Day #2: Let's Get it Started!

How many women does it take to pull together all of the gazillion details necessary to run a two day training event for over 1100 participants with fifty-seven presenters? (Plus a warm-up day for directors only..... so that sounds actually like three days to me!)

Well here's the answer: In color-coordinated & synchronized t-shirts, declaring the conference title: "Kid's Matter," here are the nine amazing wonder women who pulled the 41st annual conference together. They had presented me with my honorary t-shirt the day before. I had it hanging from my microphone on Wednesday. We took this sorority girls picture at 6:58 a.m., right after we'd had our morning breakfast together. With a morning tip-off of my keynote at 8:15, this team actually starts to assemble at 6:00 a.m!!! Talk about dedication. Talk about amazing. Talk about friendships forged in the midst of it all. With laptops humming and with plunger in hand -- we get underway.

We spoke over breakfast that my journey to their event began a full 21 months earlier, when we met one another at NAEYC in Chicago. They were attracted to my booth and mini-performance in the aisle, but alas, our workshop was already over by that point. So they marked their dance cards to be certain to see me in action the following year @ NAEYC in Dallas. And that's when we began making specific plans. Drum roll please. I finished my new vest last night a stroke before 10:00 p.m. (I did all of the hemming by hand in my yummy Hyatt suite..... oh, and do you like my little socks adorned with feathers??) Let the day begin!!