Convention Goss

As promised, I have some pics from Convention for you (it took me a little longer than I expected to sort through my own and the others that have been sent to me!)
So here they are ………..
Convention Day 1:
We arrived to a packed foyer at the National Convention Centre……hundreds of demonstrators swapping, chatting and shopping in Memento Mall.
Here’s a pic of all the beautiful swaps I received:
The first Session was awesome, it’s always a thrill to be in the same room with hundreds of other stampers and it was great to see Shelli on stage for the first time too. We heard a bit about the history of Stampin’ Up! over the last 20 years and also what is in store for SU! Australia in the future.
The main stage at Convention:

Leonie, Anna and me waiting for the show to start (ohhhh is that another Leonie I spot in the background?? he he ):

This little guy featured quite prominently throughout Convention and I was lucky enough to get a snap with him, sock monkey now has his own blog if you would like to pay him a visit;) :

One of my Inky Fingers team members, Andrea……..20K Sales Award Winner……..what a star!!!:

After a fun-filled and exhausting day we were ready for happy hour at the Crowne Plaza!! Here are Anna, Sarah and Leonie enjoying their pre-dinner cocktails before we all headed off to Hogs Breath for a yummy dinner:

Day 2 :
One of the highlites for me always is seeing Shelli Gardner (Stampin’ Up!s co-founder and CEO) demonstrate on Main Stage. Her style is typically Shabby Chic which is always one I’m drawn to and she created some gorgeous projects for us from her Signiture Collection using the  Friends 24/7 Set and matching Friendly Words wheel. Some shots of Shelli’s demonstration :


One of the most exciting parts of Convention is the free stampsets we have the chance to win during the sessions if our name was picked. Here’s Sarah winning Prize Patrol……gooooooooo Sarah!!!!

After the final general session of fabulous motivational talks and wonderful stamping demonstrations we headed off back to our hotel rooms or wherever we were staying and got dressed for the Banquet and Awards Night.
Here are Colette, Emma, Allison and me soaking up the atmosphere before tucking into our yummy entree’s…..

Catching up with the gorgeous Makeesha before the Awards Ceremony:

This photo has as many of our Inky Fingers team who were at Convention as we could get in the one place at the one time!! (a couple are missing from this photo)There were 15 of us in total at Convention this year. It was awesome to catch up with team members I hadn’t seen for ages or only spoken with online :

After our yummy 3 course dinner we moved over to the main hall for the Awards presentation.
It was so exciting seeing my fellow demonstrators and team members receive their awards and to celebrate together our acheivements for the past Stampin’ Up! year.
One particular highlite was seeing Andrea receive her Level 1 Sales award knowing how much she loves sharing her hobby with others and also how much she fits in and around her Stampin’ Up! business. She, like many others in my team, continue to inspire me to be better at what I do and I am so grateful that stamping has brought us all together in friendship. If you haven’t already checked it out, Anderea’ blog is one you will want to add to your favourites…….she is one talented stamper and paper-crafter!
I was very honoured to receive 6 awards in total : 60K Sales for the year, Level 1 Recruiting, Level 2 Leadership, Milestone Award for 100K in total career sales, Demonstrator of the year award plus I will be heading off to Noosa or this year’s Incentive trip.
Here we are, receiving our Incentive Trip certificate and a rose from Shelli :


When I arrived at convention I was presented with my badges but I didn’t know that I would be receiving the Demonstrator of the Year Award (presented to the top 25 demonstrators in the country), nor did I know which place I would come between 1 and 25.
Imagine my surprise when they call out the names of the top demonstrators from number 25 to number 6 and my name still hadn’t been called out!!!
I was absolutely thrilled to be placed 4th in the top 5 demonstrators in Australia, alongside Angela Sargeant, Claire Daly, Alisa Tilsner and Ngaire Anderson:

After the ceremony, a celebratory drink was definitely in order, so some of us headed to the lounge in the Crown Plaza for a glass or two of champagne and chatted and laughed until the wee hours:

It was great catching up with people I only chat to online and whom I hadn’t seen for 8 months or more and we all agreed the time at Convention passed far too quickly for us to do that properly, so I’m glad there is Facebook and our online stamping forums as well as Regional Training days throughout the year which will help the time pass more quickly until we do it all again next year!!!
If you are already a demonstrator and didn’t make it to Canberra for Convention this year, then plan to join us in Sydney for Convention 2010 on May 21st and 22nd.
If you are not yet a demonstrator and want to join us at Convention next year too, you can join my Inky Fingers team today for just $150.  Click here to find out more!