First off, I just enjoyed being in the lovely hotel. It's rare I get out of the boring, low-rent confines of my daily life, so this was a gift. I wandered around the halls taking photos of the lamps, chandeliers and potted plants. (I'm a photowalker).
I attended two sessions: (1) how to pitch to journalists and bloggers (Everything he said was right in my book.) and (2) how to think like an entrepreneur.
The highlight was meeting a woman from Colorado who did PR for a major camera company that she described as "the Apple of cameras." She kindly introduced me to everyone at the table at the pitch session. Like, she got everyone at the table ti go around one by one and tell me who they were. How nice was that? She asked if she could connect with me on LinkedIn and I may end up reviewing cameras for her at some point. (Yes I know I know nothing about cameras, but that didn't seem to deter her interest.
Swag
The medium-sized convention show room was filled with vendors offering services I didn't understand. But swag? That I understand.
This company offered full-sized calculators. You know, cuz we all need one these days.
Mints in orange disks. If the mints had light bulbs in them that lit up or the disks hovered in mid air emitting a tulip scent, maybe.
Who else but the employees of the company for which the cookie was made would want to eat said company's logo? Me. I took nine.
Post-it notes on the surface are handy, but still kinda lifeless.
Sharpies and note pads... See above.
Five stars.
The man at this booth was as indifferent as this pile. This dumped mess of a swag display says to me "Here's the swag, you swag whore. For those of you who want to do actual business, talk to me over here in the corner on my laptop doing business stuff."
The JW Marriott is just lovely an worth a walk-through yourself. Maybe have a drink in the bar smack dab in the middle of the first floor or walk the grounds in the back with it's meandering lazy river and multiple pools. Though the hotel is clearly not old, the proportions, materials, lighting, room shapes all combined to, at times, make me think I was in a historic building. So lovely!
