2008 NACA National Convention

cant wait that long... NACA!

brandonc966 — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 23:29:00 GMT

Well lets see... I would really like to fill everyone in on what a great night Tuesday was but unfortunately I had to be taken to the Emergency Room for my foot. I was trying to save front row seats for my group at showcase #5. I was running in my socks and went to turn the corner and fell into a bunch of chairs. I did one summer sault, a roll, chair throwing, leg cramping, foot backwards, and RUG BURNS! It really sucked. But our group was still able to get the front row seats when they ran past me to get them. Don't get me wrong, my CAB group loves me... but at that point that wanted the seats more. My advisor and I were at the ER for almost six hours. I was really annoyed and wanted to get out of there ASAP. There was 144 people in the ER waiting to be looked at and 90% were there for the FLU! Finally after 8:00pm I finally was able to see the doctor. They told me that did not break my foot but I had a contusion and a sprain. They told me that I had to go back to the doctor in five days and get another x-ray and see if my foot is really broken or not. But I did it all for my group.

As I was at the hospital with our Advisor Jackie the other members of our group had to get all of our bags together which really sucked. We had so much to get It looked like that we were going away for a month. We had 3 or 4 times the bags coming home than we did coming up to St. Louis. Our CAB group stayed at the Renaissance Grand. Our rooms were really amazing. The sheets, pillows, and showers were the best. Every morning I would have to force myself out of bed since I was so comfortable and didn't want to move.

I really had a lot of fun blogging for the NACA National Convention. I learned a lot about how things were ran and how much work is really put into a huge conference like this. I would love to blog again for NACA. It was AWESOME meeting a bunch of new people and getting to know them for who they are and what their group is all about. I believe that is a BIG part of what NACA is all about. NACA is there to connect you not only to the agencies and help educate us better but to also you communicate well between other colleges and organizations. At the entire conference I don't think there was anything there that didn't really help someone. I loved all the Showcases, CAMP'S, and educational sessions. All the agencies and performers were really great and loved to talk to all of us.

I really liked how everything was back to back and not really any break in between the sessions, showcases, and CAMP'S. I think the reason behind that was that everyone would be entertained in some way and that no one could possibly get bored. Plus there was a lot going on that they had to fit in. I complained earlier at the conference about how everything was way too close to each other but now I completely understand why they did it that way.

All the NACA Volunteers were really nice and helped students have a much better experience. So I would like to say thank you for all their help with the running of the convention.

We had two people in our CAB group that went with us and they were extremely excited about attending their very first NACA. They had the best time of their lives. They experienced things that they would have never experienced in their entire college experience. They are now even more excited about getting more involved in our Campus Activities Board next year. I'm really glad that they went with us and learned a lot.

After we left the hotel it was a really sad trip home. There were vehicles all over the road and then we seen a semi that completely fell over on the side of the road and they had the entire interstate blocked off. But we made it home safe at 1:45am.

I hope I get to meet everyone again and I hope that everyone had a really GREAT time at NACA!

*** SEE SOME OF YOU AT OUR REGIONAL CONFERENCE.

peace "b"

If you would like to keep in contact with me my email address is: bc965@icc.edu (Brandon Carpenter)

Look me up on Face Book!

7 MONTHS 'til NACA MIDAMERICA!!!

melissar823 — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 23:22:00 GMT

Home again. Home again. and I already miss NACA! I will confess that due to my longing for NACA to return I wore one of my many shirts from CAMP, listened to cds from the various NACA musicians on the way to school today, have refused to unpack my NACA bag, and am going to dinner with our "delegation" tonight (we have separation anxiety!!!).

Please accept my apology for my lack of blogging late Monday and early Tuesday. NACA got CRAZY CRAZY!!!! It was ... of course... AWESOME, but I want to apologize for not making it to a computer.

Tuesday was a bit on the rather busy side of things. Being that our delegation was committed to obtaining front row seats for ourselves at each Showcase, we would stake out a spot at the front of the line prior to the Showcase. and then when the doors would open we would dodge past all personnel yelling at us not to run and proceed to BOOK IT!! down to the front row.

During this endeavor for the Tuesday morning Showcase, our president, Brandon, was running to the front. As he rounded the corner to the front row he was attacked by the two corner chairs. Took them out. Did a 360 degree roll. And slid across the carpeting!

