The last leg of my time in Georgia: meeting up with Steve in Atlanta and
attending the ASAE Annual Meeting &
Exposition with him. (ASAE =
American Society of Association Executives…yes, a trade association for people
who run/work in trade associations!)
The night before the meetings started, Steve and I went to
Turner Field to catch an Atlanta Braves game.
I’m not exactly a Braves fan, but I must say that I’m a fan of their
fans for sure. Perhaps it was coincidence, or perhaps it was remnants of southern
manners, but the people in our immediate area (behind the third base dugout)
were polite and drama-free. Beyond that,
while the fan-favorite “tomahawk chop” is controversial to some and looks silly
on TV to others, in person, it’s rather stirring to hear a stadium reverberate
with a steady drumbeat and watch thousands of people move their arms in
synch. Food note: Steve had a very-good-for-the-ballpark
burger from H&F. Braves crushed the
Rockies!
The next day, poor Steve was in meetings all day, and I was
free. Emboldened by my survival of the
mountains of Georgia, I decided to brave public transportation on my own…hello,
MARTA! Why, I scarcely recognize you as a
subway—you’re so clean! And I figured out how to buy a farecard all myself! And
I understood every word spoken on the train speaker! And there were no delays! And your escalators all worked! Okay, enough: suffice to say that in my
limited experience, this train system was 1000x better than metro in DC. (Don’t you love when someone rides a train
for 8 stops total, not in rush hour, and is an expert?)
Anyway, I went to the High
Museum of Art, which I thought was all-over beautiful, the art inside and
the modern and edgily-angled building housing it. Around DC, if you simply breathe the word “Vermeer,”
hordes show up…the High was hosting a special exhibition of Dutch paintings
including Vermeer’s famous “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” so I didn’t know what
to expect. What I got was a thoughtful
exhibit in bustling rooms that never veered into claustrophobia—and even
several minutes all alone with “Girl with a Pearl Earring.” (Okay, there was a guard eyeing me, but better
him than a crowd of people buzzing with the overly-loud volume on their
audio-guides.) I also admired the lovely
collection of decorative arts and the contemporary rooms. (Here’s one
favorite, trickier than it appears, and here’s another
that is so simple as to be stunning when displayed perfectly as the High does.)
We were treated to a wonderful dinner for the ASAE board of
directors—thanks, Steve, for all those meetings you attended while I was
looking at art!—and especially notable was a “muddle your own cocktail” bar
during the reception. Roughly 10
different ingredients were available—i.e. berries, peaches, ginger, basil, mint,
cucumber—and several spirits—whiskey, vodka, rum, bourbon, lemonade—along with a
professional bartender to offer advice on ingredients and technique. (Proud moment for Steve, who smacked his
basil before dropping it into the shaker, totally impressing the bartender!) I made myself a mixture of peaches, simple
syrup [sugar water], and ginger, and the bartender steered me away from busying
it up with mint and advised whiskey; the results were YUM! (Thank you for
sponsoring this dinner, Hyatt Hotels!)
A free afternoon the following day, so we slept in and—alas!—restaurants
in Atlanta don’t seem to think people want to eat LUNCH on Saturdays so many of
our options were closed. Don’t cry for
us, though, as we ended up at brunch at Parish, which was delightful:
fried green tomatoes Benedict for me and fried chicken Benedict for Steve. The hollandaise sauce was light and lemony,
almost making me approve of brunch as a concept.
The ASAE meeting started in earnest that night, and let me
tell you, if you ever work in an association or are married to someone who
does, I suggest getting yourself to this annual meeting. There are about 5000 attendees—which certainly
isn’t excessive by convention standards; AWP has 10,000 attendees—but because
these people are decision-makers in a variety of trade associations that have
literally ZILLIONS of meetings and conventions, the association execs here are
treated like royalty by the host city. I
wrote last year about our trip to the
meeting in Dallas…and I can say again that the city of Atlanta went waaaay
beyond the call of duty to put on a good show for everyone. (So, while I’m not a decision-maker, I will confidently
go on record as saying that Atlanta would be a great place for a meeting.)
Our opening night featured an extravaganza centered around
the Georgia Aquarium, the World
of Coke, and an outdoor concert by the Go-Go’s.
Don’t forget the open bar and mountains of food (does anyone else think
it’s wrong to eat fish at an aquarium?).
Oh—this is FOLLOWING the special reception sponsored by the Omni Hotel
where there were stations throughout the ballroom representing the various
college football conference with special food and drinks representative of each
geographic area. It makes sense because
A) College football is a religion in the south (you can bet the SEC table got
the rich and fancy shrimp and grits dish!) and B) the College Football Hall of
Fame is coming to Atlanta in the coming year.
While Steve was rocking out to the Go-Go’s, I needed some peace and
quiet (remember I’d been living alone in a cabin in the woods for 3 weeks?!)
and I spent much of my time at the Aquarium, watching the truly
amazing whale sharks drift through their tank, which holds 6 million
gallons of water and is the size of…a football field!
