What is the Agenda for the Spring Launch Meeting?

[crystalscookingnow]

Our fruit cup was fresh fruit - chunks of fresh pineapple, honeydew & cantaloupe, not the prepackaged, gross fruit cups with syrup them. Our turkey sandwich was nice too. Lots of turkey slices, swiss cheese & a kaiser roll. The chips were lays classic and the cookies were the ones like Subway has. Overall, I was pleased.

 

[etteluap70PC]

Our fruit cup was fresh fruit - chunks of fresh pineapple, honeydew & cantaloupe, not the prepackaged, gross fruit cups with syrup them. Our turkey sandwich was nice too. Lots of turkey slices, swiss cheese & a kaiser roll. The chips were lays classic and the cookies were the ones like Subway has. Overall, I was pleased.

I would have been very happy with that too! It was more what I expected...

 

[janezapchef]

Bummer, white bun... no. chips... no. cookie... no. fruit cup... no. Crap, gonna have to figure out something else for lunch.

We didn't get a fruit cup, but an apple. Our bread was wheat with turkey breast (deli) and processed cheese. In the future, I'll be requesting a gluten-free diet! They got an awesome looking salad with what looked like feta, hardboiled eggs, bacon, lots of fresh veggies, etc. Bummer! Maybe you could request it first thing when you get there????

 

[wadesgirl]

We didn't get a fruit cup, but an apple. Our bread was wheat with turkey breast (deli) and processed cheese. In the future, I'll be requesting a gluten-free diet! They got an awesome looking salad with what looked like feta, hardboiled eggs, bacon, lots of fresh veggies, etc. Bummer! Maybe you could request it first thing when you get there????

You know I was thinking about that the other day... wondered if the gluten free food would fit my diet better.

 

[kcmckay]

Well I'm glad there has been some discussion about the lunch. It sounds like what I was expecting which is too bad because I won't enjoy it. I'm not complaining I understand it's hard to please us all. I agree having choice of different meats would be better. I personally do not like Turkey at all. But I'm an extremely picky eater myself. At conference our boxed lunch was a turkey sub and it was not good at all. I attempted to force it down but it was awful. At least mine was and it was soggy! :yuck: It sounds like most of you had decent lunches though. So I'll just have to bring my own sandwich or something to suplement the rest. But I do a agree that maybe a choice of like turkey or ham and maybe veggie or something would probably cost about the same as all turkey but I could be wrong.

 

[Chef Bobby]

I just got back from Houston last night. It reminded me of a 1 day conference. I like our small spring launch meetings in our home town better. I had to use 2 days of vacation to go during the week. I liked most of the new products. The lunch was good too. I did see jeans.

 

[NooraK]

Oh Bobby, you could have always joined us in Atlanta on Saturday!

 

[beepampered]

This has been very helpful to get me thinking about this Saturday. I would not have been able to go if it was during the week so I'm fortunate that my location (Raleigh) was on the weekend. I assumed they all were.

I guess there is no assigned seating? Do you have to hold seats to sit with your group?

 

[esavvymom]

Thank you for sharing this information! It is very helpful! Especially about the food and the meeting room/times itself! I saw a few of you mention having water at your tables. Are there tables or was it more like conference where you just have the chairs in a row? I know it will vary from venue to venue. We (Raleigh) are in a convention center, but not sure which room.

 

[etteluap70PC]

We were at a hotel, we had the long skinny tables set up in rows with an isle down the center and on each side. I thought it was a nice setup for the event. Sooooo glad it was NOT round tables!

 

[DebbieJ]

Bummer, white bun... no. chips... no. cookie... no. fruit cup... no. Crap, gonna have to figure out something else for lunch.

You could have requested a special lunch (i.e. vegetarian) when you registered.

 

[BethCooks4U]

One of the HO sales managers that will be at Raleigh shared with me that we actually all venues if possible) will have tables as has been described by some on this thread. I think they did it that way because we are just in the one room and will be there all day and being at a table will be more comfortable than sitting in rows. She also said that no bathroom breaks are scheduled in but that people are encouraged to leave as they need to.

 

[wadesgirl]

You could have requested a special lunch (i.e. vegetarian) when you registered.

