ABA Wednesday - We’re walking, we’re walking…

Wednesday at ABA was very busy…I worked in Orientation all day, and did floor tours all day long (9am - 6pm).  I lost count of how many tours I did, but my pedometer (worn as a joke more than anything) clocked nearly 7 miles walking that day!  Not a joke, after all!

As you probably know by now, I love doing the floor tours.  It’s like a mini Seminar program, as I get to not only explain what goes on at ABA over the week, but I get to teach some basics about how to have the most success during the week.  I always love talking to a small group on a tour, and seeing the “lightbulb moment”, as I call it.  It’s like the old cartoons…when someone grasps what you’re saying, and really believes it, you can almost see the lightbulb over their head illuminate.  Their face lights up, the get a half-smile of recognition, and you can see that you’ve helped them understand something important. There’s no better feeling in the world than that.

Besides that, I get to meet new people in Orientation.  It’s the #1 reason why I volunteer, and spend so many hours in Orientation every year.  It gives me a chance to meet new customers for our Theatres!  I meet new Operators, new suppliers, even college students, and they all are potential customers of the Dutch Apple, or one of the Broadway Palms.  But I already talked about that in the post about Tuesday, so I’ll move on to a surprise I received on Wednesday evening…

I was actually taken to dinner by an Operator!  A very good friend asked if I’d like to go to dinner with him and his wife.  It ended up being those two (who’s identity I will not reveal, as I know some who read this blog will immediately ask to be taken to dinner!), Sandee Robinson from Cracker Barrel, and me. And it was wonderful…we talked a little business, but more about the Operator’s expanding empire, and the new opportunities that have come his way.  Mostly, we just relaxed in the company of friends.  I had not spent enough time with Sandee in the past, and I will make it a point to rectify that error in the future.  Thanks, Mr. X and Mrs. X!

And now to bed…tomorrow is going to be a big day, as the Marketplace REALLY starts.  If only I could figure out how to sleep in a strange bed.  It always takes me several days at a convention to get used to the bed…I guess I’m weird that way.

This entry was posted on January 28, 2009 at 6:00 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

| Print