2014 CTMH Annual Convention Re-Cap

As many of you know, I just spent this past week at the fabulous Disneyland Hotel for CTMH's Annual Convention!!  This was my 2nd time attending Convention and once again, it was SO, SO, SOOOO much FUN!!!  From spending time with my fellow Consultants to learning a TON of great information for my business to being there for the reveal of our brand new Annual Inspirations Idea Book, there is so much to share with you all!!

TUESDAY, JUNE 24TH

Although the Convention activities for all Consultants does not actually start until Thursday, my sister-in-law Mandy and I are always too excited and like to get there a little early, ;)  Also, Wednesday is Leadership Day which is available to Consultants holding a title of Manager and above so truly we only arrived one day early.  We got checked into the hotel, got to see & spend time with many Consultant's that were already there (a lot of Consultant's use this week to vacation with their families while they are there and either arrive a few days early or stay a few days after Convention so they can enjoy time at the parks, etc).

We got checked into the hotel and headed straight to our room which was FABULOUS!!  If you have never stayed at the Disneyland Hotel, it is a dream place to stay!  The room was very spacious, luxurious and comfortable.  Ahhhh.... after leaving our kids at home with the husbsand's, we were ready to RELAX!!

This gorgeous wood carved headboard lit up with stars and fireworks and played 

'When You Wish Upon A Star'!

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25TH

Leadership Day!!  Our day started off with a scrumptious breakfast provided by CTMH, followed by mini business classes that were put on by fellow Consultants that have been successful with sales, team building, etc.  These classes were SO informative and motivating!  I walked away with so many incredible ideas that I will be able to implement into my own business!

Wednesday night we had our Team Meeting where we met up with all of the other Consultant's from our team that were attending Convention.  We had a blast playing games, meeting Consultants on our team that we had never met in person before and swapping our Secret-Sister Exchange gifts!!

All of the amazing gifts and goodies I received from my fellow team members, roomies

 and my Secret-Sister Madge!  These gorgeous cookies were made by fellow team member, Jamie Blades.  Not only were they gorgeous, they were delicious!!

THURSDAY, JUNE 26TH

The BIG Day!!!  This is when the real fun begins!!  After waking up bright & early to head down to the front of the hotel to take a team picture with the Damask Divas Team members that were also attending Convention (side note: for those of you that do not know, Mandy is the team leader for the Damask Divas), we then headed towards the ballroom that General Session was going to be held in and wow, you could just feel the excitement in the air!!  Everyone was just so pumped up for the festivities to begin!

The Executive Team from the CTMH Corporate office puts on the most amazing skits and they did not disappoint this year!  Throughout these skits, they are revealing products from the new catalog and the crowd just goes NUTS when the products are revealed (stay tuned to my blog as I will be sharing much more about these exciting new products in another post)!  It is so, so exciting!  After products are revealed, they announce that a number of lucky Consultants will win those products.  This year to award prizes, they gave each Consultant a button with the cover of a past year's Idea Book on it when we registered and then they would display the cover of an Idea Book on the screens and if you were wearing a button with that Idea Book Cover, you were a winner!  Well..... after they revealed the awesome new Score Board and Embossing Folders from the new catalog, they displayed an Idea Book cover AND.....  I WON!!!!  You should have seen me jumping up and down like I just won the showcase showdown on the Price Is Right!!!  I was THRILLED!!!

After watching the reveal of several products including new gift bags, card kits that require NO cutting, brand new colors being added to our color pallette, and YES, a brand new Cricut Cartridge, 'Artfully Sent' that is SO amazing, the cover of the new Annual Inspirations Idea Book was revealed!!

The new Annual Inspirations Idea Book Cover!

This new Idea Book contains over 250 new products!!!  There will also be 2 supplemental Idea Books per year in December & April!  After seeing the cover and a handful of products that are in it, we were all itching to get our hands on these babies!  Once General Session ended, we all lined up in excitement to get our own Idea Book on our way out!  Not only did we get the new Idea Book but we also got the cutest bag with it!! To our surprise, this bag was FILLED with brand new products!!!

After enjoying lunch with friends while flipping through the new Idea Book, we were off to Creative Session where we could create some cute new cards!