Yah I thought about this afterwards! I have already packed some goodies to take with me. And it's not like I cannot eat it, I choose to not eat it. So if I'm stuck :yuck: but I'll either starve or eat it!

 

[crystalscookingnow]

We were at a hotel, we had the long skinny tables set up in rows with an isle down the center and on each side. I thought it was a nice setup for the event. Sooooo glad it was NOT round tables!

We had the same setup.

You were able to bring the beverages from outside the meeting room into where you were sitting. There were water dispensers along the edges of the room where you could re-fill a cup or bottle.

 

[Chef Bobby]

We were in a large ballroom with about 20 rows of 30 chairs and the skinny tables too. They had a constant suppy of drinks and coffee just outside and water in pitchers on the tables. We also had bowls of hard candy.

 

[lovescooking]

This has been very informative. The food was the one thing I was concerned about. I did know what the menu was going to be because HO sent me an email telling me so I could make other arrangements if I needed to.
I have some food allergies and I always ask how the food was prepared and what is in it. I am not a picky eater but I do not like having allergic reactions.
I think I will start requesting gluten-free.
Hey, my turkey sandwich at NC was so soggy that I couldn't even eat the bread. Then we had those very small bottles of water and everyone was leaving to go get Starbuck's.
I had already planned to take a bottle of water and a few snacks. I would rather be over prepared than to be hungry.
Overall, I think they do a great job of getting us all fed.

 

[robochick84]

You could have requested a special lunch (i.e. vegetarian) when you registered.

Exactly... this was the first thing I noticed when registering for the conference and I commend PC for doing so. Not many restaurants even offer as many dietary options as PC did for the conference. If I get there tomorrow and my GF meal is available they beat my 2k ticket for my honeymoon on US Airways last week when they failed to provide it. :grumpy:

 

[MissChef]

Ughhh!!!:cry::cry: I have to wait all the way until Saturday!! lol!! come on Friday's my birthday, give me a bday present!! lol!!! OK! I'M JUST KIDDING!! Those of you who know me and know i've been around here for years and been with pc for 10 1/2 years, KNOW I'm not like that! LOL!! I've been one of the ones who was very much saying don't reveal before we can in the past!! Im just playing!! I can't go this year! but I will next year! oh well! Those who are going, have fun, I can't wait for Saturday!!! I'll be on here waiting!!

 

[raebates]

No candy on our tables. The drinks were outside the room, but right outside. One of my friends said the box lunch was much better than she had at NC. Ours was turkey sandwich on multi-grain bread (w/tomato, lettuce, American cheese), pretzels, apple, cookie, and condiment packs. The sandwich was large.

 

[ilovpc]

Thank you all for sharing all this info. One more question...Were they selling the new catalogs there? Can we buy any spring material?
Thanks!

 

[crystalscookingnow]

No spring materials for sale although you do get a pack of minis (I'm not spilling here - that was part of the posted info when spring launch started), a catalog, Season's Best and a sample of each recipe card & theme show invite.

 

[ChefBeckyD]

No spring materials for sale although you do get a pack of minis (I'm not spilling here - that was part of the posted info when spring launch started), a catalog, Season's Best and a sample of each recipe card & theme show invite.

Ohhh, so if we get a catalog - we can look through and try to figure out price changes and discontinued items, right?

 

[crystalscookingnow]

Ohhh, so if we get a catalog - we can look through and try to figure out price changes and discontinued items, right?

Yep, I just haven't done that yet. I noticed a few things went up but I didn't make any notes yet. The catalog comes at lunch.

 

[mountainmama74]

Yes!! I just don't have the energy to do it, lol!!!

 

[ilovpc]

Thanks Crystal!

 

[esavvymom]

So....I have to ask (surprised KG didn't do this yet?!)....but for those of you who were in Minneapolis launch....Did Phil see his shadow? (feb 2 = groundhog day; Phil= "Punxsutawney Phil")

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

In Ohio (as Jane and others have mentioned) we had the boxed lunch. There were salads and vegetarian wraps too. However ... those of us who chose to see the products first had to stand and wait for them to bring out more. And EVERYONE was asking for bottled water. And the pop was warm so we were asking for cups for ice.

