Home Again!

I always envy the people that get to travel in their work. I have friends that are continually going to other countries. My travel is usually from Lewisville to Coppell, Fort Worth or Dallas. All of which is in the metropolitan area of DFW.

But in May I always go to the ISM conference and this year was no different. The two previous ISM conferences took me to Minneapolis and Las Vegas, and my flights home arrived way after midnight when we were actually scheduled to land in Dallas around 8 pm. This year, my husband and I drove to the ISM conference in St Louis.

One of the great things about the ISM conference is seeing friends from all over, ones you only see once a year at the conference. Then ISM brings in many of their staff which I always enjoy seeing and talking to. Many work in the check-in and registration area and you have to wait until after the big rush to visit with them.

I always enjoy the book store too. I never leave the conference without buying a book. This year I purchased “A Whole New Mind” by Daniel H. Pink. It is autographed. Drawing on research from around the world, A Whole New Mind reveals the six essential aptitudes - Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play and Meaning – on which professional success and personal fulfillment now depend. Mr. Pink gave a great presentation at the luncheon.

And I got to meet up with Paul Teaque, Editor-In-Chief of Purchasing, in the dining room one morning for breakfast. Hope you all made it by their booth. It is great to have their support at our conference and all year long.

To my friends that did not get their annual pair of gloves at the Hagemeyer booth, I am sorry. Hopefully next year the sales team will bring gloves, lot of gloves.

Thanks to the St Louis group that let me volunteer to work at the conference, otherwise I would not have been able to attend. What a group and so well organized. I got some great ideas to use at the Southwest Supply Management Conference in Dallas in September. This is a great conference, smaller scale than national and less expensive.

Members made great use of the Cyber Café. You think of it as being something to eat but actually you check e-mail, send e-mail, and keep up with tasks going on at work. I did not take an actual count, however it looked like 15 to 20 computers set up for people at the conference.

It is great to be back home. I am looking forward to all of the e-mails pending in my in box at work. Hope to see you all next year in Charleston.