From The Contest Queen

Friday morning started off with a really fun game called “Give’m the Boot”! Twelve names were drawn and the first player got to sit in seat #1. Then the other eleven players rolled a set of Texas-sized dice. If the player got doubles, they got to roll again. They then rolled one die and if they got a one then they would give the first player the boot. If not, then they won a custom painted boot with a prize inside.

Then Jeffery Feinman, former President of Ventura Associates and author of The Prize Winners Handbook, spoke about the hobby from a marketer’s perspective.

After a quick lunch we came back for session of the nail-biting Deal or No Deal. To make the game even more interesting, Brent Riley, owner of Online-Sweepstakes.Com, matched dollar for dollar, whatever each contestant won.

What a convention! I think I know 1/2 the people here. I have been so busy I didn’t even get a chance to blog yesterday.

You may remember Rick Adams from the 1st Annual National Contestor Convention. He and his wife Chris joined us here in San Antiono and came with us on Thursday morning for breakfast. We headed to the Guenther House in the King William area for their famous sweet cream waffles. YUMMY!

We came back to the hotel for a dip in the pool followed by another Tex-Mex meal. Nicole can’t seem to get enough of queso and chips!

After registering, we headed to San Antonio’s most famous landmark, The Alamo. WOW!

At 7:00pm the convention officially kicked off with a welcome from Robert & Gwen Beauchamp followed by a casual mix and mingle. I could have stayed up all night catching up with friends.

Originally we wanted to head south to Corpus Christi as our daughter has never been to the ocean, but the poor weather forecast caused us to visit other sights in Texas.

We chose to drive north and visit the Cascade Caverns, which boasts having Texas’ only 100′ waterfall. But, when we got to the end of the cavern, the waterfall wasn’t working. Hmmm….

After stopping in Boerne (pronounced Bernie) for lunch at Bumdoodlers, we headed west to the Enchanted Spring Ranch.

It’s a replica of an old west town. It has been used for countless movies, weddings, etc. They have daily ranch tours and we got to see the current reigning World Champion Gun Twirler, Pistol Packin’ Paula. What a great show she put on for us!

After another great dinner beside The Riverwalk, we spent the rest of the evening catching up with fellow sweepers in the lobby as conventioneers had trickled in over the course of the day. Our fun-filled weekend started early!

This week I am blogging from San Antonio Texas. We arrived in San Antonio yesterday afternoon combining a family holiday and our attendence this weekend at the 19th Annual National Sweepstakes Convention.

The first thing we did this morning was go shopping! I love a store called Anthropolgie which is only located in certain US cities, so whenever I am travelling near one I make a point of stopping by.

Then we began our trek up the Mission Trail. We began at Mission Espanda, stopped at Mission San Jose and then ran out of time for the day. We plan to visit the most famous stop on the Mission Trail, The Alamo on Thursday.

After being in the heat for most of the day, we returned to the hotel for a dip in the pool followed by an authentic Mexican dinner at Casa Rio on San Antonio’s famous Riverwalk.

I spent the day at the Canadian Gift and Tableware Association (CGTA) trade show. I found an interesting product line and I would appreciate your feedback as to whether or not I should begin selling them.

Let me take two steps back. As you may know, not only am I the Contest Queen, but for the past 20+ years I have also been a professional marketer. About a month ago I was contacted by Alphacritters. They had been successfully selling their name pictures for the past 10 years at festivals and fairs. The business was run by a mother-daughter team, Linda and Karen. All the “critters” had been created by Karen, who sadly passed away last year. (For the full story behind the company, please visit their website.) Linda promised to keep Karen’s legacy going. My job was to help Linda grow the business and keep her promise. The next logical step was to take the product to the retail market place. So we created a wholesale marketing plan and Linda rented booth space at Canada’s largest retail industry trade show.

Now one step back. Several weekends ago we attended the wedding of very close friends of ours up in Collingwood ON. At the Sunday brunch, one of the guests was wearing the most interesting flip flops. They were covered in little blue balls looking like sea foam and tucked in the “foam” were little fish and starfish. All the women were commenting on them. (Men don’t really care about such things!)

Back to the CGTA. While on a break, walking through the show looking for anything lucky I could add to my online store or sell on a convention vendor table, what should I see but the Canadian distributor for Hot Flops!

Not only did the have the oceanic flip flops, but they had all sorts of fun styles. The closest thing they had to lucky, was poker. I don’t think they fall into the lucky category, but they sure are fun!

So, what do you think? Should I carry them?

Hot Flops

I have recently received a lot of queries regarding the 2nd Annual National Contestors Convention. There are many factors as to why a new convention has yet to be planned, but the main one is money.

I would like to plainly address what happened in the past and what is being planning for the future.

Big events, such as a contestors convention, require seed money. Since it was the first convention, and I believed so strongly in bringing the fun and excitement I experienced at the American conventions to Canada, I lent the Canadian Contestors Association (CCA) $3,500 to cover the initial start-up costs.

Since the convention didn’t attract as many attendees as budgeted for, the convention lost money. I covered all the losses out of my own pocket. When all was said and done, I “lent” the CCA $10,000.

In the original budget, had we had enough attendees, there would have been enough seed money left over to begin planning the next convention. The convention would have become self-sustaining. Since that did not occur, and I was publishing the American Edition of my book, I did not have the funds to reseed a second convention.

After meeting with the other directors of the CCA and contest management industry experts, we came to the conclusion we need to make the CCA sustainable before planning another convention. That means defining the benefits of membership, first to the public, and then to corporations. Once the CCA has been firmly established as a thriving association, we can then begin to plan the next convention.

A questionnaire is being created by the CCA for potential members. Depending on the results, the CCA will either move forward, seeking corporate members and planning the next convention, or it will fold.

Please fill out the questionnaire when it is made available and help define the future of contesting in Canada.

The official announcement has been made.  The 20th Annual National Sweepstakes Convention will be held from July 1st to 5th, 2009 at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester, New Hampshire.

See you there!

My friend Dana had to email me after she found the most interesting linens; Lucky Bedding.  I am not sure if they will help you win more prizes, but maybe you’ll get lucky.

Do you subscribe to Reader’s Digest Canada? If so, keep your eye on your mailbox. The July issue should be arriving anyday now. Read Eyes on the Prize: Contestors, The Ultimate Optimists by Steve Burgess.

Reader’s Digest asked Steve to attend the 1st Annual National Contestors Convention in Toronto last September and this article is the result.

ENJOY!

NOTE: For those of you that are not in Canada or do not subcribe, I will be posting a copy of the article online as soon as I recieve it.

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Yesterday I blogged about Bill C-51 and how, if passed, would remove our right as Canadians to manage our own health care. We would have to go to the doctor, in an already crippled system to get a prescription for vitamins, if we could even afford them.

Well, today I found out, since Canadians have been opposing Bill C-51 in record numbers, they changed it to Bill C-52. Visit the Canadian Coalition for Health Freedom for further information and what you can do to stop any bill trying to take away your rights.

A word to our American friends. Your government has already passed a similar bill in your country! Read this article by Dr. James Howenstine and visit the Natural Health Solutions Foundation for further information.