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The assistant managers conference i attended on june 3- 4 2008. This was my 1st conference as a 2nd assistant manager and i was not sure what the dress code was as everyone was giving me different ideas. So i pull together all the ideas and came up with a semi-formal business dress attire for the actual conferences and just tasteful style for the regular times between. I had shared accomodation with my 1st assistant manager. When they said shared accomodation i was thinking we would be sharing an hotel room, but we did not. My company went all out for this and i was delighted with the set up for our accomodation. The conference took place in a place call collingwood, Ontario and we stayed in blue mountain. Blue mountain had several inns and hotel and we stayed in the Grand. The hotel was huge for two people. We had two lovely bedrooms with balcony, kitchen, two full washrooms, living and dinning it was beautiful. Personally i plan to go back on one of my vacations with friends and just relax and have a good time. In the circle of the various hotels in blue mountain they have these cool little shops and entertainments, it is a sight to see and really the way to live low key and stress free lol but of course money is much needed.... |
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The first day of conference started with registration. We went in got our name badges that has to be worn around our necks in full site at all times. We got our wristbands which is mandatory to have around our wrist for the after party the night of the 1st day. They give us a laptop bag with the saying welcome to the assistant managers conference of 2008. Inside the bags had a few goodies like pens, lip gloss, gum etc. My 1st assistant and i stayed in the same circle of assistants and look for other people we may know. Once we find other assistant we know we then proceded to the olympic village exhibits the team for this conference was the olympics. After that was the opening ceremony in a big dome with lots of colorful lights it was very exciting. My 1st assistant and i was place on the Vancouver team and i was at table 10 and she was at table 29. The next team was the Beijing team they had seats at the front of the dome to the middle of the dome right across while the vancouver team was from the middle of the dome to the back of the dome. They had several exits, i always make sure anywhere i go i know where the exits are, this was no different lol and lucky enough table 10 was close to the side exit lol. |
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During the exhibits before we enter the dome we were allowed fruits and sandwiches. It was going to be along first day but i did not realize that at the time. The best and most memorable part of the first day was the manager meet the money session of the conference it was alot of fun and we all as managers enjoyed it alot. The manager meets the monkey was about taking on responsibilities that is not ours. Keep adding more and more to our daily lives until we are so overwhelm and burden down, we can't cope and we get so stress out and in the long run is no good to anyone. I truly believe everyone as the conference could relate to this particular syndrome. The idea of the manager meet the monkey was taken from the book : The One Minute Manager meets the Monkey by Ken Blanchard, Hal Burrows and William Onchen. |
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In life from time to time we take on more and more responsibilities. In the monkey meet the manager seminar this is called monkey on your back the more responsibilities you take on the more monkey on your back. There was funny skits done to prove how easily it can happen. Someone call and say something is missing and everytime we as managers answer i will take care of it we take on another monkey on our back. Some of the monkey we take on can be delegated to someone else. So in the skit we were shown that when someone try to give us a monkey, we should look at them and say "what do you recommend" wait 10 seconds for them to find there own solutions. Always compliment them on the fact they find a solution and just follow up days later on how they doing with there solution. That way you never took on there monkey. I find the whole monkey idea work well in real life for example paying my son and my mom bills for them. Why should i take on there monkey when i can easily show them how to do it and let them do it on there own. So remember now dont take on anyone monkey you have enough of your own. |
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In the monkey seminar they gave out stuff monkeys and people was running up to the podium to perform the skit to prove they know how to do it. One girl fell down but she did not let that stop her, she just get back up and run up those stairs as they only wanted ten people they end up getting 15 people. Once she was on the podium she brush herself off and do her skit just find. After the manager meet the monkey seminar ended, we gather for talks amongst ourselves and just wandering around the place until the next seminar started which was suppost to be the people find keep grow workshop that seminar went over time and so we missed out on our free time activities. The free time activities that i did not get to participate in was mountain biking, rock climbing, volley ball, hiking, shopping in the village, dockside activities such as paddle boats, kayaking, horse shoes, fishing and gondola rides up blue mountain. Some of these activities would have been great fun if i had gotten a chance to do them  and i was so looking forward to the rock climbing  . |
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After each seminar there is a post seminar action plan which is when we pick two things we will work on when we return to our store. The next seminar the people "find, keep and grow" is about finding the right people for the business, keeping and growing those right people in the business so they stay and move up in the company. This also applies to our real life. When we come across good people we want to keep them in our lives and strengthen those friendships. The more we strengthen these friendships of good people the happier we are and stronger in our own everyday life. We want to keep people in our lives that give us a wow feeling. If people in your life dont give you that wow feeling, they are just keeping you down and making you unhappy, its up to you to find what exactly you find in a person thats consider a wow as each person wow is different. It's like grocery list you may prefer vanilla milk while i may prefer plain milk. It does not mean my milk is more important it just means its different. So if you have people in your life making you miserable think about what they represent and whether or not they are wowing you lol. |
