Posts Tagged ‘ANSC’

21st Annual National Sweepstakes Convention

Posted on: August 7th, 2009 by carolyn

I am on the main volunteer convention organization committee for the 21st Annual National Sweepstakes Convention (taking place in Bloomington, MN from September 1–5, 2010).

We are seeking sponsors, speakers, and prize donations from individuals, judging agencies, marketing companies and corporations.  If you are interested in participating in any capacity, please email me.

Registration is open, not just for sweepstakes enthusiasts, but promotional professionals and corporate marketers.  Registration will close once attendance reaches 1000 or August 1st 2010, whichever comes first.

Hope to see you there!

2009 Sweepstakes Convention — Day 4

Posted on: July 19th, 2009 by carolyn

Everyone was so tired with four days of: up early, sessions all day, winning prizes, having fun and then chatting with friends late into the evening.

The Sunday morning session began with a pancake breakfast. Family and friends were also included in the feast. We then heard from This N That Sweepstakes Newsletter, Online-Sweepstakes (OLS), SweepSheet, Sweepstakes Crossing,  The Sweeper Times and SweepsU.

Of course, the talks were followed by; PRIZE DRAWS! Double draws!! As we did both the Saturday night draws and the Sunday morning draws. A lot of hooping and hollering went on that day.

As each volunteer team has two years to prepare, the 2011 convention location was also announced. It will be going to Fort Wayne IN!

The gold ballot drum was then handed off to Bob Mennell, lead volunteer for the 2010 Annual National Sweepstakes Convention and the convention officially ended.

We then headed back to the Vendor Room to hand out the vendor draw prizes.  Unfortunately, with the throngs of people, I missed getting my picture with Mary Ann of Rochester NY who won my Lucky Basket, but I did get my picture with Bonnie of Masa, AZ who won a copy of my book.

It will be a long fourteen months until I see all my sweeping buddies again.  I just may have to do a few road trips over the course of the next year!

ENJOY, GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!

2009 Sweepstakes Convention — Day 3

Posted on: July 13th, 2009 by carolyn

Day 3, Saturday July 4th was a wonderful day. It had rained off and on since we had arrived in Manchester NH.  The sun decided to grace us and was much needed for the final activity of the day; a full convention, with families, outing to a Fisher Cats baseball game followed by fireworks.

The day began with a great talk by Dave Biron from the USPS.  I wish I had a link to the amazing video shown about the history and statistics of mail in the U.S.  (In Canada, I have not sent in any OEBs — Original Entry Blanks -  for three years now, and have only recently begun to see an upswing in my outgoing sweepstakes mail, but only for NPE — No Purchase Entries.)  It will be interesting to see how this entry method changes over the next few years…

Of course, the talk was followed by; PRIZE DRAWS!

After lunch and an optional session on eBay we began the afternoon session.  We had a wonderful talk and slide show presentation by Valerie of Cherryfield ME. She was the lucky winner of the MasterCard Seven Wonders of the World Sweepstakes. She talked about the first of the four first class trips she won. On this leg she went to India and China to see the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China, with her daughter.  (I was most impressed by how gracious and appreciative winner Valerie is.  I believe you must be to win big.)  And, she has three more trips to go!

Of course, her presentation was followed by; PRIZE DRAWS!

At 6pm we all began to walk over to the Merchantsauto.com Stadium.  I wore my Toronto Blue Jays baseball hat as the Fisher Cats are the double-A affilaite team for the Jays. We had a buffet dinner followed by the game and fireworks.  I missed most of the game as my daughter spent it playing in the Kids Zone.  We did get back in time to see the Fisher Cats win and watch some amazing fireworks.

What a great way to end the day.  It doesn’t get more American on the 4th of July than hot dogs and baseball followed by fireworks. AWESOME!

Due to the location, there were no prize draws at the stadium.  They were saved for Sunday morning!

ENJOY, GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!

2009 Sweepstakes Convention — Day 1

Posted on: July 2nd, 2009 by carolyn

Like sweepstaking, convention is always an adventure.  This year has been no different.  We decided to combine a family vacation with convention again this year.  Unfortunately, at the last moment, my husband Craig could not attend due to work commitments.  We were very lucky and the convention organizers were able to change Craig’s registration to my assistant Aprile (see, good luck flows into all areas of one’s life).  So it became a girl’s road trip; myself, my daughter Nicole, the nanny Jennifer and Aprile.

We left on Monday morning. We could drive all the way to Manchester NH, but we decided to break up the drive to make it less of a long haul along with allowing us to sight-see along the way.  We drove to Burlington VT, then stayed the night.

Tuesday morning we began our trek to Manchester. We had two important stops to make first.  Our first stop was the Vermont Teddy Bear Company factory.

We began with a tour and Nicole left with a new teddy bear.  Then it was off for lunch before we got dessert, at the Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory.

We made spin art, a tye dye t-shirt, took the tour and, of course, ate ice cream! We arrived in Manchester just in time for dinner.

Wednesday we had planned to go to the beach (an hour east of Manchester), but the weather was not co-operating.  So we did what four girls would do, we went shopping!  After lunch we took Nicole to the SEE Science Center.  It’s a small hands on centre for kids (of all ages).  They have a really cool Millyard LEGO installation that used over 3 million pieces of LEGO.

Wednesday night we went to the famous Red Arrow Diner.  I had my first Whoppie Pie. YUMMY! !

Thursday at noon the convention officially started with the Vendor Room opening. It was wonderful to see so many of my sweepstaking buddies.  Lots of hugs all round.

After a quick dinner, the festivities kicked off with an Ice Cream Social and PRIZES! (Lucky me, I won 100 Forever stamps, WOOHOO!!)

If you didn’t make it this year, make sure you attend the 21st Annual National Sweepstakes Convention.

Hope to see you there!

San Antonio Texas VI

Posted on: September 3rd, 2008 by carolyn

Sunday morning began with a Pinata Party. Twelve people were called up to the front, a designated pinata smasher broke the pinata and each person grabbed one of the eggs that rolled out. They won was was written on the little piece of paper that was inside.

We then watched videos of big winners including Jon of Natick, MA a finalist in the Pepsi Billions sweepstakes. Very nail-biting. No, he didn’t win the billion, but he did win a million!

It was announced that the 2010 Annual National Sweepstakes Convention will be held on the Labour Day weekend in Bloomington MN. I’ll post the details as soon as they are available.

Then we had all the editors of America’s most popular newsletters answer questions, panel-style.

Brent Riley & Kerrie Bloss of Online-Sweepstakes.Com
Carol McLaughlin of This N’ That Sweepstakes Stuff Newsletter
Patti Osterheld of SweepSheet
Judy McCurdy of Sweeping America
Al Sayward Jr. aka. “Captian Jack” of The Sweeper Times

The last game played was Keyturn. Ten players came up, selected a key and won what was behind the door their key opened.

We closed with a big YEE-HA!

See you in New Hampshire for a Star Spangled Celebration!!

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