Over the river and through the Snow… to Ashville we will go

This morning we are packed and ready to leave early for a drive to Ashville North Carolina.   I just love driving through east Tennessee, the mountains are always so pretty and I understand that there has been a little snow fall so they should be even prettier than normal.

Kevin has offered to drive Penney and I to her next ‘gig’, partly because he doesn’t want us on the road by ourselves in case the weather were to get bad but I think mostly because he likes to spend time with his woman. haha

So why are we heading to Ashville you might ask…  no we are not going to visit the beautiful Biltmore Estate, although the conference we are attending is on the grounds of the estate.   We are going, again, as you can probably guess for work… Penney has been asked to facilitate an all day workshop called The Taste of Technology, for the NC chapter of NACTA.  Doris Lafever and Richard Schwartz are co-hosting the event at the Biltmore Inn.   We did a similar program last year and it was a lot of fun.

10:49pm -  Whew long day…   so we drove over from Nashville today, beautiful drive, no real traffic, delays or weather issues, we made good time.  Arrived and checked in at our hotel where we met up with several of the agents before going over to the Inn.  When we arrived at the Inn there was a nice reception with more networking.  After, Arosa Cruise lines treated us to a lovely dinner and then back to the hotel where we were able to get a small conference room and you guessed it… Penney worked some more.  I went on to the room to rest but she and Kevin stayed with the agents to answer any questions about their computers, wi'-fi issues, software, hardware and prepare for tomorrows full day of workshops.  

March 7, 2013 – Oh What a day…  So we wake up to SNOW, yep beautiful snow and quite a bit of it too.   We slowly make our way over to the Inn and set up for the day.  

Soon Penney is not feeling so well, a little queezy and dizzy but she pushes on.   The first workshop is well under way…  

Tools of the Trade

What tools do you need to be successful in your business?  In this session we will look at various social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter.  We will share several low & no cost software options, online tools and websites to help run your business more efficiently.  There will also be a demo of some products to  help you get out of the office but stay productive, so you too can become the ultimate mobile travel professional!

Everything is going well, until about 10 o’clock, all of a sudden you can see Penney beginning to turn this funny shade of green and she excuses herself.  She begins to run (yes, Penney running if you can picture that) out of the room, down a set of stairs to the nearest restroom.   A few minutes later she reappears with a smile and says “sorry for the interruption, now where were we?”  and begins again.  Now those of us closest to her know full well she is not on her game and that she is doing a great job of faking how sick she really is but she keeps going and concludes this session by lunch time.  (needless to say, no more photos were taken today)

After a lovely looking lunch (I am made of wood and don’t eat, and Penney was still not up to eating) we headed back to the class room to begin Workshop number 2  

30-Day Social Media Marketing Plan

In this workshop we will be developing a 30 day social media marketing plan for your business – using a platform like Facebook, or several different ones including Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn.  You will create the plan, find and/or create content, learn to pre-schedule your posts and before we conclude you should have a whole month of marketing scheduled and ready to post automatically for you! 

So… about 10 minute into this session, Penney makes another run for the boarder, ah I mean bathroom.  She is gone substantially longer and this time everyone knows what is going on.  She is not able to fake it anymore but the professional she is, she knows that agents have flown in from as far away as CT and CA for this workshop and she will not let a little food poisoning or whatever keep her from doing her job.  She washes her face with cold water, gets back up there and does her presentation.  This session was supposed to last until 3:30 and then an hour of Q&A but the agents took a vote and after the workshop sent Penney back to her hotel to rest instead of hosting the Q&A.  What kind folks.    This evening as I sit here in the watching some tv with Kevin, Penney is still asleep in the bed and has been for hours, every since we return to the hotel.  

March 8, 2013 – Today we were supposed to go with the other travel professionals on a train ride through the beautiful smokey mountains but Penney was still not up to it so we are headed home.  From a conference stand point it has been great…  the location, suppliers and agent turn out, and of course the networking… but on a personal note not so much between the cold, snow, and illness I will be glad to be home.