This traumatic event resulted in us losing our front and center seating, but more importantly a trip to the emergency room for Brandon and Jackie, our advisor. POOR BRANDON!!! He is now sitting next to me w/ his crutches and while he claims he can put weight on his SPRAINED possibly BROKEN FOOT... I don't believe it!

So that event kinda turned things a little topsy turvy for all of us. Jackie and Brandon headed to the ER for a very scary 8 hour ER visit and the rest of our delegation proceeded to continue attending educational sessions and the FINAL SHOWCASE!!!

I attended an educational session presented by the lovely Student Activities professionals from George Mason University about shifting your paradigm to address multiple programming needs on your campus! It was very inspiring and informative! Thanks for doing such a great job, Ladies!!

The FINAL SHOWCASE was AMAZING!!! Blue Jupiter was outstanding and I completely loved NEED TO BREATHE and RETTA!!! Retta is coming to our campus on March 27th and after seeing her I can't wait! I was disappointed that I did not get to Meet any of the performers from the last Showcase because our delegation was scheduled to leave NACA before the closing events.

I absolutely LOVED MY FIRST NACA!!!! and as you can tell from the title of this blog, I'm already counting the months til NACA MID-AMERICA comes to town!!! It has been a privilege to BLOG for NACA!!! Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to make it a truely outstanding and educational conference! Good luck in all of your programming endeavors!

Love love love love love

melissa

Heading Home

cwirthwe@pittstate.edu — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:09:00 GMT

I am sitting in the hotel lobby watching everyone leave. I hope all of you had as much fun here as I did. Please be safe traveling back to your campus!

See you all next year in Nashville!!!

Tuesday Night!

cwirthwe@pittstate.edu — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 02:51:00 GMT

I am getting ready to head back over to the Convention Center but what a day this has been. We have had some awesome showcases today and CAMP was hopping. I did get to meet Chris and Erin from the National Office. We always get e-newsletters or some type NACA emails from these guys and it is nice to put a name with a face.

I think Leslie, the conference committee and the NACA staff have all done a great job putting this on. So, if you see any of them please tell them thank you. Also, if you see any of the Clearwing and stage crew tell them thanks and give them a Monster, Rockstar or some coffee. This is when their job gets tough. I have help at the Central Regional conference for the past 3 years as Showcase Production Coordinator or Stage Manager and it is a thank-less job. Don't get me wrong I love every minute of it but it is long job. So please tell them thanks because loading out all that equipment isn't fun!

I am looking forward to one last CAMP. I was bidding on a hoodie and Speed Racer movie poster. I hope I won!

I got to meet DMC yesterday. Too cool. I am BIG RUN DMC fan. I remember the first time I heard them. I was in Junior High going to a basketball game. Someone put RUN DMC in the tape player. I was instantly hooked. Still am today. That is when rap was fun and spoke the truth. It is fun to hear my kids sing (or rap) along to RUN DMC. There is nothing like a 9 and 6 year old seeing "King of Rock" or "It's Tricky".

I will try and get one more blog in before I go home. If I don't, I will give you all one on Thursday when I am back to work.

Rockstars and energy drinks, together at last

chrisn — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 18:32:00 GMT

Alright, so at 26 years old I'm one of the youngest people in the NACA office. I remember one of my first days there we had a staff lunch and Gordon made a joke asking if I was the delivery guy. I say this because I've been reading the other blogs and keep hearing about the Rockstar energy drink that, I have to admit, I hadn't heard of once before this Convention. I'm kind of ashamed that I wasn't in-the-know on this one. After I heard about them several times I finally saw a guy walking around the CAMP with one in his hand and I thought to myself, "Oh that's what they're talking about!" So I officially felt a little old today, dang it. I'm not that far out of college and it's already starting.

OK, I'm done talking about energy drinks now.

I went to my first showcase today. Somehow I've made it 4 or 5 days without catching a showcase... oh that's right I was working. The ones I saw today were really good. David Hall Comedy Magician was emceeing and performing in between acts. He showed the audience how to perform some magic tricks, some of them the same ones he did as a street performer; and then did some ones that he definitely wouldn't show us how to do!

