Almost all our other free time we had during Seminar we spent at EXPO, where we can visit vendors as well as corporate departments to discuss what is happening now as well as new innovations. For example, we can see/taste new products being tested, look at new packaging, new uniforms, and even buy things at the company store. There are places to sit everywhere so EXPO has really become the place to hang out in the last several years.
One booth at EXPO is sponsored by Chick-fil-A Wellness. They have an assessment you can do where they check several benchmarks and give you the information they have collected on you, as well as your "body age." Rob and I both did the assessment for the first time this year. They checked resting heart rate, height/weight/BMI/body fat %. I am currently having these values monitored at home (by my personal trainer and my doctor), so none of these were a surprise for me. There was a sit-and-reach, and a blood test for cholesterol and blood sugar levels. According to Chick-fil-A Wellness, my body turned out to be 41 years old. That's not stellar since I'm only 37! So my goal is to improve that body age when I get tested next year. I'm already working on that!
As for entertainment, we watched Jason Castro from season 7 American Idol. Remember him? He was really good. The Flying Aces were also there, and they did all kinds of fancy tricks on the trampoline. The Northpoint iBand was also there. The highlight of the entertainment, however, was a Tim Hawkins concert. He is so hilarious and our cheeks hurt just from laughing so hard! It's funnier when he tailors his jokes to us as a company. This year he had yet another new Chick-fil-A song to share. We love having Tim at Seminar!
"Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me." - St. Patrick
Five Fun Facts about St. Patrick and St. Patrick's Day from ABC News. I especially like #4, how St. Patrick used a shamrock to explain and symbolize the Trinity.
As we prepare to honor the patron saint of Ireland by donning green and drinking too much, it feels only fitting to pull the curtain back a bit on March 17. So without further ado, here are five things you probably didn't know about St. Patrick's Day. Eire go brach!
1. St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland, was born in the year 387 at Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton. Which is in Scotland. Making Ireland's patron saint ... Scottish. As a teenager, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and enslaved as a shepherd for several years. He attributed his ability to persevere to his faith in God.
2. His birth name was actually Maewyn Succat -- it wasn't until he was in the Church that it was changed to Patricius, or Patrick.
3. Green may be the national color of Ireland, but the color most associated with St. Patrick is blue. The Order of St. Patrick was established in 1783 as the senior order of chivalry in the Kingdom of Ireland. The color associated with the honor needed to differentiate it from the Order of the Garter (dark blue) and the Order of the Thistle (green). So they went with a lovely shade of sky blue.
4. Patrick used a three-leafed shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to pagan Irish, forever linking the shamrock with him and the Irish in the popular imagination. He would tie shamrocks to his robes, which is why we wear green today. (The shamrock was also important in Celtic mythology because of its three leaves -- a sacred number to the Celts.)
5. The very first St. Patrick's Day parade was held in the U.S. The Irish have been celebrating the feast of St. Patrick since the ninth century, but the first recorded parade anywhere was in Boston in 1737. The parade was not Catholic in nature, though, because the majority of Irish immigrants to the colonies were Protestant. Ireland did not have a parade of its own until 1931, in Dublin. Even today, 18 out of the 20 largest St. Patrick's Day parades are in the States -- New York's is the largest.
Monday, March 14, 2011
We truly enjoyed attending the 41st annual Chick-fil-A Operator Seminar, which was held this year in San Antonio, Texas. It was Rob's 12th year in attendance! It was my 11th because I skipped in 2009.
It was held in the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in downtown San Antonio - a great location with plenty of restaurants and shops nearby on the Riverwalk. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt.
The convention center with the Tower in the background
San Antonio Riverwalk
Our keynote speaker was Patrick Lencioni, who is always great to listen to and shares content that is very applicable to not only business, but also to any other realm in which you are a leader and developing other leaders - such as at home. Of course Dan Cathy spoke as well as a few other Chick-fil-A corporate leaders. Always good material!
The view looking back from the 3rd row
Many hours were spent in the convention center at general session and "breakouts" in which various speakers presented additional ideas and information. We also attend an annual Atlantic Region meeting where awards are presented for "top of the region" in many different areas of the business.