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After the people " find, keep and grow seminar we break again we had an hour and a half to shower and change for dinner. Dinner was dinner dressy and fun but most of all i enjoyed the laughts at the table. There was lots of pictures taken and people got abit tipsy. I had a glass of wine with my dinner and i had a dark chocolate cake that was sweet and very good but one slice was more than enough. The music was mixed and very good and i had a great time. I wore a sleeveless top and i was abit chilly but the funny part of my evening was my footwear. I bought a brand new shoes and it was very high probably about 6 inches and the heel is big, its a new arrival for the summer anyway i wore the shoe to dinner. After dinner went back to my hotel to change for the after party. When i take the shoe off the heel is falling off  had i spend another few minutes at the dinner walking around i would be heel less and that would have been so embarrassing. So i check my receipt for the shoe it was in my purse and see it says there is no refund or exchange if the shoe is worn. So you done know i will definately not be buying anything from that store ever again . |
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The after party was a blast i ran into people i work with over the years, met people i did not know and watch people make a total ass of themselves drinking into a stupor. Some people believes that because liquor is free they should just drink none stop and oh some of them did and act out which was laughable. I find an area and just dance and had a great time. The after party went on way into the night and they had barbeque for those who wanted to eat. For those who did not want the loud music they had another area with a guy singing and playing a guitar, i think he was singing and playing folk songs but i can not be too sure. It was great seeing some of the people i knew from years ago and my old supervisor and making new friends. I met a guy that resemble my brother Cornel and at the after party i keep thinking my brother Omar would put these people to shame with the dancing, as Omar is a great dancer and just loves to dance. I left the party long before it was over and went back to the hotel had a shower and was happy to jump in that big bed and get some much needed sleep. My room mate stayed at the after party not sure how long but i never heard when she came in. I was sensible enough to get my clothes for the next day seminars of the conference ready before going to bed. |
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The 2nd and last day of seminar we had to bring all our luggage to our cars and check out of the hotel. We then went to breakfast, i was so tired i wake at the time breakfast begin which was 7 am. By the time i made it to breakfast, it was almost time for the leadership cafe to start so i just grab a bunch of grapes and went in. We went back to our tables of the day before and we had to rotate people at each table, but from each table the table host stayed with there original table, while the other people go to different tables. I was the table host as the yellow sticker was on my chair i just pick the chair i had the day before. I did not know it would turn out to be a lucky chair as my feet was swollen and i really did not want to go from table to table. The leadership cafe is about all of us assistant managers putting all our knowledge together and comparing our thoughts on how to move our business forward. This was helpful to everyday life because i believe if we plan for tomorrow it makes it easier somehow. You may struggle today abit but had you plan for today on the previous days pass, things would be much better today. Is like i always say no one goes to work for other people, we go to work for ourselves. And its hard when people, the same people are always off enjoying and spending money carelessly, and then a year later they are broke and want money from the person who is living for today but planning for tomorrow. I don't know about you but it pissed me off to the max thats for sure. So lets enjoy life and live for today but still plan for tomorrow. |
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After the leadership cafe we break for 15 mins and sampling of ice coffee so they could get set up for the closing ceremonies. At the closing ceremonies we could sit anywhere so we took chairs from other table so we all could sit together. We knock our thunder balls and we just was in a fabulous mood and really hype. They had some fabulous prizes and they are as follows 1st Prize: Panasonic 42 in flat screeen tv with wireless surround sound system 2nd Prize: MacBook Pro ( this is what i wanted to win ) 3rd Prize: Wii System with sports features 4th Prize: Garmin Nuvi 250 GPS System ( they had 10 of them) 5th Prize: Nikon Digital Camera ( they had 15 of them) The 2nd assistant that won the 2nd prize the MacBook Pro was an old boss of mine and a good friend name Jay-P and one of the 2nd assistant that win one of the 5th prize the Nikon Digital Camera works at the store i use to work at name Kevin. The actual way they handle the 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize was funny. |
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In keeping with the whole olympic team business they pick 3 names from the big vault of names. Blue mountain is ski country so they made some plastic skis. The 3 names picked had to go to the back of the room and put on the plastic skis and ski there way to the podium. It was truly funny and ridiculous all at the same time. And at that very moment i was happy; they did not picked my name and more than delighted i was not the one going through skiing on dry land . The vibe for the closing ceremony was high and it was fun. There was many pictures taken mostly for work purposes when they show the next set of newbie assistant, how fun the conventions really are. I took one picture well Jay-P took one picture of me and another manager Tasha we are still waiting for him to put it up on facebook so we can get our copy. After that was over we make our way to the back of the dome to get our lunch to go. It was amusing it was packed in a gift bag with the type of sandwich label with straw, fruit and dessert with cheese and crackers a real treat. We then made our way to our own cars and leave out one behind each other. Most of us nodded of we were exhausted. On our way home on the high way was a serious accident and that whole lane was closed off and one of the person involve in the accident died. It remind me how fragile life is and how quickly it can all be gone and why it is so important to really and truly live our life in a way that makes us happy. I got home safely and i am practicing what i learn both at work and in my every day life. But i am still thinking of that day, when i will go back to Collingwood to blue mountain resort to relax and unwind and have another grand time on my time not company time at the grand. |
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It's great to know you had fun...I am happy you did put those outfits to work because I didn't spend half day at the picking out what I like for you to wear for nothing. |
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Lol Thank you Chev you know i appreciate your time and views on fashions. |
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