The first showcase that I saw was The Afro-Latin project. Hearing music and watching dance from different places around the world is always refreshing. It's just good to hear talent in different forms. I also heard comedian Amy Anderson (who's performed on shows like Comedy Central's Premium Blend) and musician Ry Cuming (who's about to go on tour with Maroon 5 and One Republic). It's cool to see people with so much talent up on stage, doing what they love.

Back to the registration booth... I'l try to post more later.

Chris

The Last Stand

chrisn — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:31:00 GMT

It's crazy to think that today is the last day of the Convention. In one way it seems like I've been here for a month working registration booth, the NACA booth, setting up, talking to people, etc. And on the other hand it seems like I just got here and this entire time has just been a blur.

I Believe in Yesterday
CAMP yesterday was an experience. I was manning the booth, minding my own business, when the floor started trembling slightly. Slowly I turned my head and in slow motion I saw mobs of elated girls running down the aisle towards the NACA booth. Now I know that we have some really cool t-shirts and sweatshirts (one from Cornell... I don't know if you've ever heard of it) for the NACA Foundation, we have some great issues of Programming magazine that we're giving away, and other great info at the booth; but I was pretty sure they weren't running into each other and smiling until it hurt just because they were coming to our booth. I asked someone next to me what ruckus was about and they informed me that they were waiting in line for Lance Bass.

Lance Bass booth 1, NACA booth 0

I'm just going to have to step up my game with the NACA website so next year we can get people to swarm to our booth that way. Next year Lance.... next year.

I forgot to mention that Dawn Thomas from the NACA office went outside of CAMP while everyone was lining up for Lance and so evilly told them that he had already left and they wouldn't be able to see him. It was a cruel act indeed, but after all the work Dawn has done with this Convention, she deserved to have a little fun. She then told everyone she was just joking (out of fear for her life).

Also, I saw D.M.C from Run D.M.C. so that was cool. I didn't know he was going to be here. If I had known he was coming I would have practiced up on my mad hip-hop skills and maybe we could have performed a showcase together or something, I don't know. Think about it D.M.C., I'll have my people call your people.

The Beginning of the End
I'm not sure exactly what I'll be doing today, but I know it involves CAMP, another CAMP, the Foundation Auction (don't miss it! the bidding closes at 4:40 today) and then breaking things down and packing them up. Maybe I do know what I'm doing today...

My first time Convention experience has been great. Even though I asked a lot of questions beforehand to try and figure out what was going to happen here, it's just one of those types of things you have to see to understand. Registration can not be processed with the mind, it has to be experienced member by member, question by question, name tag badge by name... OK you get it.

I got the chance to meet some really great people, people who are committed to NACA (some for many years) and others who are new like me who see the benefits of what NACA has to offer students, associates and professionals. I'll try to post more later if I get the chance, I keep checking to see how many people are reading the blogs, so thanks to all of you who are!

Chris

Last Day!!

cwirthwe@pittstate.edu — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:06:00 GMT

Is everyone still hanging in there?? It is Tuesday and the last day of NACA! Sad day. I have had a blast here in St. Louis. I have gotten to catch up with my "NACA" friends and see some great showcases. So mission accomplished here so far in St. Louis. I thought yesterday was a great day. I got to review and ed session, go to the World of Ideas, and I got to see the performance samplers and the showcase that was after dinner. The only bad part is I wish the performance samplers could be a little longer. They only get so little amount of time and I don't think we really get to hear how good the acts really are.

On a side note, has anyone noticed how good the music is in the Renaissance Hotel?? I have heard some Police, Maroon 5, Jason Mraz and others. I wonder if it is because NACA is here or if they always play this type of music? Just a thought.

Hang in there on this last day.

SWAG!!!

cwirthwe@pittstate.edu — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 21:07:00 GMT

Do any of you watch "The Office"? I feel like Michael did when he went to the paper product conference!!! I don't think I am as obnoxious as him but I have gotten some cool stuff. The Marketplace has been really great. It seems to be there is a lot of business going on. I was at the World of Ideas today promoting our Central Region conference. I also got some more SWAG and some cool ideas as well. I also got to meet the student bloggers too. They are still going strong on Monday. Must be the Rockstar they were drinking.

