HERI 2013

The best part of this convention...

 ...was being able to drive right in and unload! I timed it!

 I was unloaded in 5 minutes flat!!

Lisa, the amazing Rachel and me. Funny thing is that several years ago I had bought a size XL for Lisa. She's since lost 70 lbs so at this event she wore my size M, Rachel wore the S (it was still big) and I wore the L. It was swimming on me!

I realized I didn't take more booth shots. I did try the peninsula at this event after working FPEA with Kelly. However, I only had one table and the racks don't fit back to back. I had to modify it. Regrettably I didn't get a picture! :( However, it worked well despite that.

Teach Them Diligently

My next convention was a bit more challenging. We had TWO poles in the middle of our booth! This was a three booth space but it felt much smaller because of this.

 One was down by the math and science display. 

 The other one was on the other end by Preschool/Kindergarten. We used banners to keep people from running into it. And we stored boxes behind it. My neighbor also stored his boxes there (although he didn't ask. Just did it while we were gone).

 This is the one by the math and science.

 MSP and welcome table in the front. (Lisa is stickering catalogs before we open).

 We wore all black for this convention. It was cold and the blue shirts with the cardigans felt bulky.

Lisa in action: talking to a mom while the dad reads a book to his son.

SouthEast Great Homeschool Convention, Greenville SC

My second convention went very well. Several things propelled this event into the "very" category.

1. We had the new catalog!
2. We had bright yellow Sonlight bags as giveaways.
3. We had a stellar team!
4. We had Sarita as a speaker and Tim came too!

It sure is fun trying to fit everything in my van! I really wish I had a trailer!

I love the endcap set up. It makes for a spacious way to display the materials.

The new banners are so attractive and the booth layout worked really well! I realized that there was no space designated for electives so we placed them on the end of the Core E, F, G&H table. I didn't have enough of the big racks so we had to make some modifications. Kelly is great at that! She made a really attractive Core 100 display. I had printed the 3-week samples so we divided up the Lit module and placed it in a small crate from the history module which we placed in the small rack. We also had to combine Cores 200-300 and placed 530 on the side. You can see all this in the picture below.

The Welcome table had a lot of traffic and activity! I placed the drawing basket full of books on this table. That way the people who won the drawing could choose what they wanted. Often people would ask what they would win and we could point it out.

A new product, TeenCoder and KidCoder received a good amount of traffic.

 I was so glad Sonlight shipped my bags, catalogs and banners to the hotel. It filled my car a second time!

 A shot of our stellar team! From left to right, Donna (a SL Consultant from NH), Michael Ann (a former consultant and current advisor), me, my charming, funny, extroverted husband, and Kelly (my SL mentor and consultant from LA). We didn't have any teens to help pass out catalogs but it worked out because we had plenty of people staffing the booth. Michael's chief job was to distribute catalogs but he was also great in talking with the dads and entertaining kids.

 Here's a quick shot of Tim filling out a card in a booth near ours (ignore my finger in the shot). I thought it was funny how bent over he was!

 Michael Ann and I were missing her kids working with us at this convention as they've worked with us in the past but were both busy this particular weekend.

 An action shot of the booth with people in it. I took this on my way back from a potty break ;)

Loved having Sarita there! We all wanted to shut down the booth so we could go hear her speak!

The yellow bags were seen all over the convention hall. It was also great as people walked back by,  so you knew if they had already been by the booth. All in all, a great weekend!

Coastal Florida Curriculum Fair 2013

The first convention of the year went well with minimal problems! I set up the booth in plenty of time thanks to all the helpful teens who unloaded the van. George Pastor is a great troubleshooter and the organizers, Leslie and Teresa, are both very warm and welcoming. It's always a pleasure doing this convention as they truly make us vendors feel appreciated.

The booth is smaller than normal since this is a small event, so I needed to modify the display in order to fit in the allotted  space. There are samples of the P 3/4 through Core H Cores on the top shelf of the bookcase with the IGs on the second shelf and high school samples on the bottom shelf. The little rack contains high school IGs. The large rack contains Language Arts IGs and reader samples as well as Spelling, Grammar and Handwriting samples.

The second table contained Science samples on the small racks. The bookcase had math samples on the top shelf,  Mathtacular running on the laptop, and resources and electives samples on the bottom shelf.

The front table had the Grade 3 Multi Subject Package as well as the sign in area.  We kept the bags with catalogs under the table. 

I and my wonderful, tireless mom, who just celebrated her 70th birthday, spoke to numerous people who are new to homeschooling or who are looking for something different than what they are currently using. Also spoke with several people who are doing (or considering doing) Classical Conversations (they were right behind me in the picture below) and wanted to know how to incorporate Sonlight.

When there were lulls in the vendor hall due to workshops, we had a great time getting to know Steve of Good Steward Books and Dale of La Clase Divertida as they were both across from me. Dale and Steve's son Mark will be in North Carolina in a few weeks. Last year Good Steward Books was right next to me. Steve asked me to name my favorite Sonlight book. I couldn't name just one so I told him about Understood Betsy and The Story of Eli Whitney, both of which he had never heard of before. Of course there are others that I love too but these are the first two that came to mind.

Alas, my workshop was not well attended since it was at 1:30 on Friday, right before the end of the convention.

I think the most interesting conversation I had was with 3 ladies from Puerto Rico who had flown in specifically for this convention. Two of them had homeschooled one year using a textbook curriculum and the other woman, their friend, had brought them to the booth. She asked me if I remembered her and I happened to remember her name as I had spent a lot of time with her two years earlier. They practically begged me to come to Puerto Rico to tell other homeschoolers about Sonlight. They didn't have to twist my arm too hard! I'll definitely look into what that will entail! Sounds like fun!

I'm home for a week and a half and then am off for the next one! March is such a whirlwind month!