A Hauntingly Good Show!
by Melody Fee

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For OSSN, the action began the moment we arrived, as we greeted 17 of our directors from across the USA during the OSSN director meeting held at the Radisson Lord Baltimore Hotel. It is always great for directors to have a chance to share their challenges and successes when we get together. It never fails to amaze me what a talented group of directors that this organization has and just how devoted they are to developing great opportunities for their chapter members! Thanks to everyone of you who attended and who also spent your time working at the OSSN booth during the trade show!

The OSSN Halloween Bash was just that - a “networking, fun-loving bash!” We had members from across the USA who just wanted to have a “ghoulish good time,” and they were ready to meet and greet their peers in costumes of all types! OSSN president Gary Fee (aka “The Count of Baltimore”) and I truly enjoyed hosting one of our most entertaining receptions ever at this show.

OSSN Directors also showed up in great costumes, including the Gothic Bride (Anita Pagliasso), the Cat in the Hat (Helga Leonard), the mad scientist Dr. Devil (Hema Khan), the airline stewardess (Monique Peragine), the hippie gal from Kentucky (that would be Bobbie Murphy), Al Stokes as the big bad wolf, and SO many more interesting characters! The creativity of OSSN members arriving in costume just was amazing! From scary costumes to adorable scarecrows such as OSSN’s Wanda Green, we all had to keep our cameras ready!

Even our sponsors came in rare form in some cases. Take, for example, Carlos Cividanes and Deb Grove from TravelSafe as the Matrix man and the “accidental tourist!” They dressed the part as they greeted and met OSSN members! Additionally, our other sponsors were just great to have as part of our group that evening! Barbara Wanza from VAX VacationAccess greeted the group, along with Skip Munz representing Viking River Cruises. OSSN’s fourth sponsor, FLO USA, was not able to make it to the reception. We truly want to thank ALL four excellent supplier members of OSSN for their great participation and sponsorship!

One of the greatest things that agents really commented on was the very POSITIVE MESSAGE they received from the information they were offered during breakout sessions and during the keynote addresses! There was not a picture painted of doom and gloom, but rather a very “forward thinking” message of preparing yourself and your business for more success in 2009. The topics, the panel discussions, the diverse subject matter ... there really was so much information given and so many great new ideas to consider for the year ahead.

From “Creating Your Own Niche—YOU” presented by Anita Pagliasso (OSSN's Western Regional Manager) to “Internet Marketing Trends” presently by OSSN's webmaster Mickey Smith of Primary Hub, ALL sessions really focused on creating a better business by developing a more personal relationship with clients, while at the same time updating your technology!

The topics were as diversified as the agents attending the show: Family Travel, Destination Wedding Planning, Growing your Luxury Business, Making the Most of Technology to Build Your Business, Faith Based Travel ... and the list goes on!

Travel industry suppliers on the trade floor agreed, as well, that the show was a great success for them. I have heard from many suppliers already that they were really excited about the agents they met at the show! And, the addition of the VIRTUAL TRADE FLOOR also made this show even more interesting to most of these suppliers who were able to both meet agents face to face and then to return to their offices and be able to continue marketing their products to agents across the US with their VIRTUAL TRADE SHOW BOOTHS! This is the only trade show to date that has combined both a LIVE TRADE SHOW AND A VIRTUAL TRADE FLOOR!

From Keith Powell’s keynote address, in which he told agents to STOP multitasking and start FOCUSING on helping others get what they want, the message is clear! We succeed by helping others succeed!

We hope that, if you attended the show, it was also a great success for you. And, if you did not get to join us in Baltimore, we hope to see you in the spring in Chicago or Atlantic City in 2009! We will surely look forward to delivering a great show to you in the months ahead!

(Credits: Melody Fee/OSSN)