History of National Conference: A Consultant's Perspective

[yankfan24]

Ok, all you long-timers. I need your help. I'm taking a class at college for meeting and event planning. Our assignment is to evaluate an event. I picked National Conference. Most of the questions I can answer as I've been 3 out of the 5 years I've been in the business. What I need to know is the history of conference. Has is always been in Chicago? Has it been yearly? How many years has it been happening? How many consultants were actually at conference this year? That's about it, but not sure how fast the home office will get back to me with their answers. Any help will be greatly appreciated!!!
Noelle

 

[Teresa Lynn]

one year it was at Disney,

 

[ChefBeckyD]

My director has told me that at one point there were 2 different locations - one was out west somewhere...but that would have been years ago.

 

[wadesgirl]

Wonder if there is someone at HO who could help you? How about talking to your regional sales director at HO to see who you could talk to?

 

[pvt35115]

the first one was Sept. 14th 1985 in Chicago

 

[wadesgirl]

From Doris's book about the first national conference:
"We held our first Pampered Chef National Conference on September 14. 1985. A one-day even, it took place at the Carleton Hotel in Oak Park, adjacent to River Forest and about ten miles from downtown Chicago. We picked the CArleton because it had formerly been a residence hotel, and each suite was equipped with a small kitchen with a small oven and refrigerator. Workshops were conducted throughout the entire day, for which we needed kitchen facilities. The biggest attraction of the day was witnessing Kitchen Show demonstrations by our top people. That first conference we had a 100 percent turnout - all thirty-two of our consultants attended.""Our first conference theme was "The Sky's the Limit with The Pampered Chef"...""Silver bowls were awarded in three categories: top Director, top recruiter and top seller."If you have the book there is more information starting on page 126

 

[wadesgirl]

Sweet, just discovered that you can search pages of a book on Amazon. Search for Doris' book on Amazon and underneath the picture of the page it says "Search book" or something like that. Click on the and search conference. Look for page 126 and you can read the entire part yourself.

 

[yankfan24]

You guys are all awesome. I do have the book and never thought to look there. I did email the home office and this is the response I got from them:

"Thank you for your email. Unfortunately legally we can not give out the information you have requested. "

They can't tell me when the first conference was or how many people were there this year? I'm a consultant and the only think that I can understand them not telling me is the budget that they had for it. Otherwise, what's the big secret?? I told them "thank you for your help". I knew that my fellow cheffers would pull through for me.

 

[StacieB]

I think there were over 6000 people at this last conference.

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

What? I don't think they understood your question!I did see that they have a special PR email for "members of the media only." Well, I am a member of the media and also a consultant! If your questions don't get answered here, I can e-mail on your behalf!