Close To My Heart Convention 2017

Roomie photo. Love these girls!

I've been home from the Close To My Heart annual Convention for almost a week, and am finally starting to feel a little bit back in the swing of things. Whew!  Attending Convention is exhilarating, exhausting, inspiring, and entertaining. I come home filled with new ideas creatively and for my business. I spend time with cherished friends. It's something that's so hard to explain until someone experiences it for themselves. I thought I'd spend today's post sharing a bit about my Convention experience last week. 
Next year's Convention is from June 38-30 in Las Vegas, NV at the Red Rock Resort. Join my team so you can attend with me!

Wednesday, June 28 was Leadership Day.  This day is for those Consultants with CTMH who have a downline.  It is focused on teaching things that will help leaders know how to help their team members be successful.  It was an awesome day, and by the end, my head was spinning, full of new ideas.

That evening, I had a team get together with my team members who came in for Convention.  I had approximately 50 team members come. WOO HOO!  My team is called The Pacemakers, because we keep THE HEART (as in Close To My Heart) pumpin'!  Also, we like to think we set the pace!  Here we are after our team meeting.  I love sharing this awesome ride with my team!

Some of my team members and I. I love this team!  We are all wearing our "Proud to be a Pacemaker" apparel.

Thursday, June 29. This was the first day of Convention for everyone.  This is always one of my favorite days of the whole experience. Opening General Session is always a show never to forget.  This year was no exception. The new catalog was unveiled, new products were introduced, the show was amazing, and the crowd was exuberant.

Chief Marketing Officer, Monica Wihongi and I got to share some memories of CTMH over the years on stage together.

One of the big announcements was that we are partnering with Stacy Julian for an exclusive product line that will be debuting in 2018.  

It's tradition. Every year, after the opening session, these three girls (Lisa, Amy and Christine) and I get a photo taken with our brand new catalogs. You'll have a chance to start ordering from this amazing book on August 1.

My buddy, Michelle and I drooling over the new catalog during lunch!

That evening, all of the directors were treated to a wonderful dinner, after touring the home office.  What a great experience! We were each giving a beautiful silver "Close To My Heart" necklace as a gift.

In the home office, there is a special bulletin board of all of the directors in the company. Here I am pointing to my pic.

All of the Directors, after the Director Dinner and Tour.

Gorgeous necklace given to each of us Directors.

Friday, June 30, 2017.  This day was full of creative classes, another great general session and so much fun! I was really proud to have one of my downline, Brenda, present a dynamite creative class.  I loved learning and spending time with so many wonderful friends.

Me, with my friends Amy and Jacquie

My sweet friend, Brenda, who is also one of my team members. She did a dynamite job teaching her creative class!

Me, with 2 of my wonderful team members, Jennifer and Liz.

This is my sister from another mister, Michelle. We are the same age (which I will not reveal 😉), got married the same year, had our first babies the same year, signed up with CTMH the same year (we will both celebrate 25 years in 2018), have the same title with CTMH (Executive Director) and have teams of almost the exact same size.  I love sharing this journey with her!  We even earned the exact same ribbons on our Convention name badges this year, and we both put them on in the exact same color order. There are no coincidences. ;)

Saturday, July 1, 2017. The last day of Convention.  I'm always so sad to say goodbye. Our morning started out with Jeanette (the company founder and owner) sharing onstage.  She makes us cry every year (happy tears!).  I was one of the teachers this last day and enjoyed sharing my knowledge of social media and how to use it to increase your business.  That evening was the closing Awards Banquet.  It was full of delicious food, wonderful entertainment (Alex Boye') and a beautiful award ceremony.

Company owner, Jeanette Lynton, her husband, David, and Cheif Marketing Officer, Monica Wihongi

Me, teaching my class

Alex Boye' hopped of the stage and spent much of his concert down on the dance floor with the consultants. He danced with  us, sang to us, and laughed with us. He was awesome!

What a week! Thanks for letting me share my fun with you!

Close To My Heart North American Convention

Guess where I am? Yep, you guessed it (I'm thinking the title of this post helped): the Close To My Heart Annual North American Convention.  And, even though I wrote and scheduled this post before I left, I can promise you I'm having a blast!

There are so many awesome things that happen at Convention:

• seeing the new products and annual catalog that debuts to customers on August 1
• playing with new products
• being able to order those products
• time with friends
• team meeting with all of my team members scattered across the US
• awesome business classes
• amazing general session productions
• 'slumber party' for days with some of my best buds
• hearing from company founder and owner, Jeanette Lynton
• awards banquet as fun and exciting as The Oscars, and top notch entertainment to boot
• art galleries
• lots of laughter
• delicious food

The list goes on.  Of that list, one of my favorite parts of Convention is time with my team.  I have team members in over 20 states, and many of them converge for Convention.  I hold a big team meeting the evening before Convention begins. I'm so excited about my meeting this year.

I'd love to have YOU join my team.  Just click here. It's easy peasy, and so inexpensive!

Now, lets talk about this fun layout I created of some of my team at last year's Convention.  I used a lot of flip flaps, which gave me more real estate for more photos, without crowding the page.  You can find them here. They come in lots of different sizes, have a clear adhesive strip along the side or top, and are so easy to add to your pages.

