Monday March 2, 2009

Date line: Bonita Springs Florida
Preconference day Two
March 2, 2009


Can you say bright sunshine, blue sky, and birds singing? That’s what woke me up this morning. I also noticed how much tastier Florida orange juice is when its’ fresh squeezed.

We got down to business at a 9AM pre-conference meeting with the entire hotel staff. The heads of beverage, security, cuisine, electrical, transportation, guest services, concierge, recreation, etc. were all present to review the flow of the conference down to the tiniest detail. Having been a guest of the Dynamics conference about 10 times in my career, I had developed an appreciation for the lengths JHA goes to care for their clients and guests, and this pre-conference meeting confirmed all that I had come to believe about how much JHA cares that Dynamics is the best conference ever in the opinion of attendees.

We spent the afternoon reviewing and re-reviewing details, preparing welcome packages for clients and conference bags for all attendees, checking the weather forecasts for later this week, and flight conditions from the major airports. I’ll tell you, all these behind the scenes people are total professionals. They don’t miss a trick. One guy even asked whether the fresh mozzarella on the lunchtime buffet was going to be ‘buffalo’ mozzarella. Seriously. I guess that’s OK now that they are off the endangered species list. Looking forward to the ‘Argentinian Condor mozzarella’ after we get that species repopulated.

Did you know the Boston Red Sox are at this hotel today? I was wondering why there were so many athletic looking people walking around the hotel this afternoon. I didn’t recognize them as Red Sox players behind their Oakleys. But then I saw a bunch of them playing catch out in the Royal Palm Courtyard (where our Thursday evening event will be held). The ‘roid sniffing dog got distracted by my roast beef sandwich so the security guard relieved me of it. You know, baseballs thrown 200 feet on a line and the crisp ‘pop’ of the baseball mitt are a lot more impressive from ten feet away than they are on TV. Then I spied a couple of the players in the gym, sprinted upstairs to change into my workout clothes, and casually offered to spot for them on the bench press (just proper gym etiquette, you know). They said ‘no thanks’. They didn’t think I could hack it. Come on, I can dial 911 as quick as anybody.

Tomorrow our first guests arrive. We are so looking forward to welcoming them!