Speaking Publicly in New Orleans

The first week in March, I traveled to New Orleans for the 19th Annual CUNA Marketing and Business Development Conference. Over 450 attendees converged on New Orleans to "Get Inspired" and promote ideas to take back to their credit unions.

The newly-remodled Hyatt Regency right by the arena and Super Dome was a good location for this conference. This hotel was beautiful, and very accommodating for as many of us as it housed. The elevators had something that I had not seen before. You would just wave your card under a RFID scanner and it would tell you which car out of the two banks of elevators to get on. There were not buttons once you got in the elevator...it just took you to your room. It was wild.

Once we got acclimated to the hotel and chatted about our session the next morning, my co-presenter, Matt, and I went to scope out the location of our tweetup. We had scheduled a tweetup in the one of the hotel bars for later in that week, once all of the conference attendees arrived.

So, it was time for our session. It was bright and early. We had been out way too late the night before....part of what makes these conferences fun. I think the session went well. We talked about social media for credit unions: No hype, just the tactics. We wanted to really get to the meat of the subject and actually show some people how to use some of the free tools out there. Monitoring your social media channels is always a must, as it allows you to devote less time to watching your channels. You can merely set up these monitoring services, and utilize your time elsewhere. The guy presenting with me, Matt Hodson, is a master at monitoring all sorts of social media outlets. He really took charge for this part, and we are all better off for it.

To say that it was nerve racking was an understatement. 28 people had paid extra and come to the conference a day early, just to attend our pre-conference workshop. That is humbling. I would like to say, especially based on the feedback that we have received, that the information was timely and well taken. I like to hear that. I like it when knowledge is shared and everyone leaves having learned something.

Below are some photos from throughout the week there in New Orleans, ending on the Saturday that we walked to the French Quarter and browsed a bit. It was a great time, and I cannot wait to see what next year's conference has in store.

See the full gallery on Posterous

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Project of Necessity

I recently noticed that the cheap towel bar in the kids' bathroom was getting loose. I grabbed my screwdriver so that I could tighten the screw on the bottom to solve this. No go. Half of the screw is missing. Therefore, it would need to be replaced soon, because it is goig to fall. I didn't want to put just another regular towel bar in there, so we began searching for ideas of what to substitute there.

We found an idea that we liked...and it was made of wood. It would be more of a towel hook or hooks than a towel bar, but it would still work. I found some materials in my dad's barn that would keep me from buying new wood. Glad I did too, because I was able to make two of them.

These are just the preliminary photos...I've still got a bit to do yet. I need to paint them and install the hooks before I put them on the wall. I just thought I would show you what I am making. One of them shows where a nail poked through on the other side. It make me have to patch it with wood filler. It's all right because I was painting. I would have been really upset if this had been a stain project. 

Hopefully this weekend, I can paint a couple of coats on these and get them dry enough to put up soon.

 

The old bard where I found the materials:

Story Time

Story time in the evenings is always a special time. I love being able to participate, or even sit in, on this sweet time. Here is a glimpse of how intent Alan is on the books he is reading. Last night, his hands were just holding each of Rebecca's legs. So cute!

Then, we just had to do one photo right before before bed. (the pucker on Alan's face is because Rebecca just pulled his thumb out of his mouth. ha ha)

 

Anne Marie's Room

Although it's still just a bit bare, it is coming together quite well. We have tons of clothes in the closet already (thanks to some good finds and some good friends). The walls still need a few more things on them, and the sheets could stand being a bit more girly....but overall, it's ready.

Just wanted to give those of you that were asking to see it a chance to do just that.

Duck Camp

Yesterday, I got to travel to Lake Albermarle to help a friend out with repairing their duck camp. The floods that happened recently, still reached more than six feet into the cabin, despite being about 30 feet up in the air. The water was overflow from the Mississippi River and stretched from the Gulf of Mexico all the way to Canada.

There was no avoiding it, so they are just dealing with it the best that they can. They are rebuilding, but keeping many of the special touches that the old cabin had or that the area had. Some of the chains holding these lights up were originally from an old Mississippi River paddleboat. Also, the blocks of wood on the lights were from a mantle in a turn-of-the-century house(last century). Some of those touches are making this place just as special to them as it ever was.

 I hope to visit again soon...the views of nature from there are amazing!