Here's another close up of part of my layout:  I do a lot of 'strip journaling'. I love it. Not only does it do the trick, but it adds a little more fun and dimension to my pages.

Want to join me at Convention next Summer?  Just sign up here to become a Consultant and you're on your way!

Close To My Heart Convention Recap

I look so forward to our Close To My Heart North American Convention every year. Every year I say it was my favorite one yet (and I mean it). This year was no exception!

Hundreds of CTMH Consutlants congregated in Orlando, at DisneyWorld. We stayed at the beautiful Disney Coronado Springs resort.  All of the guest houses surround a beautiful lake, and the convention center is also near the lake. 

My roomies and I (oh, how I love them! We have been roomies forever and plan to continue that tradition!) just so happened to get a room in the guest house the very furthest from the Convention Center.  We good naturedly trekked it over to the Convention a few times per day (I'm guessing about a mile walk each direction) in 95 degree heat and 80-90% humidity.  Here's a pic of us goofing around on our walk back to our guest house one evening.

This is what the bathroom looks like with 4 women sharing a room.

This is on our trek back.  Notice the signs pointing every direction. We lived in Ranchos for the week, notice there is only ONE sign pointing that way?  We definitely got our exercise!

Wednesday, June 22 was Leadership Day. This day is just for the leaders of the company. It was awesome and filled with great information and motivation to lead successful teams while running a successful business of your own.  What a GREAT day!  I am always so filled and excited for the next year after a day like this!

That evening, I had a large team meeting with my team (30 of my 250ish team members were able to attend Convention this year) and we had fun laughing, learning and creating.  I love my team! We are called The Pacemakers, because we like to think we keep The Heart (as in Close To My Heart) pumpin'!

Thursday, June 23 was the opening of Convention. Close To My Heart spares no expense (or embarrassment...tee hee) on their opening session show.  Our theme for the Convention was Inside Out and these 4 Home Office executives didn't disappoint in the General Session opening skit.

During the first General Session, new products are revealed, and so is the new catalog. It's full of tons of excitment.  There was even a skit where I got to be Chewbacca!  Oh my! Chewbacca Mom, look out. We might have given you a run for your money!

These new products and catalogs don't go live for customers until August 1, so wait patiently (or become a Consultant, because we get to see and purchase new products a month ahead of customers, AND at a great discount!  There is an AWESOME sign up special in July, so watch my blog on July 1 {tomorrow} for all of the information about the special and how to sign up!) and I'll be unveiling things soon!  In the meantime, here's a sneak peak at the catalog.  It's tradition that every year I get a photo with these 3 ladies with the new catalog. Unfortunately, this year Lisa was unable to attend, but we made sure she was in the photo.

After lunch on Thursday, I presented a creative class with new products to the entire group of Consultants at Convention.  It was tons of fun having new product sneak peeks the month before Convention as I prepared, and I love sharing my love of creating with so many excited Consultants.  All of the presenters got darling, bright colored aprons to present in and then keep. 

Thursday evening was the Director's Dinner.  I love this tradition. Every year, CTMH treats all Directors and above to a fancy dinner and activity. This year we had a catered dinner of a delicious salad, chicken, potatoes and veggies, with a scrumptious lemon dessert. We all got photos with Mickey and Minnie (who were special guests at our dinner) and then were treated to a pontoon boat ride on the lake to enjoy the DisneyWorld firework show.  WOW! I am so proud to have 2 downline who are Directors and love sharing this tradition with them!  Brenda and Kimberly, I just love you both!  Kimberly even happend to snap an amazing photo of the fireworks just as they made a heart. We are certain that heart was just for the Close To My Heart Directors! ;)

Friday, June 24 was another day full of creativity, instruction and great company and food.  I can't even begin to tell you how much fun Convention is!  Unfortunately, I don't think I got many pictures that day to share.  Shame on me!

Saturday, June 25 was the last day of Convention. It's always sad to see it end. That evening was the Awards Banquet. As a Senior Executive Director, I get a front table for the show and awards, and 2 extra tickets to invite who I would like to join me at the table.  I always let all of my team members who would like a chance to sit with me put their name in a drawing at our team meeting.  This year two first time Convention attendees were drawn (I loved that!). I enjoyed sharing that evening with Cheryl and Susan!

In addition to a wonderful dinner and show, my team was awarded #3 in Team Sales (for a team our size) in the United States. WOO HOO, Pacemakers! Here I am on stage with the other two winners (Denise and Joanne) and the Canada winner (Brae), as well as Brian and Monica from the Home Office.

Sunday morning, I was up and at 'em early (3:20 am) in order to catch my shuttle to the airport and my flight.  I arrived back in Utah safe and sound and grateful for another wonderful annual Convention and all that I gain from it. Not only do I learn a ton, get new ideas, see new products, and fill my business cup, but I spend time with ladies that have become family to me. I love my team, my roomies, and my CTMH sisters. This company is SO much more to me than a way to make $ (although its a great way to do that!), but it is part of my heart. In fact, you might even say it is "Close To My Heart."