The bar is pretty high for the WRWA Annual Conference. We have a great time every single year (want proof? Check out our posts from 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013). So when we say that this was the best year ever, you better believe it was all sorts of awesome.
We had a brand new display that we were excited to set up. As a bonus, Gwyn from ShinMaywa joined us in the booth right next to us. As Josh was delayed on an emergency service call, Gwyn got to deal with me moving everything around about ten times before I was satisfied with the way it looked. By the time Josh arrived, we were ready to go for the next day.
The next day started in the best way. Josh and I attended the Opening Ceremony, where we were nominated for Business of the Year. You may remember that we were nominated last year, and honestly we didn't expect to win this year since there are so many excellent companies working with WRWA. To our delight, we were selected this year for the Business of the Year award!
We had a brand new display that we were excited to set up. As a bonus, Gwyn from ShinMaywa joined us in the booth right next to us. As Josh was delayed on an emergency service call, Gwyn got to deal with me moving everything around about ten times before I was satisfied with the way it looked. By the time Josh arrived, we were ready to go for the next day.
The next day started in the best way. Josh and I attended the Opening Ceremony, where we were nominated for Business of the Year. You may remember that we were nominated last year, and honestly we didn't expect to win this year since there are so many excellent companies working with WRWA. To our delight, we were selected this year for the Business of the Year award!
To say we were honored would be an understatement. Josh and I were especially thankful that WRWA managed to pull Bill into the ceremony at the last minute, so he was able to receive the award personally. In 10 years, he's built an amazing company.
After that great start, we were onto the exhibit hours! I'll admit that I was a little concerned that this year the attendance would be down at this conference, due to the insane winter so many of the attending operators have had to deal with these past few months. But despite this, or perhaps because of this since everyone wanted to get away, there was record attendance - over 1400 people! And boy, did we see it, especially in the first couple hours. Bill, Josh, Todd, Gwyn, and I took full advantage of the two booths, and each of us stayed so busy the days flew by. I was able to sneak in this picture and this was about the quietest it got.
The Sportsman's Raffle is always a fantastic addition to this conference. This year we gave away a pirates booty chest full of minted silver.
The awards banquet was so fun this year! We didn't win any raffle prizes, but we definitely called the nigt a win between excellent company at our table (we even took selfies), delicious dessert (seriously), a very entertaining MC, a bipolar audience where half was cheering for the prizes and half was cheering for the Badgers which was very funny, and then the Badgers winning at the precise moment the banquet ended. It could not have been scripted better.
So that about wraps it up! Best WRWA ever, which cannot be taken lightly. Great job, WRWA and thanks everyone who made it such a wonderful couple of days. We will definitely be seeing you soon!
