Another TSOT

TSOT.  Are you wondering just what that stands for?  Tastefully Simple On Tour.  Each year, prior to the spring and summer catalog coming out, regional conferences are held for consultants in different locations to introduce the new product line and also to jazz up our recruiting, selling and party strategies.  For the last two years, this conference has been held in Omaha.  This year the closest location to me was in Kansas City, MO.  Here are the last two posts from the prior two years.
The schedule for the conference had things kicking off at three in the afternoon this past Friday.  So Teri, my sponsor, and I left Omaha in her car around eleven.  We arrived at the Downtown Holiday Inn, across the street from where the conference was being held at the Marriott Downtown, right at two thirty.  After we checked in and left our belongings in our room, we walked over to register and got seated in time for everything to start.
We heard from a couple of consultant speakers, watched as several were recognized for having the top team sales either in their respective region or overall, and also cheered on those that were on a million dollar team.  Then....the most anticipated part of the entire conference:  unveiling's of the new products coming out in the spring/summer catalog for March!!!  Because this conference is happening simultaneously in many cities both last weekend and this weekend, they showed a video of employees from HQ (headquarters) as they introduced and showed many ways of using the products.  Very similar to what we do at home parties.  Some items have been brought back from last years' catalog because of being so popular.  The others were brand new.  It's going to be good!
Then at 6:30 PM, it was time for our dinner.  It featured some of the new products with a cash bar including some of our new drink buckets.  Wow....so yummy!  Then it was back to the other hotel where we were staying.  I was exhausted as I'd been up since 3 AM for work.  (I had left early in order to go to Kansas City) 
The next morning started out with breakfast at 7.  At 8 AM, there was a leader session of which I attended.  At 9, the doors opened and we welcomed the other consultants back in for general session.  Not long after getting started with some announcements, we were surprised to see Jill, the founder and CEO, come running in from a side door!  What a surprise!  She never tells which conference she will show up to.  We were all cheering and excited!  It's an honor to listen to her speak as she gets us revved up for the new season.  She's sincere in her pep talks and speaks from the heart; as she says, " I love you to the moon!"  It was so great and never gets old seeing her at these conferences.  I'm waiting for her book, Simply Shine,  to arrive this week and will be reading it from cover to cover.

There is always a theme to each conference.  This one was "Raise the Roof".  It's so inspiring to take home information that we've heard from either Jill or the guest consultant speakers as they share with us just what works for them in their own business. 
The rest of the morning was similar to the day before with more recognitions followed by lunch.  Again, we got to sample yet more of the new product line.  It's very difficult to stay awake after eating so much food!  We definitely don't go hungry at these meals!
We finished our day at 4:30 and left with some of the new items in hand.  They usually give us all a few of the new things to take home to make for friends and family. 
Teri and I had a good time reconnecting with people we've met at the other conferences.  We left KC at roughly 5PM that day.  Our drive to Omaha would seem long (even though it's only 3 hours total) only because we'd been sitting all day and still had full tummy's from all the food they gave us!

Leadership Conference 2011, Day 2

All of our meals for this weekend were provided to us. Including breakfast if people actually got up to enjoy it.  Breakfast was being served from 7:30AM-8:45AM.  Sessions would start at 9:00AM sharp.  They had "hot seat" drawings for those that were on time and in their seat!  Prizes were given to the people whose names had been called.  Being the early riser that I am, I made sure to get there for breakfast!  There was always a huge selection and undoubtedly, something for everyone. 
Our Friday session started with announcements followed by a "Welcome" from our Founder and CEO, Jill Blashak-Strahan.  Later, a keynote speaker, Robin Creasman, a motivational speaker, was our next guest speaker.  He has done and see it all when it comes to meeting and knowing well known performers.  It was fun to listen to him tell his stories and make the jokes about different things.  Watch the video on the link I provided; it tells alot about his experiences.  I thought he was an awesome speaker!  He told us how we can use different tools to make our business grow and to become the Rock star that we can become. 

Robin Creasman with a few consultants on stage singing with him. 

Robin....

After lunch, we attended different breakout sessions in different rooms, with keynote speakers from our own Tastefully Simple consultants.  We had the opportunity to pre-register for these sessions before conferences to ensure a reserved seat.  I'm glad I did.  I happened to be in a session that had Kim Schultz as the guest speaker.  You can read about her here and here.  She is a multi-talented person and had the entire class involved in improv demonstrations.  Me included.  She has an improv studio in New York and Minneapolis both.  The class was packed and had a line outside the door in case there was room for more inside. 
It was great and so much fun to see how people let down their own personal walls in order to be in front of perfect strangers. 
That night, we had our awards celebration dinner.  When we arrived, music was being provided by Melissa Greener of Nashville.  I had never heard of her and quite honestly, I wasn't overly impressed.  Just sayin'. 
She was performing while we ate our huge meal.  It was delicious as usual!  Here's what we had:

Top plate:...dessert- Mini caramel tartelette with a shortbread crust and a zest of sea salt, Key lime pie with graham cracker crust and toasted meringue and raspberry coulis, New York style cheesecake.  Yummy!

Bottom plate....salad- Mixed green salad with Radicchio, Asian pears, spicy peanuts and Lemongrass Dressing.  Yummy!

 And because I was so involved in my salad, when they brought the main course, I forgot to get a picture of the plate!  It was beautiful and just as yummy!  It was:  Fillet of beef with Merlot wine, Grilled shrimp with roasted garlic butter, mashed potatoes and fresh vegetables.  Needless to say, we were very full when we got done! 

Once dinner was over, awards were given out, just like National Conference last summer.  Then back to our rooms we went.  It had been a long day and I was ready to kick my shoes off and relax.  Tomorrow would be another activity-filled day with a busy agenda.

On the way back to our room, I got a picture of many of the hundreds of pretty lighted decorations that hang from the huge, tall ceiling in the hotel.  Isn't it pretty?