The Happiest Place on Earth (Part I)- The Conference and the Hotel

How lucky am I to get to go to a conference at Disney World?  I'm kind of a conference person anyway--love picking up new ideas and find it a great way to avoid professional burnout-- but let's be honest here.. a conference in Florida is much more appealing than a conference in Oklahoma!  My apologies to anyone that lives in Oklahoma; I tried to think of someplace where I didn't know anybody and hope I was successful...

Since people from work read my blog, I'll start off with the conference and the hotel... and then get to the fun stuff.  I'll even post a picture of a conference session to convince those that are wondering if there really was a conference at all... or if  the leadership team was really just off playing. There was a conference-- pretty much all day-- and then the nights were spent checking in at work, running/reading/analyzing statistical and budget reports, writing grant RFP's, reviewing the copious notes that I took during the workshops... Just kidding, I did check and respond to work emails but then had fun at night!  Life isn't all about work. 

Over the weekend, we attended an intensive Marketing and Innovation Institute.  Then, the National Council  (for Community Behavioral Healthcare) conference was Monday thru Wednesday.  I won't write much about the conference itself other than that it was wonderful--inspiring speakers, good topics, learned a lot, etc...  Those of you at work will hear more about it, and those of you not at work are probably not all that interested in the gory details anyway. Found that I loved having my Kindle at the conference so that I could download books that were discussed during the workshops.  A little dangerous because it could be easy to spend a lot of money downloading every book mentioned, but the 2 books that caught my attention were:  "The Five  Dysfunctions of a Team" and "Ordinary Greatness: its where you least expect it.. everywhere".

The conference was held at the Coronado Springs Resort at Disney World.  The place was enormous, multiple buildings all circling a lagoon.  I was glad that my room was in a building that was relatively close to the convention center because even with that, I still did a lot of walking during the week.  Jump started my goal to start walking more, which is probably a good thing.  The rooms were nice, nothing exceptional about them, except that the beds were incredibly comfortable.  Not sure what kind they were, but I liked them and slept great every night.  Course that probably has nothing at all to do with staying up too late, getting up too early, and walking all over the place.

Catherine (my counterpart in the Youth Division) had a room clear across the lagoon.  Now she did a lot of walking!  I have some pix of the others who went but I won't post them here without their permission.  It really was great going with a group from work and seeing each other outside of the board room or "bored room" as some may refer to it.  We talked a lot about the different workshops we were attending, direction and ideas for the center, as well as just getting to know each other better as we spent time together in the evenings.  Especially as we topped off the evening with gelatos before heading off for the night.

In case you are wondering... people are different in different settings and it was fun seeing that!  If I were one to expand on that for those that are curious.. I might come up with a few "guess who" questions and see if you can guess who is who....  Course, I'm not likely to do that and name names or anything but I might come up with questions like:

1.  Who gets more giddy and excited about going on rides than anyone else?
2.  Who gets a little antisocial, was heard to say "crowds piss me off", and spent most of the time at the Magic Kingdom and Epcot alone taking pictures rather than riding lots of rides (although having a good time doing it...)?
3.  Which 2 people have a "need for speed" as evidenced by: riding nearly every roller coaster in the Magic Kingdom multiple times, being a little less excited about riding a clam-mobile to find Nemo at Epcot, and posing for pictures on a Harley?  Don't you just love the "as evidenced by"?  Now this question would stand up to auditors because it is very specific...  Wish I had a picture of the clam-mobile... now that is the kind of picture that can be used for blackmail purposes or for retirement party slide shows. 
4.  Who was up and to conference sessions earlier in the morning than I have ever seen them and took great pictures of fireworks at night?

Well, the only person I will tell on is myself... I hate to admit that the second one was me.  Crowds, lines, and heat don't always bring out the best in me.  But, I got some great pictures and was still able to ride some of the rides at the Magic Kingdom that I remember from when I was a kid.  And, I really loved the Epcot Center. Could develop a lot more questions... but like I said, I'm not one that is likely to travel and tell...

Here's a few more pictures of the hotel: