WHEW! It's done. Overall a successful show. Everyone enjoyed the exhibits and the seminars and the networking that went on. We ended up with over 250 attendees, less than I had hoped for, but a good showing considering what's happened with the economy since I planned this thing a year ago.

Yesterday was so hectic, I didn't have a chance to post. The day started with Jeff's sealer seminar, then exhibits from 9 to 2, and other seminars and the new Concrete Countertop Design Expo mixed in. There was also a raffle prize drawing with a LOT of generous prizes from the exhibitors - prizes valued at a couple hundred to even a thousand dollars! I was running around dealing with so much stuff and was so exhausted that I didn't even make it through dinner. I just crashed.

Today was much lower key. We had some roundtable discussions in the morning, then some really good show & tell sessions. The projects that Chris, Mark, Christopher and Ian showed were nothing short of amazing. Then Bent Mikkelsen of Concrete Decor magazine presented his concrete countertop design competition awards. He made some really good points about quality and professionalism, and how displaying this level of work in publications such as Concrete Decor magazine is a way to show everyone what they can and should aspire to.

After that, it was just a little more breakdown, and then relaxation time! Later in the afternoon, Dana Andrews of Buckets of Stone had a few people over to his house for a cookout. He has a beautiful house in an absolutely charming neighborhood of Sacramento. Thanks Dana and Lisa for your wonderful hospitality!

Next Jeff and I are off for a week of much-needed vacation. When I get back I'll post more photos, send out thank you notes, etc. Plus the professional film crew is going to get me snippets of video - he filmed several of the exhibitors doing demos and other cool stuff.

And, now it's time to let the big news out - next year the Concrete Countertop Industry Conference will be co-located with the Surface Fabrication & Design Expo, which is produced by Cygnus Expositions. The show will be February 19 -21 in Orlando at the Orange County Convention Center. I am so excited about this, because there is so much that the various types of countertop makers can learn from each other and because this is an indication of the legitimization of concrete as a countertop surface. We all know it's legit, but finally other groups are started to recognize that. I will be putting together the concrete countertop seminar program and a concrete countertop exhibitor pavilion on the show floor. All attendees will be able to go to all the different seminars, and the cross pollination that will happen because of that will be helpful to both groups.

Well, it's time for vacation now. I'll be back the day after Labor Day. Everyone have a safe and happy holiday!

Susan of Buddy Rhodes Concrete Products presents a prize

Our snazzy signage

Ian Wyndlow's Show & Tell presentation

Tommy Cook of Absolute Concrete Works accepts a Concrete Decor award

Hanging out at Dana Andrews' house

What I'll be doing for the next week - relaxing!

Today ROCKED! The seminars were great, the roundtables were a hit (especially the GFRC roundtable - a VERY hot topic), all of the exhibitors were happy, attendees were enjoying the demos, things ran smoothly for the most part - it was just GREAT! We had a 25% increase in attendance due to on site registrations this morning, and we're expecting even more tomorrow morning. WOW!

I'll just post a few quick photos of the seminars, exhibit hall, showcase and the Buddy Rhodes party tonight, and then I'm going to SLEEP!

What a day! Everything came together, and the day ended with a great reception.

Exhibit hall setup was a little hectic. A few exhibitors had their shipments damaged and had to repour countertops, but the biggest adventure of the day was enCOUNTER's. They were supposed to have their trailer in place by 8am because it's so large and has to be driven in. But their truck broke down last night in Death Valley, and they were attacked by bats! Really! They finally made it to the convention center at 3:30pm. We got them situated, though, and I went on to the welcome reception that enCOUNTER sponsored. When I made my toast at 7pm, I thought the enCOUNTER folks weren't going to make it, and they walked in at the very moment I was telling the story about the bats.

We're ready for tomorrow. The thing I'm most nervous about is lines at the registration counter tomorrow morning between 7 and 9. But we'll get everybody in, and it will be a great show.









The West Lobby - ready for the crowds tomorrow.









Exhibit hall setup










enCOUNTER finally arrives.











The welcome reception











The "gobi light" with the enCOUNTER logo











Coyne Edmison of enCOUNTER arrives at exactly the right moment during my toast

I am SO EXCITED!!! The exhibit hall, registration counters and signs look great, and the convention center staff and all of the companies we're working with are so nice.

