I was sitting in a conference session Wednesday morning, nervously awaiting the big, scary meeting I had to lead at noon, when I noticed that my power dress had a three-inch tear in the seam. I rushed back up to my room (thank goodness I was staying at the conference hotel!) and changed outfits.
I attend the American Public Gardens Association conference every year. Usually, I come home with a suitcase full of pens, toys, pamphlets and business cards. This year, I resolved to take only information and objects that I specifically intended to use.
I brought away only four things. Information about Nature Connects, a Lego exhibit commissioned by a friend and colleague at Iowa State University, which I hope to bring to the University of Michigan. A single sheet of paper about Blackbaud's ticketing and merchandizing software, which I hope will interface more effectively with UM's donor management system. A flash drive containing data about the US Botanic Garden's Landscape for Life Initiative, which goes well beyond LEED standards. And a plastic grocery bag covered with tulips and a portrait of Rembrandt from the Amsterdam Tulip Museum, because I spent a semester in Amsterdam, and besides, you can never have too many shopping bags.
So the meeting went well. Very well. And I succeeded in keeping stuff to a minimum. The lunch meeting represented the end of six weeks of craziness, and now I am relaxing on a sofa in Estes Park, sipping Peet's coffee and gazing out the window at the Rockies. I did it. I did it all. Survived, thrived and completed.
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