Preparing for a Quilling Conference

I'm soon off to attend my first quilling conference!  This is the North American Quilling Guild's 2016 Con, this year in Nashville, TN.  I thought I wasn't going to be able to attend, but as it is, I'm on work travel not too far away just before the conference.  So I have the opportunity to pop on over and spend the weekend steeped in quilling.  I really hope it's as fun as it sounds, and that I get to spend time meeting new people who enjoy quilling as much as I do!

Still, it was difficult for me to figure out what I had to do to prepare for this conference, and even now I think I might not really be ready.  Not everything one needs to know as a first timer is in one place.  So many people are repeat attendees they probably assume everyone knows how long the con is, when you can register, if there are group events, if there are public events or demos, etc.  Now that the agenda is out, that information is all available, but I didn't know a lot of it when I was making my travel plans many months ago.

I realized rather late in the game that I needed to make my own thematic name tag.  I eventually managed to find a bit of time this afternoon to put one together, a little banjo with some musical notes.  It's pretty basic, but it will do.  The next time I can go to this conference I hope to be able to spend more time on the name tag.  It is a fun idea, and will make a nice keepsake. 

I registered for the contest, but was unable to complete the piece I'd hoped to bring.  So I'm bringing another one.  My fault entirely, I have no idea if I can change pieces at this late date.  But I'll bring a project and see.  Annnnnd then I realized I did not have new business cards for the blog, here!  My cards still have the old blog name.  So I quickly mocked up some cards and printed them at home on card stock.  Not as nice and spiffy as they could be, but hopefully they will serve the purpose.

I didn't even know I had to sign up for classes until it was almost too late to do so.  I blithely assumed I'd just show up and go to whatever classes floated my boat.  But it makes a lot of sense to assign people a priori.  That way there is a good balance, no one instructor is left alone or overwhelmed, and people can plan for how much and what materials to bring with them.  Oh yeah, the materials.  That's another interesting situation for me, since I never check bags when I fly.  But I'm going to have to check for this flight, what with all the quilling tools, scissors, pliers, and other odd devices I'm bringing with me.  Technically, they are all small enough to get through security, but I don't feel like trying to deal with that if someone is weirded out by my odd little paper craft.

Another last minute item that worked in my favor was that they were still looking for volunteers for Saturday afternoon to do demos and take-aways with the general public.  I love stuff like that, and am looking forward showing a few folks how great quilling is, and maybe making someone a quiller-for-life!

Image credit:  All my own stuff, and all my own pictures of that stuff.