The next morning was the opening breakfast, and I was
especially interested in the guest speaker, Susan Cain, author of Quiet:
The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. Her main point is that there are more
introverts than meets the eye; many of us train ourselves to act more
extroverted because the world rewards gregariousness more than thoughtful
reticence…and yet introverts have many successes, too (Einstein, anyone?) and
are valuable in the business world (and, I suppose, elsewhere!). She also offered some helpful tips to both
sides of the coin about dealing with the other, and coping with life as an
introvert (i.e. it’s okay to step aside and watch whale sharks swim if that’s
what you need to do).
Another business speaker that I thought was interesting was
John Spence, author of Awesomely
Simple: Essential Business Strategies
for Turning Ideas into Action. I
find that listening and watching a truly professional speaker offers insight
into how to be a better speaker/teacher myself, and I try not to be an
automatic snob when it comes to business or business books: the guy had some good ideas that apply beyond
the business world and he knows how to communicate and motivate. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed his talk
and at how much I learned. (Uh-oh…could
this mean Power Point for my craft talk at Converse in January??!?)
And while we’re speaking of speakers, I was also taken with
Dan Heath, the closing speaker, author of Decisive:
How to Make Better Choices in Work and Life, who talked about how to
make more effective decisions. He had a
good mix of personal and business anecdotes that made us understand how to step
back from the emotions of decision-making and why it’s important to widen your
view of the choices. My favorite
tip: when tangling with a tough choice,
ask yourself what you would advise your best friend to do. Often, we’re inclined to be bolder with
others than with ourselves.
I have to admire the people manning the booths in the
Exhibit Hall: they were incredibly peppy,
creative, and fun. There were also a lot
of great giveaways…bourbon at the Louisville, Kentucky. booth; mimosas at the
New Orleans booth; Oregon pinot noir at the Portland, OR, booth; craft beers at
the Grand Rapids, Michigan, booth [yes, who knew that Grand Rapids was a major
center for craft beer??]. Not that this
was a drunk-fest! I was also pleased to
win an adorable stuffed moose at the Anchorage, Alaska, booth and to get a jar
of southwest spices from Milwaukee, WI (going with the “spice up your meeting”
theme). Perhaps my favorite booth was
Omaha, Nebraska, which was running a trivia contest. While I try to hold back in my role as a
spouse/guest, I leapt at the chance to compete in a round of six…and knew I HAD
to win because I knew I wanted my name up there on the screen in the “high
scores” list. (Competitive, much?) My plan worked—I won—and the Omaha, NE, plan
worked too, as I spent the rest of my time in Atlanta telling everyone that I
had (for a while) the 8th highest score in the Omaha trivia game and
that I had won my attractive blue tote bag from the super-wonderful people in
the Omaha booth and that Omaha would surely be a great place to hold a meeting.
Apropos of nothing but my blurry memory thinking of this
just now, I must thank the Marriott for the amazing party they put on, with a
DJ who got everyone dancing to a selection of songs that encompassed “Brick
House” to “I Will Survive” to Sir Mix-a-Lot. And a Cosmo bar!
Back to the business at hand: I got to watch Steve speak on stage at the
Awards Breakfast (which, I humbly suggest, should NOT start at the ghastly hour
of 7 AM), and I got to see him on a video presentation at the final
luncheon. A star is born!
Perhaps the most magical event of the gathering was on
Monday night: We were all invited to a
party at the Fox Theatre, a
lovingly-restored movie palace that must be seen to be believed. There’s a picture on the website, but at my
first glimpse of the starlit ceiling in the 4000+ theatre, I gasped at how
magically beautiful it is. An idea of
how special the place is that not only did our 20-something tour guide say that
she’d been angling for a year to get a job working in the theatre, the elevator
operator, an older woman, said that she volunteered for 10 years before working
here. It is such a beautiful,
not-of-this-world place that one simply wants to be part of it. Special twist on the night: guests were invited to sing karaoke to a live
band ON THE MAIN STAGE (oh, how very, very brave! [and, for some, dare I say foolish?]). And super-special twist on the night: Mary Wilson, of the Supremes, sang a concert
on the small dance-floor stage, for a rabid audience of about 300, and we were
right up there in the first row! I could
see the sweat on her brow except that she was so amazing she didn’t sweat a
drop…despite the fact that she was giving it her diva-ish all! A fabulous performer—a total professional,
with a delightfully modest streak as well: when we screamed for an encore, she actually
didn’t have one prepared so she simply sang the first song again.
As Steve and I did last year, we slipped away on the last
night for a quiet dinner, heading to 4th
& Swift, for a memorable meal.
The cocktails were so incredible, I had to have two (HAD to!): one was made with smoked peaches, and the
other featured mescal (which, I promise you, is going to be the next Big
Thing). I had the famous “Three Piggies”
as an entrée, pork loin, pork sausage, and the MOST delectable fried pork skins
you can imagine. Forget that bagged orange
Styrofoam from truck stops…these were so light you’d never recognize “pig” or “fried.” Steve had a perfectly cooked steak, and our
favorite appetizer was a special, a thin piece of veal, lightly cooked, with an
incredible tuna sauce. Fried okra was
also a highlight: a light, crispy batter on a whole piece of okra. All lovely!
So hard to tear ourselves away from fabulous Atlanta. Our
only solace was that we were headed to Charlotte, NC, for an eating tour of—you’ll
never guess—hamburgers! To be continued—!!