Expo Eve has come and gone, and boy was it a great experience.
The trip out was a long one, I was up by 3am (I don’t even know how I slept) and in the air to Detroit by about 6am. The Captain told us it was going to be an hour and twenty minute fly time, but I swear it took closer to two hours. With ETAs like that, they should just go into the ambulance business. I kid, of course.
I was off the plane and into the terminal by 8:10, and made an OJ Simpson-Like run to my next connecting flight at 8:25 (thanks, Joel Nied for that Hertz Commercial Reference) and I was able to get there just in time, ready to make the trip to Dallas.
I was greeted on the plane by my good friend April from Pink, Warm and Dry, and her preceptor Dave who had missed their earlier flight and would be joining me on this flight, which after delays for a broken GPS and the apparent necessity to jump start out plane, we were off. The flight was smooth, and we were on the ground in just over two hours.
I spent the day wandering around Dallas with April, Dave, and RJ Stine who is better known as Hybridmedic on Twitter, and in the Blog world. We made it down to Dealy Plaza, which was quite the site to see. We all commented on how much smaller it looked than what we had perceived it to be from all the pictures and TV shows we’d seen.
After checking in at Expo, it was time to head over to the House of Blues for some dinner and drinks. RJ and I had planned on getting a small group of people together for some food and drinks. That quickly grew to 15-20 people who took over the outdoor porch. Our server, Luis, was kept on his toes, but he did a great job. If anyone is ever in Dallas, I highly recommend the House of Blues for food, drinks, or music.
When Charlotte from Zoll arrived, we found out that they had booked a room that night, so our two get togethers merged, and before we knew it, we had 35-40 EMS Professionals from all different types of services and walks of life mingling and getting to know each other. I put a lot of names, tweets, blog posts, and articles with faces and the real people behind them. Along with that, I had many “fanboy” moments. I couldn’t believe I was mingling and sharing drinks and conversation with the likes of Chris Montera, Mic Gunderson, the staff from EMS1.com, and of course, my friends from Chronicles of EMS. I was completely overwhelmed, and really didn’t want the night to end. I had some really interesting conversations on topics like EMS in Canada, Podcasting, and the history of the Slide Ruler.
So now, here I sit in Starbucks with Brad Buck, April, and RJ enjoying great conversation, a little blogging, and some coffee. My first class, Career Development and Career Ladders in EMS, as taught by Skip Kirkwood, is already in the books, and I’ve still got a busy day ahead of me. At 1pm, April and I will be going on the air with the GenMed Crew to discuss preceptors, precepting and students, and I’ve got some great classes scheduled for this afternoon.
Well, that’s my experience so far here at EMS Expo, and we are only two hours into Day 1 of the actual conference. They say that time flies when you’re having fun, but if just this once, time wanted to simply slow down and let me enjoy every second of this like it was an hour, I would be eternally grateful.