Pre-Convention
You may notice, there was no pre-convention chaos for me this year. As I was flying, and I virtually have no lucky inventory left, I chose not to vend. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t up ridiculously late on Monday night getting ready.
At 11:00pm I discovered Tom Cavalli of IWINCONTESTS created a fun activity for all attendees. All you had to do was print out a copy of High Roller Tom and take him on all your Las Vegas adventures, sharing them on social media.
Here is my creation. I think he has a wee crush 😉
DAY 1
The convention for me really started on Tuesday. The convention host always negotiates a special hotel rate for attendees that extends for a few days before and before after the big event. Since it was in Las Vegas this year, and I had never been, it only made sense to make it a working vacation.
I didn’t think I would find a city hotter then when we attended the convention in Phoenix in June 2006, but walking outside in Las Vegas in July is like stepping into an oven.
My sweeping buddy Wendy and I spent Tuesday, Wednesday and most of Thursday sightseeing, shopping, putting the occasion $10 into a slot machine (this sweeper is notoriously cheap) and enjoying the ‘free’ drinks while we played the penny slots.
The coolest thing we did was find a Speakeasy. We went to one called The Laundry Room (yes, it used to be). There are no pictures as they are not allowed. Dress up a wee bit as it is a classy joint.
By the time the convention started I was exhausted as I only had four hours of sleep per night for the previous four days.
Thursday Evening
The convention always kicks off with a Meet and Greet that includes a Pick-A-Prize drawing and a game for seasoned attendees to meet newbies. This year it was Bingo. Normally, they only award prizes to the winner of the bingo game, but this year they also gave the newbies prizes too. I liked how first timers got to be winners right away.
Normally, I would go back to my room, blog and sleep, but as Las Vegas doesn’t sleep, we went out. Wendy knows the owner of Hogs & Heifers Saloon in Downtown Las Vegas, so off we went.
What a crazy cool bar. We were treated to drinks on the house, and I have not had that much to drink since 1993! The next morning I remembered why.
Go to my Facebook page to see the full 27th Annual National Sweepstakes Convention photo album. If you have any pictures you would like to contribute, please email them to me.
If you would like to attend a convention, you can find a full list on my website.
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