Incentive Trip - Sunday

Hi there! I hope you enjoyed my Convention Post? Today I am starting with Day 1 of the Incentive Trip. Thank you for all your messages and emails saying how much you have enjoyed my posts from Utah! I hope I am giving you a flavour of what it was like for us?

So on the Sunday morning we were collected from outside the Salt Palace Convention Centre and driven by coach to the Deer Valley Resort. We were staying at the St Regis hotel which was nestled right at the top of the mountains. It is a ski resort and it would be lovely to go back and see it in the winter although I am not sure how the coach would make it up the roads in the snow!

Here is the hotel in the fore ground of this photo!

We were blown away by our room, we had a double bed each and I laid like a starfish every night!

Lovely little welcome basket awaiting us on our arrival! I took the bed by the window!

The bathroom was amazing and had a shutter through the the bedroom, as well as having a TV in the middle of the bathroom mirror!

This was our view from the hotel room! Imagine these ski runs in the winter! Bet it looks amazing!

One of my favourite things on the incentive trips is hanging about in the Hospitality Room with the Stampin Up corporate team and the Special Events team (who organise the whole incentive trip!). The rooms are always decorated beautifully and there are jars of sweets (or should that be candy?) everywhere!

There is also always a game for you to have a go at each day to win prizes! Usually its spin the wheel but this year it was Plinko!!!

When we arrived there were drinks and snacks and I loved this Cola bottles!! The popcorn below was the best I have every tasted - Caramel and Chocolate!

We took over what is normally the library for our Hospitality Room this year!

On the Sunday evening we had a welcome meal in the outside area and they constructed this wonderful gazebo for us to dine under!

The decorations were stunning as usual!

And as always there was a little gift! Can you spot that the flower on the gift matches the tablecloth!!!!!

We were so happy to be joined by 4 out of 5 of Shelli and Sterling's daughters and their husbands! We were sat with Shalae and her lovely husband Jon (poor fella got stuck next to me gassing to him all night) and we were opposite the lovely Megan and her husband Nate. Megan was such a lovely lady, really sweet and it was a pleasure and an honour to share her company! Don't think she will forget the girl from Yorkshire with her tales from the Ballroom!!!

Myself and my guest Ellie before the meal.

 When the night drew in the lights looked so lovely and romantic and I missed having my Robino there to share the adventure with me! :(

 After the meal we went for a little night cap and discovered the Funicular railway that transported guests down the side of the mountain to the car park! Ellie was in her element and I think she had 3 or 4 goes that night, as did I!!!!

This is what it looks like in the day time!

We sat outside with our drinks around the fire pit with a blanket around us soaking in all the adventures of our first day!

Of course when we returned to our room there was a pillow gift!! A fantastic Stampin Up jacket in black with a lovely logo! I will have to take a photo of the actual jacket!

Hope you enjoyed details of my first day, will be back tomorrow with Day 2!

USA Convention - in one blog post!

Hello there!

Fasten your safety belts as this post is action packed!! I am going to try and blog Convention in ONE POST!!! Am I crazy??

So we didn't get off to the best start, missing our flight. This is not good for a nervous flyer but all went well a day later and we were soon off on our way to SLC!! The flight was OK, I have to say - just very long!

A little alcoholic beverage was required after our ordeal from the day before!

We soon were transferred to our hotel and I soon dumped all my clothes on our bed!!! Yes we had to share a huge bed, Ellie and I, as our room wasnt ready but the kind receptionist took pity on me when I told her we had been travelling almost 2 days (in the same pair of knickers) and upgraded us to an executive King!

Convention was a bit of an eye opener to be honest! Never seen as many people in one place and there were 5000 more people there than at our largest EU Convention!! Eeeekkkk!!!

This is me and my friend Ellie who was my guest! I was overwhelmed and I am a demonstrator so Ellie was completely blown away by it all and didnt know where to look next! Here we are ready for the opening session. I dont think we look too bad to say it was 5pm Utah time (Midnight UK time) and we had been travelling for so long!!!

We met the 2 Carol's who sat in front of us, really lovely ladies who gave us swaps - even though we didn't have any! Thanks ladies.

The opening song was fab and there were a few pyrotechnics involved too! The new song, Be the Difference was sung by Ryan Innes who was a finalist on the US version of The Voice.

The beginning of the "selfie" photos that I kept on taking!

After the opening session and a fab demonstration from Pam Morgan we got to wander round the Demonstrator Resource Centre! OMG look how busy it was! And can you see our Convention Bags????

I enjoyed looking at an area dedicated to the history of Stampin Up which contained many images of past catalogue covers. Was really interesting to see how they have changed over the years.

This was the cover of the first ever catalogue!

We had to leave early as we were so tired, but managed to stay up until about 10pm (which was like 5am to us).

The next day was the first full day and I really enjoyed the presentation by our CEO Shelli Gardner. She shared 25 amazing projects (to celebrate 25 years) and they were stunning, containing LOTS of new products!

In the afternoon it was my turn to present on a class discussion on How I earned the Incentive Trip. I was so honoured to partner with Pam Morgan and 4 other amazing demonstrators from all over the world, including my special friend Silvia Werner from Germany, who spoke in English throughout her presentation, which I was in awe of!

The presentation went well and I was asked lots of questions afterwards by lovely demonstrators, thanks for your enthusiasm and for enjoying the session.

So then it was off to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. I was lucky to meet up with lots of US bloggers whom I am sure you will all be familiar with! Tami White, Dawn Olchefske, Becky Roberts, Mary Fish and France Martin - to name but a few! We then got ready for the Awards Night. This was really interesting for us to see how the US demonstrators did in comparison to us in the UK!

Here are 4 of our lovely gang that night. We did sit with Monica too but I think the photo was taken before she arrived! Bekka, Ellie, Teri (Monica's guest) and myself.

The next day we were up early and it was already the last day of Convention! Another selfie to celebrate!

Lots more creative presentations and classes and a boxed lunch in the biggest dining hall I have ever seen! I loved Shelli's gorgeous outfit today, not a brill photo but she has on a gorgeous coral laced skirt.

Dining with over 5000 demonstrators!

I met this lovely group of ladies and I have already forgotten their names, think the lady next to me with long hair was Diana, they were so so lovely.

In the afternoon I had 2 classes back to back in the Main Stage area and got sat next to this lovely girl, Mandi from Utah!! We were as bad as each other for the "selfies" and will definitely stay in touch! Thank you for making my afternoon great Mandi!

For the closing session Stampin Up were streaming LIVE on the internet via You Tube!!! I hadnt yet won a Prize Patrol but lo and behold I won the first one of the live streaming and got caught on camera dancing about. When you win you are supposed to stand up and cheer and dance! If you want to see my moment of fame and embarrassment it's on this link HERE, and its at 14.00 minutes in! Im with the pink top on like the photo below!!!!

And before we knew it, it was time for Convention to finish!!

But our amazing journey was only just beginning!!

Check back tomorrow for more updates!