Networking rules!!!

Here's the part about coming to a conference that is hard for me. I am a small peon in the cog of this company - I'm not even a full-time employee - just a freelance educator, but I get so excited that I WANT to be part of the bigger picture. But then I tell myself - remember, this is one of the exciting parts that I get to participate in. The daily stuff is all slog and not so fun! I must remember that, but in the meantime, I'm going to have fun!

Not only fun, but I bet they'll be happy when I go home because I've had a chance to talk to marketing people, R&D (my favorite group), and many others from other groups, and, well, I was quite happy to share my ideas!!! I have a funny story to share with you in a minute. I would like to thank Dad and grandpa (his dad) for our gift of the gab. They have zero qualms about chatting up a stranger, and I am happy to report that I am as well. I don't just talk small talk -- nope - once I find out who they are, I am in the midst of chatting about what is of interest to both them and myself. I do have a bit of homework to do when I get home to follow up on one of my conversations. 

People tend to flock to people they know, and I don't. If you had told me this when I was in my 20s, I wouldn't have believed you. I was the shyest person around. Painfully shy! I don't know what happened, but something happened along the way. 

Case in point, at lunchtime, I arrived in the lunchroom with someone I know. We just happened to meet in the hall. There was a table with three of our group members sitting at it, so my colleague sat with them - I told her to take the seat, and I would find another one. And I sat with one of the top people! I asked first, and he said yes. So then we had a grand old conversation, and another person came along and joined in. Yep --- I now have homework! 

I'm happy to do the homework because if you're not happy and do nothing about it, then that's not good. If I'm not happy and I share that with someone and they don't do anything about it, well, at least I tried! Fingers crossed! 

But these events are all about networking, and if you just stick to the people you know, your world will never expand. NEVER!!! So I make sure that people know who I am, but I never talk about ME. Nope - I ask about them, and what they do and how their jobs work, and then I offer my thoughts. But it's never about ME. I  am boring - well, I guess that's not true, but I'm not going to learn a single thing if I go on about me. 

Before I get into what happened in the day, I have to say that I'm kind of glad that I don't have my own room. When we finally got back into the room last night, we had a chance to chat, and we debriefed each other and got lots of stuff (all good, of course!) off our chests. No one needs to know the details, but it was good for both of us!!! We must have talked for an hour before I was so exhausted I may have fallen asleep while we were talking! 

And there was a lot of lightning last night, then a couple of huge claps of thunder, and finally some heavy rain. In the dark on the 26th floor, it's hard to tell how much rain, but it seemed heavy. 

So this was the view from my seat at the conference. When it was time to enter the room, there were empty seats at the front. Why do people not like the front? I didn't need to wear my glasses, and there was no one to obstruct my view! I had no idea where my colleagues were, so I sat alone! As much as I love them, I don't need to hang out with them!!!!

My view from the front row!

There were the usual updates from all the important people on the direction we are heading. And the name of this conference is the Global Sewing Summit. I believe at least 20 countries were represented, and that's all I'm going to say. It is quite fun to see so many people from all over. I had the chance to chat with several of them, and we had a grand chat about the city of Mérida in Mexico, where I vacationed back in 1980!!! That was NOT about me, but about them! 

We got a sneak peek of some new products coming up and some new technology that will be introduced at some point. I'm not going to be the one to spill the beans - you'll have to wait until it comes from the mouths of someone who has all the details. 

I ran into some people I know from their videos. This is Sara from SewingMastery.com. She is the one we direct people to when they buy a new machine. She does a lot of videos and is very good at it!!! We had a great chat!

Me and Sara

This was me at my station in the afternoon. There is a room set up that is called the Grand Experience where you can visit with the staff, and we have all the machines on display from all three brands - Singer, Husqvarna Viking and PFAFF. I was chosen to demo the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC 3, which has been out for a while. I will say that being given the top-of-the-line to demo was a coup! I'm not sure how I got that assignment, but I was a very happy camper!!!

Me with the Husqvarna Viking Designer Epic 3

I had madly made samples, and there was not a lot of room to display those samples - only the surface around the table. Thankfully, my samples were small or could be draped on the edges of the table. It worked like a charm. I was prepared to pin them to my shirt if there was no room! 

But those samples drew in a lot of people, and I got very good feedback on them and on me!! People recognized me from the Facebook Lives, and I had offers to come and teach in stores, which I am not allowed to do in the US. They said I was a nice person and very knowledgeable. THANK YOU for the compliments!!! I'm also very personable! 

Let's just say that the entire afternoon fed my ego trip, and I was flying high. So all that hard work of creating all those samples, and FINISHING them paid off, and now I have some interesting samples to show on my future travels. 

Many people took pictures of what I had created, and that is a compliment even if they never use them. 

