The conference for association executives

If you remember, in January, I attended the conference for conference planners - put on by the association for meeting professionals.

Well, last week I attended the conference for the association for association executives.  It was held in Dallas and it was going to be my first time attending their conference.  My dad was also going (since we are in the same field).  I had mixed feelings about attending, mostly because I didn't feel like I was going to know anyone.

I ended up knowing more people than I thought because several contacts from my previous job were there also.  The agenda was filled with evening events to showcase Dallas (gotta sell your city to potential clients) and education during the day.

The conference was great.  I learned some stuff, got some credits towards my certification exam and enjoyed myself with a few friends.  I took a few random photos of the events for the blog....  they give a good idea about what my week was like.

The opening night reception was held at the Cowboys Stadium.  They had food and drinks all along the top floors and then later in the evening, they opened the field up for dessert and more events.  They had a whole bunch of "games" if you wanted to play those.  You could take tours of the locker rooms (players and cheerleaders).  Then they concluded the night with a concert by Big & Rich.

 *this is my "senior portrait" moment

me and my dad

one photo of the cheerleader's locker room for those that care

I forgot to mention that my flight out there was cancelled and during my rescheduling/changing of airlines/flight to Dallas, they lost my bag.  I had to run to Target to grab some things because I had no idea when it was going to show up.

 I snagged this dress and shoes from Target and wore it to dinner with my Vancouver friends

Toronto had an area where you could go and decorate some Converse shoes that they were donating to a local children's center.  So of course, I went to stretch my creative muscles and pitch in.

The middle of the conference was all about the exhibit hall and meetings.  I did snag some photos from the closing reception on Tuesday night...

 This is a blurry photo of Vanilla Ice.  Yes, Vanilla Ice (a Dallas native).  He was actually GREAT!  I took a video of him singing but of course, when I download it it's upside down.  Oh well.

The below shots are of me and my friend Chris from Vancouver.  We were trying to entertain ourselves before KC and the Sunshine Band came on.

 
 Finally, on my trip, I did manage to walk down to the Grassy Knoll and visit the 6th Floor Museum - dedicated to the assassination of JFK.

 

This is the view from the grassy knoll of the 6th floor of the book depository.  You can barely see it, but they still have boxes there in the top window.