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I'm at the NACA national convention in St. Louis. Very busy, but here are some random thoughts:
• I haven't been to this conference in years, but the grizzled veterans are still here. Craig Karges looks fantastic, but some of the other magicians are hitting the plastic surgeon. CAMPUSPEAK so does not "fit in" the NACA associate member veterans clique, but that's cool. They're nice, but a very tight group in a very competitive industry. Trust is hard here.
• The first night of exhibiting feels like a JC Penney white sale. Mobs of kids grabbing every free thing they can get their hands on. Gave out tons of junk last night.
• Kelly and Becca are here with me. They did a great job last night of drawing students in, getting them excited. Their sexual empowerment t-shirts were a huge hit. We gave away hundreds. I hope we'll get a ton of bookings Monday and Tuesday. I'm feeling optimistic.
• The wildcard: Kelly and Becca are showcasing Monday morning, right after gay boy bander Lance Bass. The students are so STOKED about Lance Bass. He's the big buzz of this conference, for sure. Kelly and Becca being right after Lance and right before the former member of Run D.M.C. could be good news. Keeping my fingers crossed. There's a chance all the women in the audience will flee the showcase room to get in line to meet Lance in the exhibit hall. If so, that will hurt us. You never know at this conference.
• I wonder what Lance Bass will have to say that's worth his $25,000 fee? Yes, $25,000. We'll see. Frankly, I hope he dishes on what an asshole Justin Timberlake is. That would be worth my money.
• My son is here with me. Doesn't seem to be getting into the fun of NACA very much, but hopefully he'll relax and start enjoying it more. His big comment last night: "Does Lance Bass know he's named after two fish?" I didn't know that a "lance" was a fish, but according to Isaiah it is. I've never met anyone with two fish in his name.
• Brooke from Coleman Productions brought her 9 week old pug, Max, with her to the conference and had it at the booth last night. It's really cute. Maybe next year, I'll bring a whole basket of golden retriever puppies – can't let Coleman get the advantage on me in the puppy marketing.
• Really nice students from Elon and Bowling Green last night. Lots of Greeks... I had forgotten how many Greeks are involved with their program boards.
• We have a "mentalist" in the booth next to us. (Not as cute as his DVD cover photo, I have to say, but that's marketing...). But, still, he did this little trick with a dollar bill that blew my mind. I'm such a sucker for that magic stuff.
• The hotel is a mob scene. The line at Starbucks is 40 students long. Rooms are small, and no hot water today. This is the hotel where MGCA will be in 2009 and beyond. It's a pretty nice hotel, but it's definitely going to feel different than the Hyatt O'Hare, I'll promise you that.
That's it for now. More fun ahead.
