Convention Week!

So I've been really busy this week...so this will be a long catch-up posting.

Left church last Sunday to drive to Nashville where KFC is having their national convention. Stopped in Springfield, TN to have lunch with my great-aunt along the way. Arrived at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel late afternoon. Since we are able to drive down, I literally brought the office with me: printer, computer, projector, reams of paper, toner, post-its, etc. And I get to pack all that back up to bring home too. So Sunday night was set-up. Me and the girls from the office ate at Paisanos Pizza - had a calzone that was WAY loaded with cheese, ricotta I think.

Monday: the NCAC meetings started. And this first day is closed-session for franchisees only. This gives them the privacy from Corporate members to be able to discuss openly about what all's going on. I try to get with the Vice-Chair to prepare his speech -- he's sick. SICK sick. So I sacrificed my good medicine to try to get him better. At this point, I have the videos produced and on master tapes ready for the production crew to load in the system so time to do some graphic design for the speech slides. Hard to do when you don't have a speech. So by the time

meetings are finished, I have an outline ready to go over with David, the Vice-Chair, for offline rehearsals. That's where they practice in the "green" room off-stage with the teleprompter to get the feel for it. And I'm going to have 2 speakers: David and Tom, the POP & PR Subcommittes chair. Tom is experienced, he's been a past president of the organization so he knows the teleprompter, David on the otherhand, not so much. But he likes to deliver his messages from the heart so he could probably get away without using them. But it's nice to have the speech ready - but not tonight because David gets called away for other meeting stuff for the rest of the night. So Holly and I went to the mall to eat at Johnny Rockets...good ol cheeseburger and chocolate milkshake.

TUESDAY: The NCAC presentation (which I'm responsible for) is Thursday, and the speech is not ready - that also means the slides are not ready. But hey, we got time. David feels a little better on this day - my good stuff was working. Little did I know how much he took -- and how little he drank water that day. AND during offline rehearsals, as we were working on the speech while Tom was practicing, David gets a call that his mom just had a choking episode in one of the restaurants there. He had to go. She's fine, she was shaken-up and a little embarrased, but fine. David didn't make it back to rehearse. And he's sick again. So I had dinner with Susan and Holly at Volare - the Italian restaurant here on the property.

WEDNESDAY: Rehearsal day...and David is VERY ill. Dehydrated - which makes him even sicker. So sick in fact that he misses rehearsal time and too sick for me to even take him to the doctor. So I called the doctor and got him some over-the-counter stuff, gatorade, and yogurt - oh, and flowers for his wife for Valentines Day (poor thing!). So I got rehearsals pushed back to 4pm - and put Tom in as plan B. And wrote out the script. And got my slides done. 4pm rehearsal time comes, no David...poor guy. So Tom is ready to pinch-hit and all is well. UNTIL - the video guys in the back notice a typo under one of the subcommittee chair's name - not good.

So I call the production company back in Louisville to get it fixed and meet my in E-town. I've got a drive ahead of me this night! But praise the Lord, the roads were clear. Got back to the room at about 11:30 p.m. Central time.

THURSDAY: The Big day. General Session starts with the Tennessee State University Marching Band...awesome! And the keynote speaker is Jack Canfield, one of the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" guys. Now, I like the books - they're just a compilation of feel-good-inspirational stories. But Jack Canfield on the other hand...I found out he's one that will "say what their itching ears what they want to hear." He's in the same boat as Oprah and Joel Osteen and touts that book, "The Secret." The whole message was about the power of the mind. And of course he made it all seem so magical - yet, if anyone has read Proverbs you would have heard his whole speech. Then came time for the NCAC Presentation! Tom did fill-in for David - David made it. He was feverish, but Mucinex was doing the trick. He was determined to be there to give out our award - The Hard Way. He gave out 4 awards, and the most touching was the one he gave to Jerry, the franchisee that gave him his first chicken job - and he's retiring this year. After lunch I took a nap, then went to see the vendor exhibits. Got to meet the Pillsbury Doughboy. Then went back to the room in time to see Smallville! And find out I have a yarn issue on my square that I don't know how to fix - bummer.

FRIDAY (Today): Day off from meetings YIPEE! Went to see a movie on the IMAX - The Spiderwick Chronicles. I liked it. Then I walked around the mall (and bought $5 shoes!). Now I'm back to work. Annual meeting is tomorrow, then final night gala with Martina McBride performing. And I get to wear my new dress that mom made! I hope I can still wear the shoes after walking so much this week.