American Massage Conference Bats 1000

I spent the weekend with over 1000 massage students and therapists, plus all the great vendors and support staff in Atlanta this weekend at the inaugural American Massage Conference. I’d have to say they definitely batted 1000! A good time was had by all!

There were just too many good moments to talk about them all, so some of my personal highlights:

Teaching my exam prep class Friday and ethics on Saturday, great people in both classes…dinner with Allissa Haines, fellow blogger of Writing a Blue Streak fame…sitting on a panel with Whitney Lowe, Felicia Brown, Les Sweeney, and Tony Zak…sitting with BioFreeze Bob, Lynda Solien Wolf, James Waslaski and his assistant, Michael McGillicuddy and Gloria Coppola at the awards dinner…getting the award for Massage Therapist of the Year and seeing my friends be recognized, including Ryan Hoyme (the MassageNerd) as the winner of the Innovation Award, Anita Shannon as Educator of the Year, Felicia Brown as Volunteer of the year…hanging with Sandy Pearce from Massage Today…hearing the great keynote speech at the One Concept awards…getting a 30-minute foot massage at the Sanctuary…playing music on stage at the gala with Errol N Schroeder of ASOMAssageMusic…eating the homemade ice cream provided by BioFreeze Bob…hanging with Paul Lewis, who is one of the nicest people in the massage business…having a group picture made with all the WIBB bloggers in attendance…eating lunch with Lynda Solien Wolf…getting interviewed about CE by Gloria Coppola…the Pirate Party out on the roof at Stat’s…the totally awesome vendor booths… getting interviewed alongside Angie Patrick by Karen Menehan of Massage Magazine…watching James Waslaski dance the electric slide with about 20 women on the dance floor…getting foot massage of the automatic variety at two different booths…chatting with Glenath Moyle…seeing Michael Reynolds of www.spinweb.com, one of my personal idols…chatting with the folks from FSMTB…Elizabeth Langston, Exam Development Director of the NCBTMB sitting in on my exam prep class…having a visit with Rick Rosen of the AFMTE…visiting at the ITEC booth for about 45 minutes and finding out all about what they do and how they do it…meeting so many FB friends for the first time and seeing a lot of people I haven’t seen in awhile…watching Paul Lewis and Donna Sarvello performing an energy dance on the party bus…visiting with Christopher Alvarado and Angela Palmier…watching Tina Allen’s little son Otis out on the dance floor…

I could go on and on, but to make a long story short, it was simply fabulous, so kudos to Scott, Angie, Eric, Monica, Melanie, Robyn, anybody I missed, the staff of the Holiday Inn for doing a great job, and all concerned. It was one of the high points of the year and they all deserve to be congratulated for pulling off such a huge and successful event!

11 Replies to “American Massage Conference Bats 1000”

  1. Laura –

    Thanks for sharing all the great highlights. It was a fantastic event all the way around but I especially enjoyed being on the ABMP panel with you, Whitney, Les and Tony. It was also wonderful to see you, Tina Allen, Ryan Hoyme, Anita Shannon and other leaders in our industry be honored for the amazing contributions you all make to our industry – and to have my own little moment in the sun as well. I think I’ll be on a high from this weekend for a long time to come and cannot wait until the next AMC in San Diego in 2012.

    I second your gratitude to the organizers of this conference and all those who were a part of it in making the inaugural American Massage Conference truly special and memorable for me and everyone who attended.

  2. I agree Laura, It was a FABULOUS Event! Anyone who didn’t have the opportunity to go, should definitely check out future events.

    The Atmosphere was VERY welcoming! SO well organized and the energy was positive and high all the time. Just the “right” amount of functions and not too many! Everyone had time and opportunity to get around and network.

    I loved meeting colleagues, new and old, FaceBook friends and having the opportunity to interview some colleagues, so our pal the MassageNerd can have a well Kneaded break! Congrats on your award too Ryan!

    My hope and wish is that they continue to keep their events as community oriented and organized as this one!

