Hello all!
I type this from my hotel room in sunny Orlando, Florida from MENC's Centennial Congress. Actually, the Centennial Congress and subsequent National Assembly meeting wrapped up last night (Thursday) with a tremendous gala dessert at Epcot Center. It was french-themed and we had a french musical ensemble complete with a french musical ensemble as well as a mime. I have to say the mime was one of the best mimes I've seen and he was also hilarious!! I hope to post some pictures either later today or first thing next week (imagine white pancake make-up, black and white striped shirt, red beret and you're there).
The dessert wrapped up two days of intensive National Assembly meetings where state leaders used a variety of technology as well as a lot of discussion to talk about MENC's draft strategic plan. It was very busy time and yesterday the busiest of all as we worked to get everything taken care of for the last day.
I have to give a shoutout to MENC's Director of Conventions, MJ. MJ did a fantastic job coordinating this four day meeting and is truly impressive under pressure. When problems arose these past four days (because they always do in event planning) she swiftly and calmly dealt with them. She also has a fantastic ability when working with the conference center staff to be calm even in the face of errors and issues. And thank you to my fellow MENC staff at the convention EWL, ML, MB, and JJM -- we make a great team and thank you all for your help and great attitude this week!
I also want to thank the Disney staff for their impeccable service. They were so nice and helpful at every turn and really just jumped in to help including looking for lost items, helping make ballot boxes, carrying heavy items, procuring drinks when we couldn't leave the desk and so much more! Thank you Tim, Ross, Wallington, Eddie, Lionel, Nick, William, and all those whose names I've forgotten because it's 7:21 am!!
And of course the biggest thank you goes to all of the MENC members that made this such a great week--from MENC President Lynn Brinckmeyer and all of the members of the National Executive Board to each and every member who spent time, energy, and money to come give their input on the direction of the association. Thank you!!!
Must dash -- we have a plane to catch!
Around the water cooler: We actually did have a water cooler in our storage/staging room this week! And sitting around it were lots of boxes because we certainly weren't!! hahaha!
