TNP is a membership association and one of the things that associations typically do is have a big annual conference. Attendees learn new things, network, see the sights of a city that’s newish to them, and everyone has a blast. Other than building structures, making/serving food, and facilitating sessions (we are not medical professionals), TNP does just about everything else.
Note: I am mostly silent about naming where I work even though you’re smart and can easily find it. This is because I don’t want my blog to come up in searches for TNP. That would suck for TNP and also suck for me because my words and opinions are mine, not those of TNP. They’re not responsible for my Cool Ranch Dorito habit or failing gardens. So even though you’ll see the name in these photos, don’t mention it in the comments. If you do, I’ll have to stealth-edit and I don’t want to do that. Thank you!
The conference was held at the San Diego Convention Center (SDCC) and started on a Friday. Staff staggered their arrivals and departures based on what they had to accomplish. I arrived on Thursday and one of our first responsibilities after grabbing lunch (tacos) was clipping plastic badges to lanyards.
I primarily worked at the registration desk, specifically speaker check-in. My shift started at 6:30 (although I’d leave the hotel at 5:45am for a 6am breakfast) and ran until 5/6/7pm. Some staff work even later. One night we attended a reception that ran until 8. The days are LONG and very exhausting for a bunch of office workers who sit at desks all day. My voice was usually shot by the end of the day.
On past work trips, I used to overexert myself trying to see as much as I could outside of the conference. This year because of my (healing!) tendinitis and the time difference, I dialed back my post-shift activities to dinner and drinks three nights, and staying in the other two nights. I didn’t see a sunset but in the end this choice was best for me. I’m an adult and can go back to San Diego on my own dime if I want.
I did a lot of eating. Much of it was SDCC food in the staff office. The food was REALLY GOOD. I’ve eaten at a few cities’ convention centers now and this was by far the best. We had a mix of vegetarian/vegan and meaty dishes and I really didn’t know how good vegetarian/vegan food could be. If I didn’t live with a pair of carnivores, it’s something I could dabble in.
Thursday
Arrival day! We had tacos for lunch at Tequila Bar & Grille, Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina before heading to the convention center. At the SDCC, we assembled thousands of badge lanyards, had registration training, and went back to Tequila Bar & Grille for a pre-Margaritaville drink. I lost my credit card here and had to close it via the Citi app. Good times.
Our CEO bought us a round as a thank you at the 5 o’Clock Somewhere Bar, Margaritaville San Diego . I had a watermelon lemonade and paid homage to Jimmy Buffett, my late rich liberal beach dad. It was pretty okay. We were out a little after 8pm, which I only know because the gift shop closed at 8 and I missed it. Most of my department then went to have dinner at The Blind Burro in the Gaslamp District. The food was very tasty. I had Baja shrimp tacos and the house margarita.
Friday
Three drinks the night before wasn’t the best of ideas. Friday was technically the day before the conference actually starts. TNP offered additional courses on this day. I ate SDCC food and because I knew the next day was going to be LONG, I grabbed a flatbread and a cookie from the hotel’s little grab-and-go area and took it to my room. I also tried Bubly sparkling water because I don’t know when I’ll finally learn that I don’t like sparkling water. I was asleep by 9pm.
Saturday
This was actual Day 1, with the big opening session and a crush of people checking in. I also got the chance to attend the first time attendee/new member breakfast and meet the newbies. I enjoy doing that even though approaching people I don’t know to say hello is always difficult. “But you’re so extroverted!” No. No I am not. I am an introvert who has a job to do and that job pays for blankets and internet and HVAC so I can be comfortable at home. Simple as that. I ate conference center food for breakfast & lunch, swung by an awards reception for a drink (Follow the Sun Pils by Karl Strauss Brewing Company, a local brewery), and dinner with my department coworkers at Union Kitchen & Tap. I had a roasted mushroom flatbread and two whiskey sours, all of which were delicious. We were going to barhop for a bit but it was raining so we hopped back to Union where I had a sangria and a shot of Jameson. A beer, two whiskey sours, a sangria, and a shot.
Sunday
Now you’d THINK I’d have been wholly messed up but I was pretty okay. I did drink plenty of water between the drinks but maybe my liver is genetically optimized for drinking. Anyway, breakfast and lunch were at the SDCC. A bunch of us finished at 5pm and rather than wait for my department coworkers to finish at 7:30, I went to Taco Centro with coworkers from other departments. These are people I really only see and work with once a year, and I enjoy hanging with them. We even ate outside in the un-recirculated air! I tried a piece of cactus from someone’s veggie taco and it tasted like a cross between a bell pepper and what I suppose an aloe leaf tastes like. I had a chicken taco and a baja fish taco and they were DELICIOUS. I also had a .394 Pale Ale from AleSmith Brewing Company. I try beers from local breweries when I travel.
Monday
The last day. Many of my coworkers had already left. Today’s schedule was 7am-2pm and because not many people check in on the very last day, we spent most of the day packing. I unclipped some of the thousands of lanyards we clipped on Thursday, and took the ribbons off of our ribbon wall. All of that is shipped back to the office. I also had the opportunity to record some video that will be emailed to members at renewal time. I’m pretty excited and hope my giant sweaty face doesn’t make them cancel even sooner. At 2pm I went back to the room to pack and nap. I met up with a group at Roy’s and had amazing steak and a Tiki Sour, which was a whiskey sour with tiki bitters. Actually, I think I had three all told. Then back to the room because my journey home began with an Uber to the airport at 4:20am Tuesday morning.
Airport food: I had a very blah breakfast burrito at the Cafe Rio in the Salt Lake City airport on the way to San Diego, and a decent Acai bowl at Jamba Juice on the way back.
A few more things:
The weather was chilly for San Diego! We were all freezing and rewearing the same warm outfits every night. I overpaid at the hotel boutique for the beige jacket seen below so get ready to see it on me for the next two springs/summers. It’s cute.
Billy Joel and Sting were playing at Petco park on Saturday. I would have stood outside and listened for a while, but it was raining.
Peter Frampton (so help me I thought he was in the great beyond with Jimmy Buffett) played at the Rady Shell on Sunday. That was a stay-in night so I cracked my window and listened in.
The only rude interaction I had the entire time was with a non-attendee who was asking me where the Rady Shell was. I had no idea and tried to explain that I was from Philadelphia and only knew the layout of our end of the SDCC but he was grumpy and called me worthless.
I bought a pair of Silpada earrings from a vending machine with my backup credit card.
In a quest for increased sustainability, SDCC is moving from having a watercooler in every meeting room to water bottle refilling stations. A lot of staff brought their Yetis but Yetis are HEAVY. Instead I brought my lightweight plastic cup from Coco Cay (aka the colonoscopy prep cup) and it was fine. It kept the water cool enough and because convention centers are usually very dry I drank the water before it could warm up.
The conference is exhausting but in a really good way. I look at it like TNP Camp. The hours are long and you practically live with your coworkers in weird conditions for 4-5 days. And after a year of looking at reports and emails it’s so nice to actually SEE the attendees and my coworkers as their beautiful 3D selves and not as a number on a spreadsheet or a tiny rectangle in a zoom window.
Next year we’ll be in Las Vegas! Oh boy.
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