FRIDAY, JUNE 27TH

The day started off once again with a fun-filled General Session where we were introduced more to the Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge and many of the functions that it can do!  I can not talk this cartridge up enough!  It is just amazing and if you are a card maker, it is a MUST-HAVE cartridge!!

This day was extra exciting for me as I was able to find Sticky-Boy!!!  Sticky-Boy is a special stamp created just for Convention.  Each year several Sticky-Boy's of all sizes are hidden all throughout the Convention area and you have to truly hunt for them!  It's so fun and when you find a Sticky-Boy it is a HUGE deal!!  I was lucky enough last year to find a giant Sticky-Boy and then again this year to find a medium sized one!  Some Consultants who have attended Convention for several years have never found one so it's very exciting to find them, :)

Friday afternoon involved another fun creative session and business classes followed by a fancy Awards Banquet Dinner!  The food & company was incredible!  It was so fun and very motivating to watch all of the top performers receive their awards for various categories.  I can't forget to mention that my sister-in-law, Mandy, received 2 awards that night for team building & most straight-to the top achievers by her team!  I am so proud of her & all of her accomplishments!

SATURDAY, JUNE 28TH

Our day started off with one of my favorite activities of Convention, Extravaganza!!  At Extravaganza, you get to hear more about all of the amazing new products directly from Consultants that had the opportunity to create with these products!  They share the most AMAZING artwork and incredibly creative, mind-blowing tips that leave you with your jaw on the floor and your brain buzzing with inspiration!

After another fun lunch with friends, we attended the Product Showcase where so many of the new products were shown to us!  We then moved into the Closing General Session where we learned that our 2016 incentive trip will be a 7-day Eastern Caribbean Cruise on a huge, brand-new (not even finished being built yet) ship!!!  It is so exciting for me because it is a HUGE goal for me to earn this trip!!  I know I can do it and I will!!  The greatest part of our closing General Session was being able to see and hear from our founder and COO, Jeanette Lynton!  She is such an incredible woman and without her & the dream that she had 30 years ago, I along with my fellow Consultants would not be where we are today working for such an amazing company!  She makes us all feel like family and motivates us to live our dream!  After the Q & A session with Jeanette was over, the coolest thing happened.... A HUGE Flash Mob started dancing to the song "Happy"!  It was an incredible sight to see hundreds of Consultants all dancing in unison and I am sure that just made Jeanette's day!  Once General Session ended, we enjoyed another fun Creative Session followed by a farewell dinner & a dance party!  It was sad that our fun filled week was coming to an end but at the same time, we were all excited and motivated to get home to play with all of our new products as well as implement all of the incredible things we had learned into our businesses!

SUNDAY, JUNE 29TH

Mandy & I checked out of the hotel and zipped off towards home (only a 45 minute drive for us) excited to see our families!  Although we spend loads of time together on a regular basis, it is so much fun to get this week away kid-free and have uninterrupted time to spend with each other.  I am SO lucky to have a sister-in-law that I can also call my best friend, :)

I WANT TO SEE YOU AT CONVENTION NEXT YEAR!!

If you are a Consultant that has never had the chance to attend Convention or if you are considering becoming a Consultant, I urge you to plan to attend Convention!!  You will absolutely LOVE it & the information, ideas, inspiration, motivation as well as the incredible memories that you will take away from it are just PRICELESS!!!  The company provides a really great program called Dollars to Disney that allows you to break up your registration fee into monthly payments and the group discount rate we receive on the hotel rooms is such a great deal especially when you find fellow Consultants to room with so you can not only split the cost but also make some really great friends as well!  There are some restaurants within walking distance in Downtown Disney that are very affordable so with just some planning ahead, you can definitely make Convention affordable for you.  

I hope you enjoyed this blog post and were able to get a general idea of just some of the fun that happens at Convention!  Please comment with any questions you might have about Convention!

Be sure to check out the brand new CTMH Consultant Kits!  You can now choose a Cardmaker's Kit or Scrapbooker's Kit & they are both FILLED with brand new products from the new Annual Inspirations Idea Book!  Sign up to join my team and get your hands on these products before they are available to customers!  You will also receive a 22% discount on all of your orders so you can order anything out of the new Idea Book right away!  Each kit contains over $365 worth of products for only $99!!  To view a complete listing of everything that is included in each kit, find out more information about becoming a Consultant & to sign up, click here.

Have a creatively fabulous day!