***Forgive me, but this will be a long post 🙂 There are a lot of pictures that may be slow to load on your phone. All pictures were taken by me with my MacGyvered Camera***
In the past two weeks I have attended 2.5 conferences. I flew from Denver to St. Louis. Returned to Denver for a day and a half then flew to Bozeman, Montana for a work related conference. I am completely shattered at this point and then I picked up a touch of food poisoning (from food I cooked-bad chicken!) on Monday. All I want to do is sleep and meditate on all that I’ve learned in the past two weeks.
The Numbers:
2.5 Conferences:
FinCon13, My professional conference, and the .5 was a 5,000 person LifeVantage session that my friend was in. Will talk about that later.
Total Hours of Sleep:
What sleep???
One:
Hike-Pallisade Falls-Gallatin Park, Montana
Tour-We spent a day in Yellowstone National Park. Truly awe inspiring.
Sessions Run:
One-I ran my first session at a conference with a colleague. It was very well received! We might be sent to the National Conference to present that session. We will find out in a couple of weeks. Take a risk and submit a session that you would be interested in running for your professional conference or for FinCon14. It was truly exhilarating.
Around 20 Sessions Attended:
Wow!
At least 50:
Business Cards Collected
One:
Night out dancing
Yolo Moments:
Soaking outside in the wilds of Montana in an incredible Hot Spring drinking wine…
or
Watching the Buffalo Run wild through the wilds of Montana
or
Meeting all of the wonderful bloggers whose blogs I read on a regular basis and enjoy
Zero:
Rooms shared! I love my peeps but I find that I need time to decompress and relax after all of the socializing, networking, Â and note taking. I am very happy that I was honest about needing my space. I think I would be even more exhausted than I currently am if I hadn’t set some boundaries for myself.
One:
Gold bracelet found…
The .5 Conference-LifeVantage:
My friend runs a business through LifeVantage. Basically, they sell a health product. She and her husband are quite frankly big shots in that organization (they are in the training materials!). We discovered accidentally that we were both in St. Louis. So, we met at her session…with 5,000 people. She gave me a free pass and took me inside where we ended up walking all the way to the front row. It was a heady experience. The message at the session was amazing and totally connected with the message at FinCon13.
We are in charge of our own destiny, work hard, focus, sacrifice, dream big.
Sounds similar doesn’t it?
I also learned that I want to be a big wig too. I want to make a difference in people’s lives and I want people to know who I am. Am being honest. My friends will keep my ego in check!
I met so many amazing people for the first time. Some for the second or third time. Here is an incomplete list and if I’ve forgotten a name-it wasn’t intentional! I may have had a few drinks..
Lauren, Tonya, Athena, Latisha, Khaleef and SheriAnn, Kim, Kathleen
Mario, Erin, Kyle, Shannon, Crystal, Paula
Mr. Money Moustache, Romeo, Denver Eric
Jason, Cathy, Amanda, Andrea, Antoinette,
Michelle, Maria, Miss Thrifty, Mrs. PoP
What I’ve learned from attending these conferences:
There is value in going to conferences connected to your passions.
Networking is the key to everything…then hard work.
Take risks.
Believe in yourself.
Work some more.
Sleep is for the weak.
Party on.
Umm, that’s me getting ready to party for literally 8 or 9 hours. I only had 1.5 hours of sleep that night. You bloggers are serious about your party time.
 St. Louis after the Cardinals won
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Thanks for the shout out Michelle! It was nice to meet you too! And you’re totally on your own with that watching the buffalo roam thing. Cool pictures!!!!!
Come on Crystal! Nature is amazing. Watching wild buffalo roam in their natural habitat is unreal. I want to go on a safari next!
Amazing shots!! It sounds like you had a whirlwind past few weeks, too! I’m the same about needing my own space to decompress – it’s great that you recognized and owned that. Sounds like a fantastic time full of networking and learning, great job!
Thanks Anna, unless I bring a spouse I don’t plan on sharing a room anytime soon. I am still really, really tired (went to a corn maze last night). All I want is some space so that I can chill out. I think that networking works better because of getting the right amount of rest. Hehe.
Love this post! I want to go to FinCon so bad next year. I am going to try and hustle my face off this next year so I can “afford” Iceland for my 30th AND FinCon.
You HAVE to come next year. I’m wondering what location they are looking at for next year. I’ve heard that New Orleans is being floated around.
Can’t wait for FinCon14! Hopefully I’ll get to meet you 🙂
FinCon14!!! Can’t wait, we will definitely meet up! I’ve heard that people are pushing for New Orleans! Let’s cross our fingers.
Ha: I see that you too were drawn to the crazy FOUNTAINS OF BLOOD on the way back to the airport after #FinCon13!
It was great to meet you, and thank you so much for stashing my Special K popcorn chips with the concierge. That greedy woman may have scoffed the lot, but I have an iPhone photo to remind me of the culinary wonder that could have been…
It did look like BLOOD! And it really grossed me out. But, ‘Mericans do have an odd affinity for violent scenarios so…I had a fantastic time hanging out and will definitely be in touch when I’m in England. I’m thinking that I’ll be over there in a year or so. I think my best friend may be working on the baby project so once my little niece or nephew arrives I will swing over to England for a visit. It really sucks that the lady took the chips. I actually left your name AND room number on it. Bad karma.
Yes yes! Do keep me posted. It would be great if you swung… mind you, the next FinCon is in a year or so, so I might see you again before then. 😉