Later they had beverages in the back of the room ... I hadn't had a drop of water for like a day so I ended up taking 3 bottles of water!

I didn't have the energy to look for discontinued products because I didn't see any! So I e-mailed someone. Let's just say the list is very short!

 

[Zsu]

""""Let's just say the list is very short!""""
I can't imagine it bo be any shorter then the fall discontinued list!



I cannot wait to find out. The catalogs I pre ordered are arriving on Sat. But until then I am just so desperate. :cry: At least we already know the ones that we received an email about, the ones on the weddig reg. list.

 

[ChefCKHall]

Hi, I am going to Phoenix tomorrow for Saturday launch. I did request vegetarian for my lunch and will let you know how it goes.

I just signed up end of December and have had two great shows in January, eight more lined up in February, and currently booking March.

I am SO STOKED!

Here's to spring!♥

 

[wadesgirl]

The Omaha meeting went really well! Lunch was better than expected although I gave most of it away! I had brought snacks with me though so I didn't starve. I will remember for conference to probably ask for the gluten free meal to help with this issue. The weather held out so we didn't have any problems getting home.

 

[smithcooking]

I went to the Omaha meeting and thought that they did a wonderful job with it. It was so exciting to see everything and can't wait until everyone has gone and heard all of the wonderful things that Pampered Chef has to offer so that we can talk on here. I wished that they would have had more for drinks at our location. After lunch all they had was water and the soda was all gone before lunch. Had a little driving problems getting back home after meeting, but got home safe and sound.

 

[wadesgirl]

I went to the Omaha meeting and thought that they did a wonderful job with it. It was so exciting to see everything and can't wait until everyone has gone and heard all of the wonderful things that Pampered Chef has to offer so that we can talk on here. I wished that they would have had more for drinks at our location. After lunch all they had was water and the soda was all gone before lunch. Had a little driving problems getting back home after meeting, but got home safe and sound.

They brought out more pop for lunch. I wish they had more water! I was a little dehydrated by the end!

We did get lucky with the weather and headed straight east so we got a head of it.

 

[babywings76]

I was in the Lancaster, PA one yesterday. I thought ours was great. As far as food goes, we had plenty of water and our lunch was very nice. Lots of food in that bag. Hearty sandwich, carrots and ranch dip, apple, chips, and a cookie. On a side note, I was sad not to find any Cheffers there. Not sure where everyone sat. One thing that always gets me is how everyone says it's a great time to network, but everyone always stays in their cluster groups and friendship circles.

 

[etteluap70PC]

I know!!!Sometimes I wish HO would assign seats to mix things up.I actually went up to my NED to introduce myself. I have been at her event at NC and some events here a few times. Surprised me that it kind of shocked her. Oh well... I have a tendency to wander and talk to whomever, then I feel bad for wandering away from my group, oh well... I think it comes from having to be so independent for so long.

 

[robochick84]

I was in the Lancaster, PA one yesterday. I thought ours was great. As far as food goes, we had plenty of water and our lunch was very nice. Lots of food in that bag. Hearty sandwich, carrots and ranch dip, apple, chips, and a cookie.

On a side note, I was sad not to find any Cheffers there. Not sure where everyone sat. One thing that always gets me is how everyone says it's a great time to network, but everyone always stays in their cluster groups and friendship circles.

I was in Lancaster! But my director was very late arriving so we sat in the back row and didn't interact with other individuals or clusters like I was expecting would happen at such an event.

The GF meal was "ehh" I know that it is a medical condition that is hard to understand, but I hate when caterers take the easy way out and just serve a salad. Most food can be made GF today.

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

I was a bit disappointed with how they handled the drawings. Mostly they just did consultant numbers on the screen. One time they did a surprise drawing and I heard that two winners were from the community where I work. I didn't even know there were any consultants out there! I too wish I had seen more cheffers.

 

[DessertDivaFL]

I actually caught up with 4 other fellow cheffers in Lakeland FL yesterday. I think they will be posting photos on here shortly.

Tara recognized me right away. Guess that's what happens when I have my face on this place. Ha! Ha!