I saw a great movie at the film screening yesterday. I saw the "The Listening Project" Awesome movie. I need to head over to their booth and talk more to them.

I hope everyone is still enjoying NACA!!

Monday... already!!! WHAT??

melissar823 — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:28:00 GMT

Last night at 1:49 am I attempted to write a new post, however it didn't quite work so I thought that I would take a few minutes right now before the next set of educational sessions begin to elaborate on some of our adventures. It really feels like there has been so much happening that we just keep going,,, and going,,, and going,,,!!! Its basically the coolest thing EVER!!!

We just finished cleaning up our booth in the World of Ideas. Our group really enjoyed this activity because it was we were able to meet and talk w/ more NACA delegates about what programming works or doesn't work for them. It was also really nice to recieve feedback about our own programming and marketing from peers w/ a different an educated perspective on the work we are doing! We voted the World of Ideas as our favorite part of the convention up to this point!

Our group has really been inspired by everything we are taking in. It seems that the combination of the showcases, marketplaces, making new friends, world of ideas, and educational sessions has just set us on fire. We can't shut up about all the new ideas that we are forming for the rest of this semester and next year! All of this brainstorming has really been a big help in creating some solution to a few of the problems that our board has been encountering. We are learning how to keep CAB healthy!

On another note... St.Louis has some CRAZY CRAZY weather!!! WHOA!! It seems like one minute I could get away with flip flops and then five minutes later I think that maybe I should have brought my silly purple snowsuit!

Anyways, that was a little bit random. Last night while we were sitting in the lobby of the hotel at like 2 am attempting to blog and doing the Cupid Shuffle, I discovered that when you play music and break out into strange dances in the hotel lobby you will end up making new friends. So if any of you are finding it difficult to make new friends and meet new people here in St. Louis, just follow my advice and stay up late drinking rockstars and breaking out your best dance moves... You will have problems no more. If any of our new friends from Augustana or Texas read this, it was so nice to meet you and I really hope that we get to play UNO soon!!! you guys are a blast!!!

I also feel that my wardrobe has been greatly expanded thanks to the lovely vendors in the marketplace and all the fun people we met at the World of Ideas! I've been wearing all my new fun apparel around the hotel room. I got some fun boy shorts w/ lips on the butt and they are WAY too big for me, BUT they are soooo comfortable!!!

Well, I need to decide what educational session to attend during the 3:45 session and I'm not sure which one to attend... So I had better go, but i will be back blogging before bedtime(i.e. before tomorrow because I'm not sleeping tonight!!!! kkkkrrrrssss!!!)

Seriously... it's Monday!

brandonc966 — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:28:00 GMT

When I woke up this morning I was so exhausted. I was up all night blogging and hanging with some awesome people (Chris and Jen) from a college in Texas. SHOUT OUT, WOO!! Our group got all ready to go and went down stairs to Star Bucks and was amazed to see how freaking crazy the snow was blowing. That was some really crazy crap!

I hope that everyone had the chance to attend the Diversity "World of Ideas" held over the Renaissance Grand in the Majestic Ballroom. We met a lot of wonderful people at our Illinois Central College table display. We were really happy to share all of our ideas with other colleges that attended this event. I thought that the event was very successful. We walked around to a lot of the booths and took pictures of some marketing ideas that we would really like to use in the future at our campus. A lot of schools had some really awesome t-shirt designs that I really enjoyed. We are definately going to be making some new fleeces, hoodies, and jersies for our Campus Activities Board in the next year or so.

Our Campus Activities Board group had a lot of fun things going on at our table. We had fliers from our 3D Twister, Battle of the Bands, Parking Spot Raffle, Valentines Day Photo Booth, Exotic Petting Zoo, NAKED BAGS, Punch Cards, and much more. Some of the things that we had at our table display was from NACA Mid America in St. Charles, IL. The World of Ideas was a lot of fun and a great time. I thought it was definately signing up for.

Our Campus Activities Board group went to the Lecture Showcase #2 today. I really enjoyed some of them. I thought that a lot of them were really good at informing the students. Marvelyn Brown was absolutely amazing. She was very informative and had a lot to offer the students. I would really like to see her come to our campus. I suggest to all students that they stop by booth 522 to talk to her and get more information about her.I really liked how she can relate to us and almost preach things into our heads. She was talking to us like we were human beings.

