Hey there,

I'm Paul, the AGD Annual Meetings Council chairperson. I'm down here in Florida enjoying this great Orlando meeting, and I thought you all might like to hear about it.

Yesterday started with a really nice speech from Capt. James Lovell of Apollo 13. It was a fantastic way to start out the meeting, and it really put things into perspective later in the day when we experienced a glitch with the microphones in the House of Delegates. At least we weren't in space making potentially fatal decisions; it was just that no one could hear us - which may have been for the best!

After the Opening Session, we all crowded around Mickey and Minnie to watch the ribbon cutting and opening of the Exhibit Hall. It's hard not to just follow Mickey around with a smile.

Later on in the day I ran into some old classmates that I haven't seen since our 20 year reunion. Crazy! Then, I just spent some time popping in and out of lectures. All the courses here--one lecture about tissue management was interesting, and then a course on products under $1000 was really great. Oh, and a photography lecture that looked like it offered a good amount of information.

Then, on the governance side, there's been a lot of talk about the elections. The AGD has one of its first contested elections in a long time. I think every election should be contested - there's so many great people in the AGD, but this is our first in a while.

While I'm walking around indoors, Holly, my wife, took our kids Noah and Kendal to MGM. This hotel is great--they have a boat that takes you right to the MGM, so the kids really liked that. When they came back from the park, it started raining so Noah wanted to go swimming. He kept saying there was no lightning - so he wanted to swim.

So, then it was off to the Welcome Reception in the Exhibit Hall with free food for all the attendees. It went well. There were lots of folks in the hall so the exhibitors must have been pleased. I got to speak with a couple of them that were getting ready to take their Fellowship Exam the next day - they were so nervous! They kept asking me what I studied and what they should be doing. They weren't sure they studied enough. I just told them if they took the course offered by Region 17 (Military) here at the meeting the day before and had reviewed the study guide (not skim, but review) that they'd be fine.

Well, that's just about enough of me talking. If you're here in Orlando with me, you guys should let me know what you're up to, what you think, or what courses you're taking. If your not here, let me know why not.

I'm headed to the Student Happy Hour tonight and then Magic Kingdom with the kids. Tomorrow, I have a Disney Character Breakfast and a meeting with a group of Exhibitors to find out how they're liking it -- I'll let you know how everything goes!

Talk to you soon,

Paul