Convention Day One

I spent the day at a Meeting Planning convention in Long Beach. All in all, it was pretty neat. It's a good thing that I had been there before, for the Wizard Con, because the directions were TERRIBLE (i.e. : telling you to exit on a street that doesn't exist) and the parking situation is a mess. For some reason, they don't use the parking structure that is built under the convention center, it always says "lot full" when clearly there are 6 cars in there, so you have to park around the block at the Arena. It's not a bad walk, but I had to just laugh at all the people who came in full business dress and high heels, trudging through, sweating under the weight of their tote bags. Myself, I wore my Converse low-tops. Hey, I am a casual gal, no need to pretend otherwise.

It's always interesting to go to those things. You have the overly aggressive vendors ("Are you sure you don't have any upcoming meetings in Montana??") and the too-timid vendors who sit behind their tables, full of brochures, with no one paying any attention to them. I get a thrill sometimes from being "known". I work for a very large company that isn't something that you've ever heard of (unless you're in the Tech Biz) but we host some very big (read : expensive) events all over the place. So, it's neat when you strike up a conversation with a hotel from someplace far away and they say "oooh... Company X! Can I get you some more goodies? Let me take your information again... can I call you on Friday?"

So far, my haul includes 2 tote bags full of brochures and sales kits and approximately 2 tons of goodies. I have business card holders, keychains, chocolate bars, even a silver dollar and a rubber duck of Shaquille O'Neal. It's quite a spread. If I get anything cool tomorrow, I will start sending them out to all of you. Hope you like letter openers! :)