Doug Lansky was another great lecturer. Since I'm all about traveling I really enjoyed the lecture. His pictures were realy humorous and pretty NASTY at the same time. Like he said there are a lot of students that would love to have the opportunity to travel all around the world on a really cheap budget. He knows that students struggle all the time with finances... and has a lot of answers to the questions that he may ask.

Kelly and Becca - "Let's Talk About IT" This had to be the most informative lecture that I have listened to at the entire conference. Their entire lecture really realted to student life, all the parties, and drinking. The story that she told touched a lot of people. I feel that a lot of people lef with something other than a booth number and free stuff. Students really walked away with something that could help them possibly in the future.

Again I hope that everyone is enjoying the conference and are getting everything they can out of the conference. I am going to be heading off to an educational session and I will be on later and fill everyone in on the rest of the night and whats going to be going on.

Peace! "b"

Sitting at the registration booth...

chrisn — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:14:00 GMT

I'm hanging out at the registration booth right now, but since most people are already registered I thought I'd post a little more on the blog.

I've manned the NACA CAMP booth several times since the Convention started, but last night when the doors opened I saw a huge flood of people literally running into the room. For a second I was worried that there might be too many people coming in all at the same time, bumping into each other, and upping the possibility for a scrum. But being the great NACA people that they were, they were just excited to be getting into the Marketplace and see all the things they can book for their schools.

Hopefully the other CAMPS today and tonight will bring in the same excitement

Night on the Landing

chrisn — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:44:00 GMT

Alright, so last night was the much anticipated (at least for me) Night on the Landing.I'm trying to gather my thoughts together about the whole night because there was just so much that was happening in so many places that I don't know where to start. It was my job to go around and video tape on the goings-on (I like that weird phrase) around the Landing so we can eventually have some video of it on the NACA website.

I kicked off the night at Club Buca around 10:30. When I first got there people were still just trickling in, but it didn't take long for the place to get busy and for me to be running into people with my ridiculously large camera bag. Thanks to mtvU, everyone's cup had a cool fake ice cube in it that glowed different colors when it touched the other ice cubes. Club Buca started with karaoke, which I have to say... was entertaining to listen to. I don't know what group of guys got up to sing "We are the Champions" but I seriously hope they're not music majors. If you guys are reading this, and you're studying music, please drop out now. You won't be able to pay off your student loans because finding a job will be very difficult for you!

After the karaoke, Cameron Matthews performed. You could tell he wanted to be there and engaged himself well with the crowd. I wasn't able to stick around for the whole thing (considering there were three other venues I had to hit) but what I heard was great. Hopefully the video I shot there will turn out and y'all can see what I mean.

After that I headed down the street to Throttle and The Feisty Bulldog. It was cool having everything within walking distance, especially when it was so cold outside. These two venues were in the same building so I was constantly running up and down the stairs filming all the performers (for a complete list check out the NACA Night on the Landing page). Upstairs, Javier Mendoza, Junior, Earl, and the Midwest Avengers all performed. It was awesome. Again the place was packed, I got some great shots of people dancing on the floor. One guy broke out some pretty good pop-n-lock and I was able to catch him on tape.

Downstairs at Throttle, Andy Davis, James Otto, Scott Harris Project, The Dirt Drifters,Tyler Hilton, SEBASTIAN MANISCALCO, and Jason Jones were on stage. I liked the balcony and floor set up at Throttle because you could get close to the stage from the top or bottom, or you could just stay where you were and still see everything. Both Throttle and The Feisty Bulldog were just full of energy, it was great being out and seeing all that had been done to bring together this event.

Once I was done there, I walked back up the street to Laughs on the Landing and caught one of the comedians performing there. Again this place was really busy too, I saw a few people standing up along the wall to catch the show. Before I knew it, the night was over and I was helping break down the signs we had put up all around the Landing! Luckily for all of us, NACA had rented three huge coach buses to get people back and forth from their hotels to the Landing. It was great!

OK, I need to be back at work now! I'll write more later!

Chris

THE BLOGGERS BACK BABY!

brandonc966 — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 05:33:00 GMT

Hey whats going on everyone? I am hoping that everyone is having a really good time so far at the NACA National Convention in St. Louis, MO YEAH BABY!

