Homeschool conferences and conventions consume my time in May and June. Back-to-back weekends traveling, unloading, and meeting with parents, young and old, who are seeking the very best choices for educating their children. The hotels begin to run together after a while! I thought it might be fun to let you see the "other side" of the convention booth. What happens in the weeks and days before you meet a Sonlight Consultant on a convention floor.
For our consultant team, convention season actually begins in February when we meet together to brainstorm new ideas, learn about new products, and establish "best practices" for meeting the homeschool public. How do we best share the "what" and "how" of Sonlight? How do we most effectively staff our convention booths to be able to talk with the most people? How do we get folks to cross that "invisible line" that separates the exhibit hall aisle from the inside of the Sonlight booth? What can we do to most effectively meet the needs of the people we meet?
After weeks of planning and preparation ... after the staff is hired ... after the hotel reservations are made ... after all those tablecloths are ironed to get rid of the wrinkles, it's time to pack the boxes and load the van! This weekend I'm in Richmond, VA, getting ready to meet folks at the HEAV Convention.
It's truly amazing how much you can get to fit in a minivan. Creative packing is a must in this job!
Unloading at a convention is another challenge. Many events, like HEAV, have amazing volunteers just waiting to help you unload and transport your materials to your booth space. But they can't set it up for you! So the next greatest challenge is taking the piles of boxes and racks, and creating a warm and inviting booth set-up for homeschoolers to visit.
As one of my assistants noted today, the transformation from piles and piles to an organized representation of curriculum products is much like a ballet. After a couple of weekends working together, our crews work like a choreographed dance team setting up all the displays.
Finally it all comes together and once again we're ready to say "hello", answer questions, smile at the adorable babies, and encourage those who are weary from the school year. I hope you take the time to visit a Sonlight Consultant this year ... and now you'll have a little better idea of all that goes into booth set-ups across the US and Canada.
Still on the journey ...
~Judy Wnuk
Sonlight Customer Champion
In addition to that, I wrote in many, many activities to help strengthen their small motor coordination: using tweezers, pinching cotton balls, picking up beans and other small items and so forth. These are not random activities. They were well thought out and researched activities included to help parents help their children to be well rounded, well coordinated individuals and to strengthen the muscles which will be needed for writing instruction in years to come.
