Conferences & Cocktails

Busy, busy, busy.  On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I was at a Campaigns and Elections conference at the Marriott Hotel here in D.C.  I was kind of in my element there.  Spent the whole day conversing with political consultants, campaign managers, and other representatives of company's similar to my own.  I probably said at least hello to 80-90% of the 400 or so people that attended the event.  We were promoting our Campaign Cloud technology that is part of a unique platform we have with Microsoft.  I was able to do a decent job addressing questions or comments people had about our products, and was helped immensely by my colleague, Allison.  I handed out my pretty awesome business cards left and right, and was able to collect a number of contacts from other attendees.  I must have been doing something right, because there were a few people that told Allison and our boss that they should keep me around. :-)  A lady named Colleen was cold sitting at her table for the conference, and I offered my suit jacket to her both days.  She accurately recognized me as a Midwestern man, and I proudly shared my Wisconsin roots.  My favorite part of the conference may have been the continental breakfasts, lunch paid for by my office, and free cocktails in the evening!  I had to pinch myself a little bit when I realized what I all had access to for free!!  I had several political discussions with individuals that I came to know over the few days, they were all very stimulating, and I definitely held my own.  I'm pretty sure I even impacted a few minds during the process.  Some of the contacts I made there will likely play a role in my future if I every plan on running for any major political offices, or even as future job opportunities going forward.  We were also able to make some clients, and potential clients, for our company.  A current member of Congress in Maryland is going to be meeting with us shortly to setup an account, and there were several campaign managers that expressed deep interest and will likely become part of the organization in some form.  Also, I randomly crossed paths with former Congressman Bob Carr (if you've been following the blog that name may ring a bell!) and had a nice conversation with him while waiting in line for a sandwich from Potbelly's.  This city can be surprisingly small at times.  The conference concluded on Wednesday at noon, so we packed up our gear and headed back to the office.  The experience was both a personal success for me, and has helped our company grow.