Denise and Darnette and I met with the hotel staff this morning, then we had lunch at Mason's at the Park Downtown, right across the street from the hotel. The manager showed us around the space that we will use tomorrow night for the welcome reception sponsored by enCOUNTER. It's a really cool place! The only thing is, the sign in the hotel lobby is going to say "The Park Downtown", but the sign on the building says Mason's. There's also a Ma Jong's restaurant in that same space - they're providing the hors d'oeuvres for the reception.

Then we walked over to the convention center for our pre-conference meeting with everyone else. The best way to walk from the Residence Inn is to just walk 2 blocks down L Street to 13th Street. You turn left out of the main lobby door, turn left on 15th Street, turn right on L Street, then walk 2 blocks to 13th Street, where you will see the convention center on your right.

We toured the seminar rooms, which are plenty big, and the exhibit hall, where Freeman was taping the floors and laying carpet. They were already bringing in exhibitor's crates. I saw my crate go by on a truck, and Buddy Rhodes' crates came in while we were standing there.

The signs and registration counters look great!

Then we stuffed all the conference bags with exhibitor collateral for our gold and patron sponsors.

I also finished wrapping all the speaker gifts and organized the photos for the Attendee Showcase. We're ready for booth setup tomorrow!

Well, we had our first "problem" of the conference. I didn't buy enough ribbon for the speaker gift wrapping! I spent so much time picking out a nice grosgrain ribbon with blue and red stripes, and I bought 1/2 as much as I need. So I cut it lengthwise. At least I remembered the scissors. I hope the speakers don't mind frayed ribbon on their gifts.

If all the problems are like this, we'll be in good shape.

We're here! Jeff and I arrived at 10pm last night, which was 1am our time. We went through Midway, which is where we flew through for the Concrete Countertop Council summit back in February 2007. We had dinner at one of the restaurants we hung around in then. When we arrived in Sacramento, it was cool to see the luggage scupltures again. I posted a photo of those in this blog a year ago, after I'd done my site selection visit here.

Today I have a meeting at 11am with the hotel staff. That won't last long, and then Denise and Darnette and I will have lunch and head over to the convention center. Then we have our big pre-conference powwow with everybody and their brother - the convention center, the show decorator, A/V, security, wireless, etc. Then at 3:30 comes the fun part - we start stuffing conference bags! Whoo hoo! ;-)

I bought the gas cards for the drawing today. I chose Exxon/Mobile because they seem to have the most gas stations around the country. They didn't have 5 $100 cards in stock, so I ended up having to buy 1 $100, 5 $50 and 6 $25. Someone is going to get a whole stack of gas cards!

Registrations are still pouring in. 15 have come in today so far. It's a good thing I extended the pre-registration deadline, although badge printing on Monday is going to be hectic. The badges will have to be overnighted to Sacramento because show management's pre-conference setup is Tuesday.

A TV show is going to film the conference! Dave Cronk of Everything Concrete called me, and he's going to bring in a whole film crew and produce a segment on the conference. Parts of it will probably go on YouTube and on Dave's website, www.davecronk.com. This will be great! I was already planning to do some filming with my little video camera, but this will be a professional film crew!

I'm headed to CA in exactly 1 week! Everything is ready, except the stuff for my booth. The crate went out last Friday, but I'm working on the collateral we're going to hand out. Plus I have to take care of last-minute details like final reminders to speakers, Show & Tell presenters and contributors to the Attendee Showcase.

By the way, there's still room to bring concrete displays for the Showcase. I'm going to email all registered attendees this week and let them know about that option. It's a great way to inspire other concrete countertop makers with your work. Several of our members or students who are close to Sacramento are bringing tables or sinks. One person is even bringing concrete business card holders!

Today was the LAST DAY for the special rate at the hotel. They won't let us extend it any more, so I hope people made their hotel eservations. A bunch of reservations came in this weekend, and they're still coming, but several people have told me that they had already booked their hotel rooms, and then later called to register for the conference.

I am going to extend the pre-registration cutoff from this Friday August 15 to next Monday August 18, since it seems like so many people register over the weekend. It helps us to have people preregister so that we can have their badges ready and speed things up on site, and it helps them because they save some money - $30 on a Full Conference Pass.