I had a fast and furious, but great trip to DC! I was barely there for 24 hours. In hindsight, had I known other sales people were going to be there, I would have flown out on Tuesday morning so I could get more time with them and hear some of the other content at the symposium.
My travels all went smoothly, though. My return flight was delayed by about an hour, so I landed after 9pm which makes for a long day, but overall it was a smooth trip! And I lucked out and had an empty middle seat between me and the person by the window on both flights! Woo hoo!
I got to my hotel around 6pm on Tuesday night. I stayed in a Hilton that was right off the Mall so a great location! I walked down to a waterfront area and had dinner at great Mexican restaurant. I enjoyed some ceviche for my meal and a margarita! Yum!
I didn't have to present until around 10 on Wednesday, so I had plenty of time for a run on Wednesday morning. I ran about 3.5 miles and enjoyed seeing some of the monuments! DC is so pretty.
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| Washington Monument |
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| Lincoln Memorial |
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| WWII Memorial |
After my run I quickly got ready. Here I am before leaving for the other hotel where the conference was held. I look a little red in the face since it was quite humid on my run - although not all that different from the humidity we've had here in MN lately. For this presentation, I opted to wear a classic black dress with a statement necklace. I am SO DONE with business suits so never wear them anymore and when I work with a wardrobe consultant in the future, one thing I want to focus on is getting more work/presentation-appropriate dresses. I think business suits are not flattering and are very uncomfortable. I love this dress I am wearing so much. It's machine washable and great for travel as it does not wrinkle. I got it over 10 years ago at Ann Taylor and wish I had it in like 3 colors!
I did 2 back-to-back breakout sessions on navigating the fixed income markets and they went really well. I practiced for hours and all that work paid off. I only had about 35 minutes for each breakout which is not much time when there is a lot of content to cover, but that's why I had to practice so much! I got lots of questions and people stayed behind after each session to ask more questions and to get the tickers/account numbers for some of our products so that is a good sign. One of my sales colleagues sent a really nice note to my boss saying I did a great job. It feels braggy to share that, but I really appreciate that she provided feedback on me. There was a Merrill Lynch person in my 2nd breakout who stayed behind and said she wants to partner with us to build a lunch and learn campaign for their advisors using our content so that was cool to hear. So I think I can and likely will be traveling more going forward. But I need to figure out how much I would be comfortable with. I'm thinking a max of once/month and ideally no more than 2 nights away from Phil and the kids. We'll see how it all shakes out, though.
I got back to our house around 9:45 last night so it was a long, but good day. Both boys were excited to see me this morning - and Phil was very happy to see me when I got home last night! It feels good to be missed!
Now I have another somewhat busy weekend on deck. On Saturday night, I'm going to the Brandi Carlile concert! It's not like me to go to 2 concerts 2 weekends in a row, but I've been planning on going to this Brandi concert since last fall! She is my all-time favorite artist and I think I've seen her 7+ times? I'm going with 3 good friends! Then on Sunday a friend from Charlotte (hi Lori!) that I met through blogging 10+ years ago is going to spend the night with us at the tail end of her trip with some other women. So I'll get to spend Sunday afternoon/Monday morning with her! We saw her on our babymoon trip to Asheville in 2017 as we had dinner with her the night before we flew back to Minneapolis, but this will be her first time meeting our kids. She ADORES kids so I know she's excited to see them, too.
The last several weeks have been a bit stressful and hectic, so I am very much looking forward to a quieter start to the month of August!
10 comments:
Lisa, this all sounds SO wonderful. And I'm legit grinning from ear-to-ear. You've had such a tough year with so many viruses and disrupted sleep schedules. I'm thrilled you've had a great string of days and fun experiences.
Um, it does NOT SOUND braggy to say someone said you did a great job. I am certain you deserve every ounce of praise received and then some.
Enjoy the weekend ahead. I hope the concert is awesome and the time with friends is both refreshing and downright fun.
I'm just thrilled the presentation went so well and that you were able to network and develop some partnerships for the future. And running in a new city -- and a pretty one! That sounds like a great way to start the day! Your dress is perfect for this sort of thing and it looks great on you. And no --not bragging, telling it like it is and you should feel very comfortable (and happy) to be able to say it! Welcome back!
Yay! I'm so happy your presentation went well. You're amazing!
Oh hooray! Your presentations sound like they went SO WELL! And how nice to have all the positive feedback about your work!
Nice to be home, though, always! Have a great time at the concert!
Oh you went to my city. I miss running around the monument so pretty right? Good job on the presentation. I know what you mean by needing to practice more when it’s short. Same with writing easier to write long than short. I agree that it’s great to get feedback when we put in effort. Seems like a wonderful trip.
Congratulations! It sounds like everything went great. I'll bet your run on Wednesday morning set you up for success! Yes, you have had a very hectic month of July. I hope you have fun this weekend AND have a peaceful start to the month of August!
Woohoo! You are awesome! Proud of you for rocking your presentation. You look so nice in the picture. Love the dress. The morning run sounds great, too. I haven't been to DC since high school, when my school orchestra did a big trip out there. I would LOVE to do a whole family trip out there, but unfortunately (well, not really, but kind of)...the boys' school does a big DC trip each year for the 8th graders! So Ethan will go this year, in October, with his whole grade, on an airplane and everything. They also go to Philadelphia. Asher will go the following year. But since they are both going, without us, it kind of feels like a silly place to prioritize for a family trip, then. Figure we might as well go to places they haven't been. Although, I am sure on a school trip it will be rather fast and furious, with a big group like that. So maybe later in high school we could go back, as a family, to see whatever things they weren't paying attention to when they were there with all their friends. ;) Ivan has never been and would really like to go, and like I said, it's been a VERY long time since I was there.
Glad your concert was fun, and that you have another one to look forward to! You have had a busy July! Even though your trip was super short to DC, I still always feel like traveling in any capacity really shakes up your week or month.
Such great news that your presentation went well and that you got awesome feedback! Brag away, friend. You deserve it!
I love that the presentation went so well!!! I agree it’s completely possible to look professional and not have to wear a business suit!!! I loved hearing about the trip!!! I remember when we did the cherry blossoms race, I loved seeing all the monuments!!!
Not braggy at all - it's great that someone provided positive feedback to your boss. I think that needs to happen much more often!
I am glad you had such a great trip/presentation and that you got a run in in DC! How fun. Also, that dress looks great and a plus that it's great for travel!!
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