Fox Valley at GiGi’s National Conference

On Nov 1st-5th myself, the site coordinator, and board members had the opportunity to attend the GiGi’s Playhouse National Conference! It was a great time had by all and we learned a lot too! Being a new staff member I started my conference experience on Wednesday at the Hoffman Estates playhouse/national office. Here I got to meet a lot of the INC staff and other new playhouse staff from all across the country! It was great being able to put faces to names and interact with everyone in person. I also really enjoyed getting to join in on GiGi Fit! We did wall sits, squats and push ups… got my workout in for the day! 😉

The following days were held at the Hyatt in Schuamburg. Funny story, I grew up cheering and coaching for our local travel football/cheer organization and every year we stayed at this hotel for our big state competition! Small world! Thursday was a fun day with all playhouse staff members, learning new skills and program materials to bring back to the playhouse. I also got to reconnect with my friend Elizabeth Noreen, the program coordinator at Hoffman Estates! Always a great time seeing her 🙂

Friday board members started to arrive and Friday night there was a great networking reception at the Hoffman Estates playhouse! It was a fun night. I got to talk a lot with Jill from Syracuse about her position as the new program coordinator and the dreams we each have for our respective playhouses.

Saturday was a big day for everyone at each playhouse! Our VP Katie Finke and board member Vivian Richardson got to join this day! We split up and conquered as many sessions as possible. There was a lot of great information to be learned. Saturday night ended with dinner, dancing and awards at the conference reception. It was a great time to hangout with everyone and have some fun! (It was also a great time to celebrate the Iowa Hawkeyes beating Ohio State…well maybe just Michelle and I were celebrating this 😉 ) Overall it was a great weekend and I am so happy to have made some new friends! Can’t wait til next year!

Lauren