What a Party!
by Anita Pagliasso

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Throughout the program, our own “Roving Reporter” - Jeff Grieder, OSSN's Mid West Regional Manager - kept the energy in the room going by interviewing a select group of home-based agents to learn the secrets of their success.

Notes were furiously being taken as Irfan Dama with Hyatt Hotels and Resorts “spilled the beans” on his insider tips on when and how to best negotiate hotel contracts. Irfan also explained and defined hotel terms such as room blocks, attrition, and food and beverage minimums.

In addition, we had an informative panel of speakers who were skillfully moderated by our own John Hawks. The panel included Cindy Perry (Travel Insured), Darla Graber (Client Ease), Kim Sherrett (Travel Counsellors), and Nigel Osborne (Key Tours). These companies know the importance of working with home-based agents and spoke about the programs that they have built to do so.

Our jam-packed day ended with "Promoting and Presenting Yourself" by Natalie Windsor, a former Associated Press (AP) Correspondence. Ms. Windsor’s fun and informative style was a great way to end our conference!

On Monday evening, members hopped on the San Diego Trolley to get to our wonderful Mexican reception and dinner in Historical Old Town, which was sponsored by these OSSN Allied Suppliers: Key Tours, Travel Insured, Client Ease and Travel Counsellors.

The California weather was fabulous that evening, and we enjoyed a warm evening outdoors. As OSSN members walked up to our exclusive event, they could hear the mariachis welcoming them. The Jolly Boy Restaurant and Saloon, which had just recently completed its renovation to bring it back to its original look from the 1800s, closed to the general public for the evening to host OSSN exclusively.

What a wonderful opportunity this was for agents to soak up some California sun - plus get a lot of education under their belts and get double the value due to the two back-to-back conferences. Agents went home with tons of new information that will help them build their businesses! I hope we will see you at the next OSSN Conference and Home-Based Agent Show.

Here’s what members are saying:

"Thank you Anita for a lovely conference and party! It was a great week for all and especially for me. We learned so much and met so many people." (Sue and Steve Ryan)

"Dear Anita, I would like to thank you for a very informative and uplifting seminar and conference. It was great! Anita, just to let you know how much I have enjoyed reading the book How I Made a Small Fortune as a Home Based Travel Agent. Very simple and easy to follow. Lots of ideas . . . I would like to compliment you on how approachable you are. You make everyone feel important. What an asset that is!! Thank you." (Linda Fosdick)

Anita Pagliasso is president of Ticket to Travel (www.aticket2travel.com), OSSN’s Western Regional Manager, and an executive board member of PATH. She has written a book titled “How I Made a Small Fortune as a Home-Based Agent” and a CD (“Anita’s Toolbox for Home-Based Agents”) with dozens of her most popular forms, letters, and guides that you can download and customize for your own use. Visit www.redticketproductions.com

(Credit: Anita Pagliasso)