    Thank you to the ENTIRE staff who organized this and ALL the volunteers. Events cannot run smoothly without a TEAM!

    Congrats Laura on your award! I continue to appreciate your support to educate the community on the politics of massage.

    Felicia, it was fun to spend a little time with you and interview you too! One of these days maybe you can get on my table for a Lomilomi session. Congrats on your award for Volunteer of 2011!

    Massage Magazine, thank you for bringing copies of my Lomi article, the students appreciated them and got them autographed!

    I enjoyed meeting Rick Rosen, finally, James Waslaski, Whitney Lowe and so many others!

    Always fun to see beautiful Barb Richmond with her cranio cradle. Nice to join the ONE Concept group. Angie Dubis form Biotone you are so lovely! Massage Today staff, thank you for sponsoring the event too! Bruce Baltz, Paul Lewis, George Skaroulis a few more colleagues that were fun to get to know! Bon Vital aka Tom you are fabulous! ABMP Les and Leslie, always a pleasure!

    Oh and Let’s not forget the sanctuary where Massage Students did a fantastic job of providing massage. They were awesome!

    Yes, Otis was quite the dancer! 🙂

    Gratitude to ALL!

  3. I would say that I was utterly amazed at the success of this event…..but that would mean that I had a single doubt about the leadership of AMC. Scott, Monica, Lorna and Robyn are four of the most incredible people I know and I cannot begin to describe the feeling that was present at the AMC.

    There were so many memorable situations that come to mind for me. Chris and I had a small but eager group of people in our Education Skills class and they were amazing. In a matter of 5 minutes, each group picked a topic-the one created a 3:30 information video about teaching a client piriformis release; another group created a mp3 recording of instructions; another created a scrolling powerpoint about the benefits of massage and another demonstrated clear and concise instructions for help with neck pain. The kicker is that there was only one person in the entire group who had ever done anything like this before…….and they did it in 5 minutes!!!!

    The most incredible moment for me was during the break-down of the exhibit hall. I noticed there were quite a few people whom I didn’t recognize walking around and helping vendors break down. I was working on breaking down a display and asked the person helping me how long she had known the AMC people…she’d never met them before the conference. In fact, she wasn’t even a volunteer. She was a woman from Georgia who had come to the event and was so impressed by this group that she walked around and was helping anyone who needed it. That would have been spectacular in and of itself…..when I starting counting, there were at least 40 of them. People who had paid to come to the conference and then stayed to help. They were invested, they were welcomed, they were appreciated and they were “in.”

    Breathtaking.

  4. What wonderful women and what kind words. I sit this morning, again after only a few hours of sleep, reading the FB comments, emails and blogs on this event and I am crying…all tears of overwhelming gratitude to know wonderful people like this who want better for our profession. Ladies, keep doing what you do with the positive attitudes that you have and continue to change this world!! Much Love

  5. How do I even begin to sum up in a few words all the emotion I am feeling “The Day After”…..I am exhausted, drained, pumped, energized, hopeful, eager, open, humbled, excited, encouraged and grateful.
    So many people came to this event with high expectations, and I pray we fulfilled them. This was indeed a team effort, which is to say the team is everyone! We are all part of the ONE, And with this come the energy of unity and cooperation. We appreciate all of the magnificent friends, family, business colleagues, vendors, Facebook Friends, and new faces we saw at this event, and I hope you know it would not be possible without all of you. Each and Every ONE of us contributed, and I am hopeful each and every ONE of use came away with something of value. I am grateful to be a part of this event, and My love and appreciation goes out to all who took part. I am still reeling from the weekend, and still a bit euphoric in the notion we actually pulled it off and made it happen! THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING SUCH WONDERFUL FRIENDS!

  6. As the saying goes, “It takes A Village…”

    From grass roots levels to the professional industry organizations, we all can strive to assist our industry and our therapists to progress and improve.

    I’m sorry I was not able to be there to enjoy it first-hand! Thank you for creating such a positive experience for so many.

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