So, the new job has me growing the HP Printer business at ePlus. This is great, but I know nothing yet. Well, when one of the guys that I work with remembered that this event, HP IPG School of Rock, was this week, and practically down the street, I jumped at the opportunity to go! I found out on Friday night that they let me in, and booked my room on Monday morning.
I drove to SA on Tuesday afternoon, was able to get an early check-in at Hotel Contessa (soooo nice), and then headed over to registration check in at the Grand Hyatt. Funny story about this. I booked my hotel at the last minute on Hotwire.com, and got my room for $139....wow....but that's not the funny part. So, once I found out what hotel it was, I was thrilled that it was only 3 blocks from where the conference was being held. So, after I got settled, I left my hotel around 145pm....in the lovely hot humid SA day..... at 306 W Market Street, to the Hyatt, at 600 Market Street. Well, I headed toward the bigger numbers on the street, and when I got to the 600 block....um....there was nothing there. I was like "???". Lost in downtown SA in my business attire, looking very confused. So, I pulled the Map feature on my phone....and quickly realized that MY hotel was on WEST Market.....and the Hyatt was on EAST Market. Duh!!! So, I hightailed it back past my hotel....and the 9 blocks the OTHER direction to finally get to the hotel. First stop was the bathroom to re-freshen up after walking a mile around downtown SA. :)
So....I sat around for a while, because I didn't know a single person there. I had briefly met Mike from Houston in the Austin office a few weeks ago, so, I found him, and then the fun began. I immediately started to meet all the "right" people, and within the first hour of the opening session, I was already light years ahead of where I was I at knowing what was going on with IPG at HP. Phew!!!
That evening was a Solutions Expo....this is where they have all the booths setup.....people go around, ask questions, etc, etc, etc. Well, this was different than usual for me, because I actually DID have questions, and these folks had the answers. One fun thing that they did, to tie into the theme of the event, was give out guitar pics with numbers on them to the people that they thought asked good questions. I ended up with 5 pics at the end of the night. They put the pics into a fish bowl and drew numbers for a chance to spin the prize wheel.
Guess what?? The very first pic that they chose....I had the matching number. What are the chances..........my luck is through the roof right now! :) So, I spun the wheel and won a $50 iTunes gift card - how cool!!
I spent the rest of the night talking to folks and doing some major networking. I left there with my head swimming with so many ideas and thoughts that I hardly got any sleep that evening.
Wednesday was all day break out sessions with a ton of awesome information. Printing with HP is really so neat, and it's more than just "how many printers do you want to buy" kind of stuff. I'm so excited about my job and sharing with my sales teams what I've learned, and growing this business exponentially!
That night, there was a planned activity for the group. We took one of the water taxis through the Riverwalk to the SW School of Arts for mingling, drinks, and some delicious appetizers and then dinner and music afterwards. By this time I'd met quite a few folks, and of course, I ended up walking around and talking the whole time. So fun!!
After a while, there were a few folks that wanted to go "out". Well, they wanted to go to Coyote Ugly, and I know what ends up happening when I go there, so I was a little hesitant at first, but was coerced in the end to join them.
We had a great time at CU, and got to kind of shake loose from the long day of training. After we were there for a few hours....the thing that I know always happens there.....happened....BUT, I was doing it for the other guys that were there with me. They all had their eye on this cute girl, and they wanted me to get her to dance on the bar. So, I took one for the team, and after convincing her that she wanted to, I was right up there with her, dancing on the bar. Hey.....when in Rome, right? :) Such a fun night, with good people.
Thursday wrapped up the show with a few more breakout sessions, goodbyes, and then I headed home. My first HP show was a total success....and I LOVE that I'm excited to be doing what I'm doing.
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