On our first day arriving here our CAB group went out to a really great Irish Pub called Flannery's. Their food was crazy good. The atmosphere was really great and they have some kick butt wraps. They will prepare them any way that you may like them. On our way back to our hotel we came across a place
(not sure if they had a name) that was copies and coffee. I am all up for coffee but I would NEVER go back to that place if my life depended on it. That place smells really funky and has some very interesting food. They have Crepes and coffee which doesn't make much sense. I would feel that I would black out or something if I was in there for more than 10 minutes.

One thing that was FREAKING AWESOME was that we ran into Kelly Osbourne at a chick' s clothing store. It was crazy.... I never thought that I would ever see a famous person like that in a clothing store. But when we got a closer look we realized that it wasn't her at all. It was a "doll" look-alike. I thought she was ceramic or something and if we dropped her face would shatter.

Let me start off with the first with the Convention Kick Off. I thought that the Kick-Off was some really crazy ***. Caroline Rhea was absolutely amazing and I knew that everyone was excited to see her. She was one of my favorites that night. She can really relate to college students in a funny way which I really thought worked. Her jokes were absolutely HILARIOUS with all her experience in the teenage show "Sabrina the Teenage Witch." That show was crazy good and I still watch it to this very day!

Another performer that I really enjoyed was Josiah Bell. What can I really say about him. He was something that I never heard before and I really enjoyed it. His voice is really unique and he really has a lot of energy that goes a long with his performance. I think that he would really make a really good performance for our CAB Coffeehouse Series that we do every year in the Spring Semester. We are excited about hearing more from him later on in the future. Everyone should stop by his booth and get more information and listen to more to music.

Howie Day... where do I really begin with him. Don't get me wrong or anything he was one of the best acts that night mainly for his VERY VERY unique voice. I would really like to have him to our campus and everything but the performance he put on here seemed not to be 100%. It really seemed that he had other things on his mind. His performance was great and the students really enjoyed the performance and I was really glad to see everyone up on their feet enjoying his show.

MAIN SHOWCASE 1 (FRONT ROW BABY!)

Being in the front row is awesome and I suggest that everyone tries hard to get the seats. We are running so hard that we had our crap flying in all different directions. But we still manage to get the best seats in the house.

- Forever the Sickest Kids: They were pretty good. I would not have them come to our campus at all. I had a really hard time understanding what they were saying because they were almost making out with the microphone. Their mouths were so close I was waiting for some tongue action ( HAHA!!! Kidding). I would really like to know what everyone else thought of them. From what I was noticing was that there was a select few of people that liked their music.

- Mayda Del Valle: SHE WAS SO GREAT! Her poetry really meant something which I really looked forward to. I was afraid at first that it was going to be over something stupid but she touched a lot of topics and problems that are going on right now in the world. Our CAB would really like to have her come to campus for a poetry session and I think it would go over really well. We would probably have them over at the Rhythm Kitchen which is about 5 minutes from the college (Harvard on the hill). I suggest talking to her and getting to know her more. She is a really cool person to get to know.

- Knucklehead Zoo: They were really awesome. Their dancing was freaking sick. The completely covered the entire stage with new moves. I really enjoyed the beat boxing performer also. They are really unique and I would really like to see them come to our school for a Performing Arts Center Performance. I put into a lot of heart and soul into their dances and enjoy what they are doing.

-Vidur Kapur: .........enough said.

- Street Drum Corps: They are freaking awesome and I think every college in the country needs to have them come to their campus and do a performance. They are really unique and have a lot of talent since they are using a bunch of different instruments and tools. I really enjoyed how they interacted with the people in the audience and how they let them play with the instruments with them.

DAY 2 - Sunday

EDUCATIONAL SESSION 1

Melissa, a member of the Campus Activities Board attended the session, " Ensuring a Successful Executive Board Transition." The presenter was Lalena Luna. She was so much help there isn't really enough time to describe all that she talked about. Our Campus Activities Board Executive Board is leaving this year after the spring and will no longer have a board. We were wondering how we can go about recruiting new members and getting the current members interested in taking up a position on Executive Board. I suggest that everyone should take up the opportunity and go to a transition session if your CAB is having any problems finding new people to take your position. She was really a lot of help with everything and helped us figure a bunch of things out. We are going to be staying in touch with her so we can learn more and help improve our CAB.

