We had our very first yearbook conference with Jostens! This is all thanks to Jason’s efforts. He reached out to several Jostens advisers and got some responses. We were very excited and nervous for our first big event. It’s totally different actually being the one preparing the content. It’s not like a regular job where they say, “Here, present this information.” We had to completely design how we wanted to present the idea of PicSkip to yearbook teams in a large group setting (which is great, but also an overwhelming task). There is no one to tell us what works well and what doesn’t. Neither of us had ever even been to a yearbook conference before, or even participated on a yearbook team for that matter. So we were jumping in blind. But we took courage and the passion that we have for PicSkip and took on the adventure.
The Jostens representative for Wichita, Kansas got us on their conference schedule. We left Sunday afternoon, July 23rd. Kim and Kyle came and stayed with Charlie and Colson. They also dropped us off at the airport. We flew into Denver, had a three hour layover, and then arrived in Wichita around 1:00 am. We conveniently stayed at the Double Tree right next to the airport.
Smallest commercial plane we have been on!
On Monday, July 24th, we slept in a bit and spent the rest of the morning practicing our presentation. Jason would be speaking and I would be running the slides of the PowerPoint. When the time of the presentation drew near, we thought we would have to get an Uber or taxi to the event location (the Drury Hotel), but we lucked out by calling the Drury Hotel and had them send a free shuttle to pick us up. Sweet!
Travis was our Jostens Rep and he was awesome! He was very nice and was a big support of PicSkip. Before and after our presentation he helped talk us up and was persuasive in our favor. We believe his support and influence made all the difference to our success at Wichita.
As I mentioned, we were nervous and didn’t know what to expect. Plane tickets weren’t cheap, but we knew this was a great opportunity to reach our target audience. It was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up. Ours was a breakout session for 45 minutes. There were no other breakout sessions at that time, so we lucked out by having everyone’s attention (well, the attention of all those who wanted to join rather than relax in some free time or stay in the lab to work on yearbook stuff). Everyone was encouraged to attend. We got there a bit early to set up and become acquainted with the equipment we would be given to use.
We brought PicSkip fidget spinners for our attendees!
There were 40 schools at the conference, so about 150 people comprised of teachers and students. The breakout room we were in held 70. We knew these numbers while planning our presentation, so we were hoping for that many. In reality, we there were about 30 people who attended, representing about 15 different schools. So the numbers were lower than we thought, making us second guess whether or not this was a worthwhile trip. However, they all seemed receptive and the presentation went well. Travis said some great things to help validate our service. By that evening and the next day, we had seven schools sign up. For us, that was very exciting..given that we had put in a year of emailing, calling, and direct mailing tons of schools in Utah with only one sign up: Alta High School. It felt great to have schools tell us they liked our idea and would use it. That definitely made the trip worth it! It was encouraging and was a great practice for our next conference coming up in Idaho in August. Baby steps.
Shortly after presenting and talking to some people (one teacher even invited us to a fish fry that evening), we headed back to the airport. That’s right, in and out...that’s how business trips are done around here people. We had a layover in Denver again, but we didn’t mind as we discussed the outcome of the conference and unwinded with some Sherlock episodes on our laptop. We flew in to Salt Lake around 12:30 in the morning. Bryan picked us up and drove us home. Kim and Kyle were still at our place and waited up for us. We talked for about an hour before they went home. While we had been gone, Kim, Kyle, and the boys had a fun time. On Sunday, they walked around La Caille, had dinner at my parents, and then went with Kyle’s family for his brother’s priesthood ordination. On Monday, they had a fun day at the Provo Rec Pool.
We had a lot of helping hands who made this event possible. We are so thankful to family! For their support, love, and encouraging words. We couldn’t have done it without their help. Thanks guys!
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