 

[heat123]

When can details be shared? I am Soo Curious!

 

[munkee41182]

The GF meal was "ehh" I know that it is a medical condition that is hard to understand, but I hate when caterers take the easy way out and just serve a salad. Most food can be made GF today.

Ugh, salad. I'm hoping that they don't serve that in Hartford. Sometimes I wish being GF was more of a choice. I'd probably take a crappy sandwich rather than a salad. Salads seem to make me more hungry. I might just pack myself my own sandwich just in case. :grumpy:

 

[wadesgirl]

When can details be shared? I am Soo Curious!

Saturday after noon CST.

 

[robochick84]

Ugh, salad. I'm hoping that they don't serve that in Hartford. Sometimes I wish being GF was more of a choice. I'd probably take a crappy sandwich rather than a salad. Salads seem to make me more hungry. I might just pack myself my own sandwich just in case. :grumpy:

Ditto... glad someone out there understands where I am coming from! Plus the caterer in Lancaster didn't do the best at understanding GF in my opinion. Yes I know "GF" is wheat, rye, barley, etc... but caterers need to understand that some of us who follow GF do it also based on processing of food. The salads were LOADED with processed sandwich meat, and like you said I was starving (and not feeling so well from the processed meat) just about the time the conference was ending.

Other than that.....

Without giving away too much information.... because I am such a type A personality, I won "drawing number 2" (assuming the drawings were in the same order).

 

[Becca_in_MD]

Ashley, I won the same drawing I think.

I want to start a thread on Sat. just to see who won stuff. OK people, have your Sat. Launch already so we can start talking about it all!!!

 

[esavvymom]

Ashley, I won the same drawing I think.

I want to start a thread on Sat. just to see who won stuff. OK people, have your Sat. Launch already so we can start talking about it all!!!

We'd love to! It's killing us too...you guys at least KNOW!

 

[wadesgirl]

Ditto... glad someone out there understands where I am coming from! Plus the caterer in Lancaster didn't do the best at understanding GF in my opinion. Yes I know "GF" is wheat, rye, barley, etc... but caterers need to understand that some of us who follow GF do it also based on processing of food. The salads were LOADED with processed sandwich meat, and like you said I was starving (and not feeling so well from the processed meat) just about the time the conference was ending.

Other than that.....

Without giving away too much information.... because I am such a type A personality, I won "drawing number 2" (assuming the drawings were in the same order).

Me too! Actually there were several people in our cluster (almost half the winners) who won in the 2nd drawing!

 

[esavvymom]

Whoever did the camera's for the "Where's Phil" cam on the Spring Launch page...wow...got a little motion sickness there! Half the time you can't see Phil's head!

 

[etteluap70PC]

Whoever did the camera's for the "Where's Phil" cam on the Spring Launch page...wow...got a little motion sickness there! Half the time you can't see Phil's head!

I almost think it was a cell phone ...

 

[scottcooks]

Tremendous in Bellevue - and beautifully convenient, I must say! We too had some empty seats in the back. I got a booking from one of the temps helping out! I L-O-V-E this business!!

 

[almondfarm]

I was in Omaha, and have to say I love the Spring Launch concept. Six of my team were able to attend this way! Please take time to fill out the survey's that HO sends out so that they can plan to accomodate is all again next year

 

[loreo]

I have a tendency to wander and talk to whomever, then I feel bad for wandering away from my group, oh well... I think it comes from having to be so independent for so long.

I did that too! That's how I met Jean Jonas and David Meenan- both were great and seemed pleased to meet me

 

[chefheidi2003]

I was in the Lancaster, PA one yesterday. I thought ours was great. As far as food goes, we had plenty of water and our lunch was very nice. Lots of food in that bag. Hearty sandwich, carrots and ranch dip, apple, chips, and a cookie.

On a side note, I was sad not to find any Cheffers there. Not sure where everyone sat. One thing that always gets me is how everyone says it's a great time to network, but everyone always stays in their cluster groups and friendship circles.

As soon as we got there..I thought..OH DARN IT..I should have found out babywings real name to try to find her.

we were sitting in the back row of the front section..In the VERY CENTER.