Conference Boost

Back in the office from our state conference. Props to my friend Brina for an AWESOME job putting on a motivational, informative, and professional conference. You rock!

Closed out my term serving as Emerging Leaders Institute Cochair. Bittersweet. I love that experience - it pushes me to be better, to learn more and helps me connect with people. But after three years, it was my time to go. I felt like it was becoming "The Amber Mitchell Show" and no one is interested in that. I will miss the people though - I say it every year but it's always true - we had a great group! They were so awesome, they rocked our Silent Auction and raised over $2,200 for our national advocacy group - not too bad for a conference of about 120 people.  And they were so sweet - they sent me off with a touching note and a gift card to my favorite restaurant. They know the way to my heart is through Mexican food...

I also got to host hospitality. That was a lot of fun. The preplanning was a little stressful. Not the ideas or the fun stuff - that I all loved. But for someone like me, it was challenging to plan for something that didn't have concrete information on -   How many people would come? How much food would I need? Did I have enough drinks? My ultimate goal was to make sure everyone there could eat, drink and be merry and somehow running out of stuff didn't fit into that picture. I ended up fine and I have a better idea of how to plan if I ever have the opportunity again.

Of course, if you would have asked me about doing it again a few hours before I would have said something different because I had a serious of small catastrophes.  I dumped an entire cooler filled with ice. In the middle of the hotel hall. And so I was trying to gracefully scoop up ice in a dress and heels and I couldn't get ahold of anyone to help. I finally found assistance and got that taken care of only to discover that my room was 100 degrees, then locked myself out of my room, left my wallet in someone else's room and no one was answering their phones. All that while trying to get myself to dinner. That was my time for a mini freak out.  So sorry to anyone that was around to hear my language during those moments - especially when I dropped the F bomb. Twice, I think. That's the cue that things are not going well with me - when I start talking like that you know it's bad. I really do try to refrain from that but I have my moments.

It really was a great conference and I'm so proud of my friends for their leadership. I'm excited to see what they do with our organization and feel fortunate that they will be able to share their vision and move our organization forward. I feel motivated, energized and ready to go!