CLUB SHOWCASE 1

- Johnny Walker: MAN!!.. there are only a few ways to describe how talented and hilarious that this man is. Since he is our age he can really relate to college life. Most of the time he was right.. whether we wanted to believe it or not.

- Alex Winston: IN A HEART BEAT. We would really like to have her and her band come to our campus for the Battle of the Bands opener. She is one crazy chick that can really rock the show and that is exactly what she did tonight. I think that I really fell in love with her. I never seen a chick rock out so hard in my life. I usually go see Nickelback, Daughtry, Buck Cherry, Hinder, Revelation Theory, 12 Stones, and Papa Roach. So having something like this is definitely a new experience. I stopped by her booth and we talked and she was super nice.

- Jessica Sonner: She is freaking awesome and has a really soothing voice that really gets into people that keeps their attention all on her. She is one person that performed that night that really had some talent and really put forth 110%. Her songs have a bunch of different meanings. They weren't all about love and how much life may suck or anything. She was SUPERB!

I DIDN'T GO TO THE THE LECTURE SESSIONS.

I heard that they were really amazing and that a lot of campuses were planning on booking them at their campuses.

MAIN SHOWCASE 2

- Mission IMPROVable, Lynne Koplitz and Kyle Dunnigan were one of the best acts that were in this showcase. They were all so different and all had such a differennt type of talent. Our Group is going to be welcoming Mission IMPROVable to our campus cafeteria on the 1st of April. We are really excited about them coming to campus. They are going to be such a blast and the students on campus are really going to be enjoying them. I would really like to have Kyle Dunnigan from Reno 911 come to the campus also. He was to be one of my favorite comedians so far at the Conference.

Again our CAB group were fortunate enough to get front row seats again... having front row seats have to be the best thing in the entire world... there isn't one thing that we miss. WE SEE IT ALL BABY!

I WOULD LIKE FOR EVERYONE TO PRAY FOR NIU AND THEIR UNFORTUNATE LOSSES. THE TRAGEDY THAT HAPPENED ON THEIR CAMPUS WAS REALLY UNFORTUNATE AND ILLINOIS CENTRAL COLLEGE CAMPUS ACTIVITIES BOARD IS GOING TO BE PRAYING FOR THE NIU COMMUNITY AND FAMILIES.

see you all later!!

LEAVE ME SOME LOVE

Blogging Error

brandonc966 — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 15:39:00 GMT

Sorry everyone... but my blog was deleted after it was all typed up so I am going to be on later today and fill everyone in with the fun and exciting things that I have experienced.

see you'll later!

Day 4... or is it 3... or 5...

chrisn — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 15:22:00 GMT

WOW. Ok, yesturday was one the longest, yet best learning days I've had since starting at NACA. I spent most of the day in the registration trenches signing in our Associate members. It was the first time I had really met any of them and it was good to finally meet the people who are a big part of what we do at NACA.

After my crash course in registration on Friday, I was a little nervous about having mobs of people descending upon us all day, but I think we all worked well as team and were able to help eveyone get the info they needed and amazingly were able to keep our sanity... at least I did, the verdict is still out on our IT guy Adam who spends his days fixing all the computer problems that we throw at him.

I won't blog about the details of registration, because... what can I say, you don't want to hear about that. So, after registation I manned the NACA booth for a bit and was able to see a few of the other booths at CAMP.

Writers note: For any of you new to NACA, CAMP stands for Campus Activities Marketplace

One our new employees (yes,even more of a rookie than me), Tracey, went to the booth with all the snakes and wore a boa constictor for a few senconds. She told me she wasn't too afraid of snakes, but when the thing was on her arm it turned its head around all of the sudden and started staring right at her. That's when she closed her eyes and started saying, "Ok, I'm done, take it off!"

I was a little bummed not to be able to see Howie Day, Caroline Rhea and Josiah Bell perform at the Kick-Off, I heard it was a good show. But so goes the life of a NACA staff member. I will however be able to catch all the performances tonight down at Night on the Landing. If you're there, you'll see me jumping around from show to show video taping the artsits. I'm hoping to put together a cool video and post it on the NACA website sometime when we get back.