Stampin' Up Convention 2011: Dinner and Awards Night
May 17, 2011
Saturday night is a part of convention we all look forward to - the dinner and awards night. We all got dolled up in our evening wear. (I'll share a funny story with you about that at the end of this post!)
Here's some of the girls from our table - me, Tina and Toby in the back, and Christine and Judy in front.
There was a band playing ('scuse the blurry photo!)
Now if you know me you'll know I've got a strange habit of photographing the food at special events so here goes .....
I was rather missing my nice big digital SLR. Not quite so photogenic in the food pics with my little point and shoot, but easier to fit in the handbag! The yummy chocolate 5 on the cheesecake was because Stampin' Up is celebrating their 5th year in Australia this year.
Once our lovely dinner was finished it was time to head downstairs into the main stage area for the Awards Presentations. It was so exciting to cheer on our fellow demonstrators for achievements in Sales, Recruiting and Leadership, and especially when my team mates names appeared on screen - Elaine, Miriam, Claire, and Tanja.
We Think Ink girls were very excited for our team member Kylie Bertucci who received her first sales award. Kylie couldn't be there for the evening but we gave her a huge cheer which she'd just about have heard in Werribee I'm sure.
An unanticipated fabulous highlight of the evening was this screen .....
Kylie was named 1st place in the Australian Rising Star Awards. What an achievement!
The Rising Star program recognises demonstrators in their first FULL Stampin' Up year as a demonstrator for sales and team building. (The SU year runs from April - end March.) What a terrific recognition for Kylie and a lovely reward for all her enthusiasm and dedication. A huge congrats!
Having a little toot of my own now, I was excited to be walking the stage this year with a sales award, a recruiting award and a career milestone award.
And I must confess I was so thrilled to make the Top 25 Australian Demonstrator of the Year award again this year. I got this silver pin when I checked in on the Thursday (along with pins for the other awards) .....
..... so I knew then I'd made the list - then it was exciting on the evening to find out exactly where. I'm number 15. A huge congrats and pat on the back to the other girls on the list, and especially to a special someone who came in at number 1. And to the 18 girls from Aust/NZ who are heading off to Fiji later this year on the Incentive Trip - well done.
We all got to go on stage and Shelli gave us each a hug and a lovely long stemmed rose. Stampin' Up do a terrific job of making us all feel very special. (Thank you to my friend Kathryn for some of the pics in this post - much appreciated.)
Stampin' Up give stamp sets as part of the various awards so I went home with a nice collection of goodies to add to my craft stash, and even better - a lovely lovely feeling of being recognised, appreciated and rewarded. In my other roles that feeling is sometimes a little hard to find - they don't have 'Instilled a Love Of Reading' awards, or 'Kept Everyone Fed for a week' or 'Gives Good Snuggles' or 'Battled An Out Of Control Laundry'. Hannah and Jack were most impressed with my certificate and think it should go up on the wall next to the Student Of The Week awards. J
I wouldn't have received these awards without my lovely lovely team and my gorgeous customers and class girls, and most importantly my very supportive (and patient!) husband and lovely kids so a big big thanks to everyone. What a fabulous job I have.
Before I close for today, a few other announcements were made at convention.
Next year we're heading to Canberra for Convention 2012, May 31st - June 2nd. Put the date in your diary if you're a demonstrator. And give a holler if all this fun has you tempted to join the crew and I'll send you some more info. Did you know that you no longer need an ABN to join so it is now super quick and easy.
Another memorable moment of the night - Aaron and Emma (Aust and NZ managers) rode onto the stage on camels to let us know that next year's Incentive Trip is to Broome to the Cable Beach Resort. Ooh sounds exciting!
Now - want to know that funny story! I impulse bought a new dress the day I was leaving for convention as I fell in love with the funky flouncy hemline. Ducked into DFO between sessions to get a 5 way convertible bra and while getting dolled up I was madly converting it 5 ways to see which was best (and wishing it came with a manual!) Time was ticking so got dressed in a hurry and off we all went to the dinner. It wasn't til I got home again that I realised I'd put the dress on backwards! It does seem to be cut the same front and back but the nice panel of pleats was supposed to run down the front, not the back! I did have a giggle! What do you think - can you tell?? JJJ
And after that little laugh between us girls, now I'd best switch this computer off for a bit as my bag is still sitting here waiting for me to unpack it. Have a wonderful week.
Cheers, Sue
congrats on all your fab achievements Sue - looks like you had an awesome time love Carolyn xx
Posted by: Carolyn | June 07, 2011 at 08:15 PM
Congratulations Sue on all your wonderful achievements and awards. It was lovely seeing you at Convention again and I loved your dress!! Your story gave me a big chuckle. One of the girls we were with needed to tack up a hem, and we resorted to Snail and Sticky Strip!! It all adds to the giggles and fun though, doesn't it? Congrats again!
Simone xx
Posted by: Simone | May 25, 2011 at 08:14 PM
I would never have known that dress was backwards sue!!! Looks gorgeous. Thanks for my congrats - I must say winning the rising star award felt like reality when the $500 appeared in my account last week. Lol. Congrats on all your fantastic achievements too. You are such a high achiever and I couldn't have won this award without your help and support at any time. So thank you!!!
Posted by: Kylie bertucci | May 24, 2011 at 10:46 PM
Congratulations again Sue on your fabulous awards. So proud of you. Was lovely to catch up with you at Convention. Here's to a fabulous year ahead for you with more fun and friendship.
Posted by: Claire Daly | May 22, 2011 at 07:57 PM
Congratulations Sue - significant recognition for your hard work in such a cheerful, friendly manner.
Irene McKenzie
Posted by: Irene McKenzie | May 20, 2011 at 12:21 PM
What a great post, Sue; you've captured the excitement perfectly. You deserve to be rewarded - you are a very special person, who willingly and openly shares, and may many more awards and rewards come your way! Your dress looked gorgeous, by the way.
Posted by: Christine Blain | May 19, 2011 at 09:48 AM
Hi Sue,lovely to run into you at convention wasnt it fab. congrats on your award,
I also took photos of the food at the awards dinner LOL oh by the way you looked lovely on the awards night :)
Juliana
Posted by: Juliana main | May 19, 2011 at 01:06 AM
Congratulations Susan, Well Done!
The food certainly looks interesting. Wasn't sure what some of it was.
Maybe the dress looks better backwards. Hard to imagine it with pleats in front. Fran
Posted by: Fran | May 17, 2011 at 06:23 PM
Congrats, gave you a big cheer when you went up on stage. Was nice to run into you over the weekend.
Your dress is lovely, and no, you couldn't tell ;-)
Fi x
Posted by: Fiona Harrison | May 17, 2011 at 02:35 PM
Woohoo Sue. A big congrats, you really deserve it. Wouldn't it be great if all companies recognised their employees the way Stampin Up does!!!
Posted by: Annette Therik | May 17, 2011 at 02:32 PM
Congratulations Sue! How fabulous!....and no...we never would have known if you hadn't told us.....but thanks for telling us !! Ha Ha!!
Posted by: Robyn | May 17, 2011 at 01:25 PM