Sunday morning has arrived at VenueConnect and while the meat of the conference is still in front of us, everything to date has gone about as perfectly as can be planned.
What can I say about the keynote speech delivered yesterday by Lt. General Russel Honore, (Ret), other than I want to hear more. This has to rank at or at the least very near the top of keynote speakers who have addressed IAAM audiences. The General began his speech by saying he was going to talk about patriotism, which made me think that by the end of the talk I would be wiping tears from my eyes. Oh, I was wiping tears, all right, but moreso from how much I laughed at some of the stories the General shared.
Make no mistake, General Honore drove home the points of patriotism and leadership, and he made it more than clear that what we consider today to be "obstacles" in our lives are really nothing more than inconveniences. And he is absolutely right about that.
The stories and analogies are far too numerous to recount here, but if you are not in Houston at VenueConnect you will definitely, and I mean definitely, want to check out this speech at VenueConnect 2.0 following the conference.
The industry's best trade show kicked off and as always for the opener spoiled attendees with some of the best food around to enjoy on the floor while visiting with IAAM and National Association of Concessionaires (NAC) exhibitors. Today's show gets going again at 10:30 and I expect some serious business to take place on the floor.
I enjoyed chatting with and congratulating Andrew Cretors and Shelly Olesen with C. Cretors and Company on celebrating a 125th anniversary with the first popcorn machine. As Andrew pointed out, the company likes to consider themselves as creating the concessions business as vendors would put other products in the portable machines for sale to thirsty and hungry patrons. That's a pretty sweet legacy when you think about it.
Another big day looms with the trade show and the IAAM Business Meeting, so we'll be back later and let you know how it goes.
Wish you were here...