NAWMBA update

After a day full of flying on Thursday, 9 of us first years arrived in Anaheim with no incidents. We piled into a taxi van and went straight to the Disneyland hotel, which has to be one of the greatest places to have a conference…Mickeys in the carpet!? Love it! It’s like the wink to where we are even when we are in conference rooms. We checked in really quick and got ready for the various receptions.

First we headed to the IU reception and it was really nice, very intimate and a great spread. We got the chance to chat with Maggy Siegel, the COO of Dylan’s Candy Bar and a Kelley alum. We also we are able to meet some really nice girls from University of Utah.

Then it was off to the kick-off reception. They had many of the planning committee members speak. It was a nice time but we were all exhausted. We talked with some students for Kansas and then headed back to our room to hit the sack, we are on EST still!

This morning we all got up super early, 4:30, and couldn’t go back to sleep. After trying to rest for about an hour and half we went down to the gym, before getting into our suits and hitting the sessions. We had a great student breakfast where the CMO from Meredith publishing spoke. Then I headed to the Campbell’s presentation before catching Maggy’s and a sample of Dylan’s newest candy which will be unvailed next week! It was delicious! Then it was lunch on the patio, a requirement when in So Cal, before I hit the career fair.

I am trying to recharge my batteries a little and get some school work done before we hit the park and the reception they are having there later.

Career fair in action! Not as many companies as we were hoping for but we were able to get some face time with a few. Lots of handhakes and card exchanging. And I met a really cool entrepreneur that started the marketeersclub.com that specializes in free online tools for marketers in brand management. Good times at NAWMBA

Getting my networking on, watch out NAWMBA here I come!

Twelve Hour Days

Day 2 of the program and I am already putting in twelve hour days! Got to school around 8 am for my core classes.

Today was critical thinking, quantitative analysis and accounting. I loved critical thinking, Professor Metzger is a riot and really does make you question your logic…and it was only our first session! I am really looking forward to the rest of the semester. Quantitative analysis was a lot of housekeeping, but that should be expected when you have a class so heavily dependent on tools, need to make sure everyone is on the same page. And accounting was accounting, going to be hard to get excited about that class.

Then it was time for lunch down in the lounge, which was basically me eating a peanut butter sandwich while I read up on CPG and retail happenings. Once all the crumbs were gone it was onto econ reading and case prep before a team meeting to work on the econ assignment. An hour later, I had some answers written up and a very confusing supply curve. We’ll see how we faired tomorrow.

After the team dispersed, I hung around in the breakout room and worked on my Friday accounting homework. Need to get it out of the way so i can focus on Round Table research and the Thursday night football game! Had only one problem left before I had the 1st Kelley Women meeting.

The meeting was really informative and talked about opportunities for leadership in the organization. I have already applied for a co-chair position, will find out sometime next week if I get it! I love the organization, it is such a champion for women in the workplace. We also talked about the upcoming National Association of Women MBA conference I am attending in Disneyland at the end of October. Kelley is hosting the event and it should be a great opportunity to network.

Finally left the Godfrey Center at 8:30, not bad for my second day! Once back here at the house I put in another couple hours finishing accounting homework, recopying last night’s speaker notes and researching half of my Round Table companies. Now its time to hit the sack so I can do it all over again tomorrow!

Last night was the first Kelley Women event. We had appetizers and drinks at Grazie downtown, and it was a lot of fun. I got to see a lot of the second years again from Experience Weekend and meet some more of my fellow classmates. Found out about some of the events coming up, including the NAWMBA conference at Disneyland, and what volunteer positions are available. Really excited to get involved, hopefully the Core will be accommodating!