Everywhere I look these days, there’s a greeting card for the taking and making. Thanks to sendoutcards, I click them into being.

Happy to say, folks, I design my own cards every day and let the Great Printer in Salt Lake do the rest: print, stuff, stamp and mail ‘em. I don’t know how it could get any easier.

Chris and I took some worthy pics for custom sendoutcards at last week’s convention. Five garbage-can drummers opened the show with waves of throbbing sound. I remember being happily blown away and wanting more.

“Stomp”, that buff black dude, was obviously the main man, but I liked the power of their combined sound. it was magic! For a comic effect, they made fun of the skinny white boy (front right) who did a stereotype skinny white-boy dance.

And since we’re on the subject of white boys, Sendoutcards Founder, Kody Bateman, got poo-pooed (a British term) for his attempt to stomp with “Stomp”, the Master, but Kody took it in stride.

Like most conventions, not everything was about the entertainment. Dr. Ivan Misner, Founder and Chairman of BNI, was the key-note speaker on Friday. I had never heard of him or BNI, but It’s only the world’s largest networking organization. Duh! Sometimes I feel a little out of touch out here in the boon-docks, but that’s why there’s BNI. Maybe I’ll join a chapter or start my own.

There’s a lot I could say about Dr. Misner, all good. His achievements are many and still amassing: Ph.D. from the University of Southern California, author of ten books, including a #1 bestseller Masters of Sales and a New York Times bestseller, Truth or Delusion? The guy was humble, though. He said Ph.D. stood for Pile it high and deep.

I like that in a successful human. Ivan Misner got to the convention well before he was scheduled to speak,and Kody Batemans’ wife found him standing in line to buy a ticket. Dr. Misner told us anytime he’s feeling too proud, he just does a book-signing. According to Misner, people scurry around him like he’s the “Timeshare Guy” (a salesman to avoid at any cost). Needless to say, this man was mobbed at the sendoutcards book signing—I bought one of his books but didn’t get it personalized.

Saturday was a bit more subdued, till the closing party, that is. Subdued does not include Sandra Yancey, one of the two speakers. She was a high energy, female sharpie who founded ewomennetwork and wrote Relationship Networking: The Art of Turning Contacts Into Connections. As you might suspect, her main advice was directed at women: Stop doing everything in pairs, surround yourself with positive people and get a life Coach (she has three). Interestingly enough, she said nothing about her book. I thought this was gutsy.

Generally speaking, though, I’m not impressed with authors as a species. Any Tom, Dick or Harriet can write something and call it a book. I’m only impressed with people who can speak their minds and laugh at themselves, and Sandra Yancey can do both.

Speaking of laughing, the convention was about crying, too: Kody told us his story—the one that prompted him to start SendOutCards. I felt like bawling my eyes out. If you’re hungry for a bit of sincerely sad emotion, click on YouTube for a true account of his brother’s untimely passing back in 1989. Right now, I prefer to focus on the closing party.

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The performers in this picture led the way with rousing African beats and gyrations. They passed out several thousand music making devices so that everyone in the audience had at least one—1000 big floor drums provided the main attraction.

Chris and I had such a great time, drumming our hearts out. I almost felt like a Fou Drummer.

Just imagine a couple thousand people beating big African drums, making music with hand-held rhythm instruments and forming the world’s longest conga line, and you’ll get more of the full picture.

Wild at its very best!

Happy Tales,

Laura signing off.

p.s. Chris is always ready to answer any questions you might have about internet businesses and opportunities. I’m always ready to blog.