At one point, I had two gentlemen at the station, and they were from our Asia/Pacific area. One gentleman didn't speak, so I wasn't sure if he could understand me or if he was just being quiet. The other gentleman was videoing the samples as I spoke about them. 

Then I started to talk about the Large Magnetic Hoop, which I absolutely LOVE. The silent person quickly spoke up that he was on the R&D team for that product! OH MY GOD!!!! We then had a great chat about all things metal and magnetic hoops, and we had another person from R&D come join us. Needless to say, I was in my glory!!!!! It was a lot of fun but super exciting. The lesson here is, be careful what you say, as you never know who is listening!! 

Remember the table runner that I made on the green linen?

My linen table runner

It hung on the edge of the table, and I had lots of people stop by and ask about it. What was funny was that people recognized the design even though it was NOT the same color as the original, which was under the table, so as we closed up last night, I took it out and took a picture of it. Sorry -- it looks a bit like a cross, but the other third is folded underneath. 

The original tablecloth

What shocked me is that this is just an ordinary tablecloth that everyone has in their house, and they embroidered on it. NO WAY!!!!! I honestly thought this was a piece of linen when I first saw the pictures, but it is not. It's something like damask? I don't know if that's right, but it has a barely visible weave in it with flowers on it. You know what I mean - those tablecloths that every house had and were used for special occasions, like Christmas and Easter. 

Do you know what some people said about my tablecloth? They said, thanks for making it a different colorway because we've already seen the blue and white! YES YES YES --- they get it!!! Why replicate the original when there's a chance to show people that you don't need to make it the same color or shape, or use the designs in the exact same way? Notice how the center motif is on point in the original, and it's straight on mine? Make it different - show the versatility of those designs!!!!!

I also learned that our team goes to the - guess where? The THRIFT SHOP to buy stuff to embroider!!!!

Having the experts here to ask questions - well, I am beyond myself with excitement! Today, I'll be in a classroom helping the dealers learn the new PFAFF creative icon 3. 

Speaking of learning, I had an issue with one of my designs at home, but I was able to fudge it so no one knows. But I asked one of the design team about it, and I got a couple of good tips. I may just forgo the small table runner and cut it up to make another experiment. I will say that I think my backs look better than theirs!!!! But that's just me. 

So much shiny and new!!! I'll just wait for all the new to become available. And I NEED to up my game on the decorated clothing. I don't have much, and there is so much that can be done. I need to fix that! I may even need to resort to making and wearing a skirt! GASP!!!!!

The only thing negative is the snacks. This was the morning snack, and since I'm trying NOT to eat this stuff, I passed. YES -- me - I passed this huge tray of cookies without taking one. I did grab a tiny bar and had a nut cluster thing in the afternoon because there was nothing else on the trays. I had forgotten that I had stolen a banana at breakfast. I must remember to get another one today, as I just ate the one from yesterday. 

The snack tray

And of course, while I'm away, the emails have been pouring in with things that have to be addressed. OK, _ pouring in is exaggerating, but I have some catching up to do when I get home, including testing a quilting pattern, and I'm super excited to do that! 

I wore my snapless shirt last night, but I didn't get any pictures, and I'll finish it when I get home. 

I think I will have a bit more downtime today, so that is good, and I need to get my part of the room tidied up. There are clothes and samples all over the place. The desk where my computer is? It's a disaster, as all my crap is spread out. This is so not typical for me. I am neat and tidy!!! I'll have a go at putting at least the samples back in the suitcase, as well as any clothes that I will no longer need. 

There was no more drama at home, although poor Lexi, who was now upstairs because she was scared of the storm, did not want to go down, so DH had to put her leash on and "force" the poor thing to go down. 

Today is the final day, and we head out tomorrow, so that will be good, as there is lots to do when I get back. But no deadlines -- well, there is a deadline - I do have a couple of samples to do. But technically, I don't have to do them. I will have to do them for myself, but not immediately. 

I am going to host a Virtual Retreat this weekend. But it will ONLY be on Saturday at 6 PM. I have to volunteer to wrap jigsaw puzzles on Sunday, so I won't be around until later in the day, and I'll probably be exhausted. 

So if you want to catch up on all the scoop from the conference, be sure to be on the call on Saturday night. I'll post a link later. 

And a reminder - if anyone is interested in the 40 Shades of Grey, you need to let me or the store (Out of Hand) know. I will send a reminder email to some of my groups when I get home. If there are no sign-ups, there is no class. We just need to know approximately how many patterns to buy since they come from Australia. 

Send me an email if you are interested at elainetheriault@gmail.com, and I'll respond later this week. 

And on that note, I'd better get myself somewhat organized for today. It's still very early here, and I may get my act together and take a walk, although breakfast isn't that far away and we start at 8 AM. 

Have a wonderful day!!!

Ciao!!!!