Touring America
Friday, June 13, 2008
And the winner is ... another company won the "Innovations" award at the DSA conference for a brand bus they used to crisscross the nation in support of their representatives. Which is ironic, for reasons that will soon become apparent. I'm still proud that Opportunity Zone was a finalist and well-regarded by attendees. That was readily apparent from the roundtable discussions I hosted where other companies continue to ask questions about how we were able to launch the Zone and how we are able to have these conversations on company-hosted space. I'm used to some IBOs coming up to me at Achievers or other places and striking the Kia pose when they see me, but it kind of blew me away when a communications from a competitor company did so. Superdu!
Anyway, it was a great DSA conference and lots of good speakers presented and I met with some key vendors who have interesting ideas about ways we can better support IBOs with their services. Of course, in almost all cases we already have vendors doing the exact same things the vendors at the conference offer (and sometimes we already work with the vendor presenting at the conference).
Some of the booths at the DSA's expo were occupied by city convention bureaus, including St. Louis, Louisville, Fort Worth, Kansas City and Nashville. All of them have expressed gratitude for the business they generate from IBO-hosted events, and I let them know that there was potential that someday the company might host a regional event there too, which really perked their ears up. They had no idea that we were on the road! I told them that we have L.A., Greensboro and Orlando under our belts with another seven Spotlight events to go, and they were excited to hear that we might do this again in 2009.
What are the best cities for us to visit in support of IBOs? If it were up to this blog's audience to decide where to go to best support your sales and sponsoring efforts, where would that be? Let me know. Right now, I'm putting in a vote for Grand Rapids. Perhaps that's just because I'm ready to settle down for a minute and stay at home for a bit. No such luck. On Monday we load up the van and head out to Florida for more than a week.
SO, between now and June 25, it is unlikely that I will blog. Not impossible, but unlikely. Kari looks askance at me when doing "corporate" things on family time. :-Y I hope your summer is getting off to a great start. My last kid served his last half day of "time" yesterday. My in-laws are in town to help us celebrate my daughter's high school graduation tomorrow (big Open House, you're all invited). And then we hit the road. No matter how busy it gets here at the company, it always seems to pale in comparison to how busy life can be with four kids ranging from 6 to 18. Go figure.