There was one off-site event that took place, after the day's sessions but before evening activities. I'm not clear if it was private or if everyone but me was invited (see above note about good times) and I'm not sure if it involved more than appetizers and swag. One of you can fill me in in the comments.
Go ahead; fill me in on what else I wasn't invite to below.
Kudos to:
Country Inn and Suites for sponsoring a Travel Tribe talk (led by the wonderful Vacation Gal, Jennifer Miner). I've corresponded with CI&S rep Emily, and it was nice to meet her in person at the discussion.
I learned about their Team Stop program, which I thought was pretty cool.
Team Stop is designed to encourage travel teams to stay at CI&S. Among the perks of this program are free sports drinks at check in and a free uniform wash per stay for the team members. Yes, even if the team consists of matheletes. (I had to ask.)
The Country Inn folks also stepped up with affordable hotel rooms when the Type A room block was booked up at official conference hotel, the Radisson. Also, I hear CI&S's provides some pretty sweet chocolate chip cookies for their guests.
Wilsonart HD, makers of laminate counter tops, provided a factory tour for bloggers that took place before I arrived into town. Bummer; I love factory tours! Given that we will likely buy a house in need of a drastic kitchen makeover, I was very interested in talking with them. I'm not someone who's sold on granite counters- I hear they require a bit of maintenance and I can see breaking more than one plate because I've set it down too hard on the counter. If you heard how hard I pound the keys when I type, you'd know what I mean.
Anyway, the lovely ladies of Wilsonart sat and patiently answered my many questions, even after I'd interrupted their cocktail hour. Bonus points for the brand!
Bit Defender Community Manager, Leticia Barr, was an excellent ambassador for the brand. Given her background as a teacher, mom, and tech-oriented momblogger, she's someone who easily connects with bloggers in a meaningful way. She can talk about the brand without being pushy as she is naturally passionate about keeping kids safe in online. Along these lines, Jill Berry, makes an excellent YourSphere Ambassador.
Speaking of ambassadors, ebay classifieds has a blogger program that recently moved to a new managing agency, so it will be interesting to see how it develops. As we sold off our possessions in recent years (to be clear, we did so because we didn't want to pay for storage space for items we no longer needed or wanted, thankfully, we did not let it go in order to pay our bills or put food in our mouths. DH thinks I have a tendency to make us look impoverished, hence the disclaimer.) Where was I?
Oh yes, as we sold off possessions, we listed them on ebay local classifieds and Craigslist and, well, Craig delivered. Rather, Craig sold and I delivered. I swear, I'm going to get busted one day handing off items in exchange for money at the local Starbucks.
That said, like Craiglist, ebay classifieds is a free service and ebay has a nicer and better-looking interface for sellers and buyers. They have potential.
Chick-fil-A Wow, talk about a brand with an eager fan base! People were chatting up the Chick-fil-A lunch before breakfast even began. They are opening up a Chicagoland location soon, so I'm sure I'll be reading more about them in the coming months.
Tiny prints is yet another brand that has made a professional match with an eager blogger. I spotted Jessica Rosenberg hand delivering business cards--talk about service! She also reminded me that I'm going to need change of address cards once we have a new house- that girl pays attention!
The brands above were not the only conference sponsors, they were just the ones with whom I interacted with on a most personal and positive level. What about you?
0 comments:
Post a Comment