District 15 Fall Conference is Over!

The District 15 Fall Conference is over and now I feel like sleeping until Monday.  The conference wasn't particularly difficult or strenuous, but I guess it was a bit stressful.....but not in the expected fashion.

I didn't feel stressed, but obviously I was.  When I think of stress I think of the big, in-your-face stress.  I think of TI's* screaming at you in boot camp.  BEAT YOUR FACE** immediately comes to mind.


I think it was just the stress of being "on" for such a long time, even when you weren't doing anything.  I didn't sleep well (or much at all) on Friday night and went to bed Saturday late and with a slight fever.  I woke up today feeling like I had a hangover, but with two drinks spread out over 4 hours I highly doubt it.

The conference went well.  Sure, there were some hiccups and some really odd stuff that went down, but nothing compared to the work conferences I've had to endure.  The hotel changed established plans and some odd requests were made.......I kid you not, at one point the hotel asked if we wouldn't mind releasing a room, a room smack dab in the middle of our space to a bunch of teens who showed up unannounced for a beauty pageant dress rehearsal.  I guess some Miss Teen Idaho pageant is coming up and they have the space rented out.....next week.  They took over the women's restroom for a changing room and already grabbed one of our vacant rooms.  The Conference Chair and I weren't inclined to let a group of teenage girls setup shop in the middle between two educational speakers.

Ok, that was a bit longer aside than expected.  Yes, some stuff went down, but it seemed that most everyone had fun and most of the problems were dealt with swiftly and well enough I doubt that the attendees noticed.  Lucky for me I had plenty of great volunteers who were there when we needed them and we didn't need them nearly as often as we were prepared for.....

...which is a good thing.

My only regret is that we had to skip a HackMaster gathering to help out at the conference.  I guess we cannot play everyday.....

*TI stands for Training Instructor (Drill Sergeant).  I thought it funny because TI could also stand for Toastmasters International.

**A rather blunt way of asking a trainee to perform push-ups until you get tired. Ahhhh.....good times.