Bridal Consultants Conference

This week, I’ve been in Orlando, representing The 4EVER Group in the annual conference of the Association of Bridal Consultants. This is the third time that I’ve been a part of the conference, and the first time since 2003. With about 400 consultants attending, it’s a great show.

I was included in much of the agenda, along with having a booth at their trade show. They do feed the attendees quite well, I’ll give them that. The conference was also held at the Wyndham Orlando Resort, which is where we’re holding our own conference in January. That made it a great opportunity to see what the hotel was like, in action.

Because I’ve been involved with the ABC for so long, I knew quite a few attendees. The 4EVER Group had a couple of different DVD’s to share with the consultants, aimed at promoting professional videography. A couple of hundred DVD’s got distributed during the show. I also made new contacts, which will help move the relationship, and our two trades, forward.

Like most conferences, this was a whirlwind affair. I left home about 5am on Sunday, because the trade show started at 1pm that day. After the show wrapped for the day, it was time to grab a quick dinner off property, before calling it a night. The trade show ran from 9:30am to 5pm on Monday, with an official breakfast and lunch included. I then had a dinner meeting with a sponsor for our conference, before getting back to email.

Yesterday, I caught the official breakfast before heading off to two other meetings. I got back just as lunch was being served (perfect timing, right?), which led to the roundtable discussion that I hosted. The conference wrapped up with an off-premises dinner event.

So I’m off to two more meetings today, over in the Tampa area. I fly home tonight, shoot a corporate video in NYC tomorrow, and then head off to Iowa on Saturday for a weekend presentation. It’s another full, well-rounded week.