CONVENTION CORNER - The Final Chapter
by Bill Tedder, Convention Chair
It's a wrap. Woohoo!! The year-long hard work on the 2006 IGRA Convention finally paid off with an incredibly successful event. SMRA and Nashville have a great deal to be proud of. Of course there were the usual hiccups throughout the weekend, but we dealt with them and moved on.
Accolades and congratulations continue to pour in. Below are what a few folks had to say:
"From someone that has been attending conventions since 1992, this was one of the smoothest run conventions I have been a part of in quite sometime. Part of it was us being able to take advantage of the technology available to us ... But the big part was the organization of all the folks there with SMRA which was incredible. Every last detail was handled in very efficient ways and even little things ... were handled very quickly. I've seen a lot of kudos come across your way the last couple of days on here [SMRA Yahoo Group] as well as the IGRA Yahoo group and they are all very deserving. Thanks again to everyone with SMRA for a great weekend!" "I wanted to take a moment to say great job. I know hosting the convention was a tremendous undertaking. But your association pulled it off! The host hotel was great, and all the events and entertainment that were put on were outstanding. Please pass on to your board and members my appreciation for all their hard work. It truly made my first convention a great experience."
"On behalf of the ASGRA delegation, allow me to add my kudos to SMRA for their hospitality and excellent coordination for this year's IGRA Convention. As a relatively new association who took on a task of this considerable magnitude, you did yourselves and IGRA proud!"
"I just wanted to say thank you to SMRA for the wonderful reception we all received in Nashville . You all should be very proud, everything went well and Convention was a success due to all of your hard work."
"NGRA wants to offer Congratulations to SMRA for a fantastic IGRA Convention. Hats off to Bill Tedder, Shane, Miss Patty and all the SMRA members and volunteers who made it happen. Nashville made us all feel really welcome and showed us what Southern Hospitality is all about."
"I would personally like to thank the SMRA for a ‘lovely’ weekend in Nashville, Tennessee. I have never visited your city before, and thanks to the hard work and tireless effort on the part of your group, my first memory is unforgettable. I will definitely make it a point to attend every event you guys / gals invite us to."
Thanks to everyone for the time, effort, sweat and tears put into planning such a great weekend. We succeeded in putting ourselves on the IGRA map.
The 2006 IGRA Convention VIP Party was held at the home of Jon Glassmeyer and Scott Ridgway in historic East Nashville. Approximately, seventy-five delegates, SMRA members, and sponsors enjoyed food, libations, and conversation under the stars. Mr. Glassmeyer and Mr. Ridgway wanted all the out- of-towners to experience some true Nashville hospitality and start the convention off on the right foot. Special thanks to Jon and Scott, catering by Church Street Cafe, to all the IGRA/SMRA sponsors, to Smith and Rogers for the lovely flower arrangements and all the hard work from the SMRA volunteers.