Conference Recap!

So the PHR conference that I've been working on for about 6 months is OVER!!!!! It was SOO great...everyone else seemed to think so too, so yay! The speakers were A-mazing and almost everything went extremely smoothly. So a recap of my day!

6 AM- Got to School of Business and unlocked all the computers, started all the projectors, and loaded all the PowerPoint presentations (that I had.)

7 AM- Other volunteers arrived, furniture was moved, caterers set up, registration set up.

8 AM- Students start pouring in the doors. We ended up with 375 registered. I was told that since it was a beautiful Saturday, we would probably have about 150 show up. We had 350 actually show up. How cool is that?!?

9 AM- Morning plenary session began. The Sirote Theatre is beautiful, the AV stuff worked fine. The Dean of my school was there, and we totally blew his mind. He couldn't stop telling me how wonderful everything was and how incredulous he was at the turn out. The gist of his comments? Samantha= rock star. I have to say, yesterday I felt like one. Everyone knew who I was, everyone was stopping me and telling me how great I was. By the end of the day, my head was the size of a hot air balloon.

Workshop sessions were next, and there was only one problem. The speaker in the Alys Stephens Center had a powerpoint that wasn't working. I told her to talk to the Alys Stephens Tech staff. She called back and said they couldn't get it to work, and she wanted me to come look at it. I don't know who told everyone that I was some kind of techie, cause I'm totally not, but I was the go-to gal for basically everything yesterday. So, I literally RAN to Alys Stephens in my little pizza-toed heels. Stupid Erin's shoes. Then I needed my flash drive, so I had to run BACK to School of Business. I ended up making 5 RUNS to Alys Stephens over the course of the day. Needless to say, today I have blisters on my heels and baby toes. Whine.

The next major mishap was lunch. Stupid caterers. It was a complete madhouse...which I guess when you're feeding 350 people was bound to happen. But, in the end everyone (but me... Whine) got something to eat. (Actually, I did eat some delicious bean salad, but I didn't get a veggie wrap.) Oh, okay this is off track but I just want to point it out. If you are not a vegetarian, please do not eat the vegetarian fare unless you're ordering at a restaurant. When there are a certain pre-defined number of vegetarian meals, don't take them away from the people that actually have only that option. I wanted one and they were gone, and I started looking around for some more, and I saw people with a veggie wrap (which by the way, were absolutely frikkin' HUGE) right next to 2 other sandwiches such as a turkey bacon or a ham sandwich. Two problems: A. Don't eat the vegetarian fare! B. What the hell are you doing with 3 sandwiches??? 2 I can see if they're small, but 3? (as previously mentioned, veggie wraps = frikkin' huge) Stupid greedy people. Anyways.

Next more workshops. There were no major mishaps...with the exception of "Hip Hop Health and Human Rights." We had so many people wanting to attend that workshop that it filled up and then some. So we had to carry in chairs and chairs and there still wasn't enough space. People stood all over the room, but afterward they said it was totally worth it. Samantha was oh-so tired. So she did not attend the 2nd session. Rather, she sat on a couch in a hallway with her feet up. Because they hurt. A lot. Again, Whine. Also, our main plenary speaker who was our Paul Farmer replacement, missed her flight. So Samantha was having a heart attack. In the end, she got there on time, but I was stressing for a while.

So, final plenary session. Three of the most amazing speakers I've ever heard in my life. Ever.

Linda Horton St. Hubert- Former drug addict, victim of an abusive home, and prostitute who contracted HIV. Has hardly any education, and yet hung right up there with the other speakers. She was so amazing. She is my friend, and I do so love her.

Bryan Stevenson, JD- I HEART HIM!!! We all do. He was my favorite speaker by far. He's a lawyer here in Alabama who works cases on death row. I am an ardent opposer of the death sentence, and he's my hero. He had everyone crying, I was sitting on the steps in the Stephens Center bawling my eyes out. He is my hero, an amazing speaker, and I do so love him.

Joia Mukherjee, MD, MPH- She is so awesome. She really really cares about people, and it shows. Because you can tell you're passionate when you want to kick everyone's ass until they make everything right, and that's what she wants to do. She is a total butt-kicker and I sooo admire her for that. Incredibly intelligent, tons of fun, we love her. She even came to Bell Bottoms with us! (And my friend fell off of a stool and knocked into her. Oh so embarassing.)

So, to sum up, it was an amazing day. Tiring, but probably the most rewarding days of my life. I'm kind of glad it's over, but I miss yesterday. It was fabulous. If you had to miss it, I'm sorry for you...you missed a hell of a good time. So, I'm off. I bought an awesome new coat, and the PHR people gave me a really cool book as a thank-you present, and I need to go get them from Carolyn cause I left them in her car. Plus, I'm going to see The Chieftains (Irish folk band) tonight at the Alys Stephens Center with the PHR people! Much fun-ness. Laters!