Success!

Our event went over fantastically! It was A LOT OF WORK. But it definitely was worth it - seeing the "final product" as our event played out this afternoon.

Danielle (our sweet friend who offered to watch the kids HERE instead of at the church...THANKFULLY...) got here at 10:30, and we were out the door! We drove to meet Ed (an operator in Port Charlotte and a good friend/mentor to Ian) to get the sign from him that we used as the background on the stage, and then we headed to the church. As soon as we got to the church, we were busy, busy, busy! Blowing up balloons, tying them to little cows, making a balloon arch (that turned into a balloon column/cluster...don't ask...), separating all the items used in the games, etc. etc. As soon as the church service was over, Ian and I headed up to the sound booth to set up our computer with the system. He quickly tried to explain to me and the sweet couple that normally runs the sound booth what videos were supposed to be played when, which songs to play at what point during the event, when the lights should be going crazy, when there should be a spotlight up, etc. etc. My man is AH-MAZING. He worked so hard for this event, and it showed! A lot of it was behind the scenes...but he did an awesome job. I was impressed, and I am sure others were too! Anyways... I was so nervous before it started! I was in charge of playing all the music at the right times and going through all the slides that were shown in front of everyone. I only messed up a couple of times (forgot to play songs at the right time, went too fast on one of the presenter's slides...nothing major thankfully!) All in all, I was very impressed at our event! Here are some other neat things we did!

Before the conference started, someone walked around taking pictures of individuals/groups with our kid cow. Then during the conference, that same person took the camera card to CVS and printed the pictures. THEN, when she returned, she put all of the pictures in frames for the people to pick up before they left.

The 3 IMs were in charge of what they called the "Rally." Following the breakout sessions, the participants were asked to wait outside until we got the room all set up. We added all kinds of noisemakers on their tables, put a Heinz Ketchup t-shirt on everyone's chair, blew up beach balls, placed a freshly baked Chick-fil-A cookie at everyone's place (the cookie is something new that CFA is coming out with...it's in test markets now!), gave everyone pom poms, etc. etc. The IMs basically wanted to do a fun pep rally type thing to end the conference. We had a fun, pop song playing when everyone came in. The operators lined up along the aisle and shook cow bells and noisemakers as the participants walked past. They threw footballs and beachballs towards the crowd. Then the three IMs showed a fun music video, got the crowd dancing with the cow, and played four minute-to-win it games. It was a bunch of fun.

Even though I was a little stressed trying to make sure I did everything right, I did sit back quite a few times, elated at the thought of working with such an amazing company! I mean, seriously, what other corporate conferences do you attend where one of the lead speakers references the Bible on numerous occasions? Not only that, but when we chose the songs to play during our conference, we were able to choose some of our favorite worship songs! I love, love, love Chick-fil-A and all that they stand for. I'm so thankful we have a chance to work with such an awesome company.

You better believe I took my fair share of pictures today....but...I am exhausted and CANNOT wait to get in our bed! So tomorrow I will upload some of the photos! (I've got to have a reason to get you back to my blog tomorrow, right?)