
- The Sofitel did an outstanding job helping us make SOBCon a success. They did a great job ensuring that weââ¬â¢d want to have our next event at their hotel again. Not only that, but all of their employees were wonderful to work with. Nice people, every one.
They were accommodating and willing to help us out with all sorts of things. They even rearranged the room for Saturday not once, but twice to get it the way we wanted it. Stephanie, Volkmar, Mike, and Salvador did a wonderful job making everything just the way we wanted it. Thanks guys! - We stayed on our timeline until we got to the raffle time in the afternoon. That was the one thing we didnââ¬â¢t build into the schedule. Iââ¬â¢ve never worked with a group of presenters that large where everyone of them honored the time of the following speakers so well.
My hatââ¬â¢s off to each of them. They were all wonderful.
One final tip for everyone who attends next year. Some of the best conversation and connections happen outside of the formal sessions. You will completely miss out if you donââ¬â¢t
Chris,
Re: Bullet 4 – too much information
Thanks for sharing the rest, though! 😉
Mike
Mike, Sorry about that. The good news is there weren’t any actual, um…, messes, over dinner. So all was well. 🙂
Love the tidbits, Chris.
Nice word pictures. I can vouch for Liz’s predicament Thursday. It was crazy. I was 1,000 miles away thinking, “poor Liz,” so I’m glad they came through in the end, even if they were late.
Note to self: order them in March next year. 🙂
Great recap, Chris. In a weekend full of highlights, that dinner what in the top 3 😉
Thanks, Easton.
Jesse, I think we’ve got a bunch of lessons learned. 🙂
Tony, if you ever get in a jam on your day job, you might be able to make it on the road. I’m just saying. 😉
Hey Chris,
The stressful part was the ride out in a cab during rush hour when I planned to be their so much earlier and so wanted to be having fun.
The whipping the bag folks into shape was sport. 🙂 I was defending the conference. 🙂
We needed something to go wrong. 🙂
Great summary and much thanks to all, including you, Chris, and Gorgeous, for all of your hard work to pull this off. It was an amazing experience and I’m SO looking forward to next year.
I appreciate this write-up, Chris.
“SOBConned out”? I don’t think so! Frankly, I would like to see a bit more about what went on – who gave the talks and what points they made. I feel a bit left out over here in the UK. But, I’m keeping a sharp eye on the various attendees, and I’m sure stuff will gradually come out.
And apparently it was recorded…maybe that will surface, too.
Hey Chris.
What I remember about dinner out on Saturday night was whenever I would bend an ear to Chistine’s end of the table, I’d end up rolling on the floor.
Thanks for the summary…and the kinds words about me. I still can’t put into clear words what I experienced at SOBCon. I’ve been to plenty of conferences and have taught in large groups…so that’s not it. No, something more happened for me. Some deep synergy with everyone there. I blame you, Liz, Mike, Terry and Gorgeous for that…in a good way. Something you all set with intention subtlely happened.
Blessings…
Hey Chris,
Even something so boring as stuffing bags can be great fun with the right people involved. 🙂
You’re right, the best part of the whole thing was getting a chance to talk to everyone outside the conference. Quite an experience, I had a Great Time… 🙂
Liz, I’m with you. I felt like a little kid not wanting to go to bed even thought I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I didn’t want to miss any fun.
Lorelle, we really enjoyed getting to know you. It was funny watching Lisa interact with folks because, as a non-blogger, she had no pre-conceived ideas about them.
Rory, there are tons of recap posts out there. Lorelle has a great collection of links to posts at her place.
Dawud, you had the advantage of being at the middle of the table. That way you could catch all the conversation!
Joe, your help was invaluable. Knowing those things were taken care of really helped out! That much less to worry about.
Yeah, I know. I tend to always start a bit slow and then end up in the middle of it all.