I did something this past week I never thought I’d do. I brought my kids to a conference.
While the majority of the West and South has already started school, us East Coasters (or at least those of us in the tri-state) don’t start until after Labor Day. And as my weekly readers are well aware, my oldest son Zach just returned from sleepaway camp. (Yes, I’m talking about Zach again. But yes…this is important information for when I eventually get to my point.)
So when Prosper this year started not even 48 hours after Zach’s return home, combined with no school, no activities and a conference in Orlando…well, we double dipped and turned Prosper into a family vacation. What could go wrong?!?!
Many of my extended work colleagues have met my kids before, and if not in person, my version of “balance” looks like answering FaceTime calls at the dinner table (when appropriate). So on one hand, I knew there would be lots of happy reunions and introductions. But on the other hand, I was also slightly terrified about how this was actually going to work because Prosper is very much a WORK conference for me. Eight podcasts, back-to-back meetings, a party AND a fireworks show. (Ask me if I ever thought I’d add firework coordination to my resume and I’d laugh. Also, I now use the words cakes and gerbs - who am I?!??.) And conferences mean late nights. Even if I didn’t get back to the room until the early morning hours, I knew my two human alarm clocks would be there waiting to wake Mom up at the crack of dawn.
As someone who prides myself on trying to integrate my work life into my family life as best I can, my kids are constantly exposed to my work whether they realize it or not. Every time I see a Toast handheld, I take a picture and send it to Kelly Esten. When my local pumpkin patch was serving lemonade in the signature Berk Enterprises lemonade cups, I set up a mini photoshoot to send to Reilly. And of course, every time I see a leader from a brand my kids love while I’m on the road, I send that picture right back home. So when Zach finally met Mike Manzo in person, he was STAR STRUCK! My worlds collide all the time, and for the most part, I really love that they do.
And everything was going GREAT! The arrival was smooth. My kids slept past 8am (my 2am bedtime very much appreciated this), and I even let Zach come to Cocktails & Connections just long enough to see the fireworks. Success! Look at me! Working mom! Family vacation! Conference! Integration!!
And then Tuesday morning came.
Zach woke up with completely bloodshot eyes. (Wait, wasn’t I the one who had been up until the early morning hours? 🤨) And speaking of staying up late, know what I was doing? Getting an entire Disney itinerary from Michael Goldblatt. For some background, he had actually come home from camp with red eyes, and because I am still a responsible parent despite bringing my children to a work conference, I had taken him to our eye doctor the day after he got home and before we left for Orlando. The doctor told me if they weren’t better by Tuesday, call back. Tuesday arrived. They weren’t better. So from my hotel room, in between meetings, I had a virtual appointment with our family eye doctor.
And that’s when he raised the red flag that Zach needed to be seen immediately to rule out a staph infection.
No one wants to hear that their kid might have a staph infection. But hearing it while sitting at a conference with a completely back-to-back work schedule added an extra layer of OH SHIT. I immediately started doing what any calm and rational mother would do…I frantically Googled pediatric ophthalmologists in Orlando while trying to figure out who would take a new patient, who could see us immediately and how I was going to rearrange the next several hours of my day.
I happened to be sitting next to Jennifer Dodd when I got the news, and while I went down my Google rabbit hole, Jennifer went and found Michael Beacham. If you know Beacham, you already know he’s the best of the best on a normal day. But with ONE TEXT, Beacham was able to get Zach an appointment with one of Orlando’s best pediatric eye doctors within the hour.
I apologized to the people I had upcoming meetings with, told my business partners Schatzy and Jimmy what was happening, and was immediately met with, “Family first. Get the hell outta here.”
So Zach and I got the hell outta there.
And thankfully, after an exam, some tests and this mom holding her breath, it was NOT a staph infection. Just a bad chlorine reaction. Some medicated drops later, Zach is all better AND apparently has perfect vision. So really, if you think about it, we got a complimentary eye exam out of the whole thing. Conference perks!
Cute story, Julie. Longer than usual. But what’s your point?
We talk a lot about why we go to conferences. To learn. To grow. To network. To take meetings. To find customers. To build our businesses. And yes, all of that happens. But between the scheduled meetings, cocktail parties, podcast recordings, dinners and hallway run-ins, something else happens too. Relationships are born. Real ones.
We all say things like, “I’ve got your back,” and “How can I help?” But what I was reminded of this week is that those offers don’t suddenly expire when the problem stops being professional. Jennifer didn’t have to jump into action. Beacham certainly didn’t have to send that text. Schatzy and Jimmy didn’t have to immediately tell me to leave. The meetings went on without me and, truthfully, I’m not sure many people even noticed I was gone. But everyone jumped in, problem solved, checked in and followed up. Because that’s what hospitality people do. We take care of people. On the clock and off.
I talk a lot about work/life balance, mostly because I’m not convinced it actually exists. I’ve always been much more comfortable with the idea of integration. My kids know my work people. My work people know my kids. My family spills into my work, and my work spills into my family. And sometimes that means my kid is FaceTiming me during a business dinner or watching fireworks at Mom’s conference party. But this week it meant something else.
I brought my family into my work world. I didn’t expect that, when I needed it, my work world would show up for my family.
Hospitality isn’t just how we take care of our guests. Maybe it’s how we take care of each other.
And with that, I must put my pen down. Because after bringing my kids to a conference, coordinating fireworks, recording eight podcasts, throwing a party, taking an emergency trip to a pediatric ophthalmologist and learning far more about chlorine reactions than I ever needed to know, it’s time for the actual reason we are all in Orlando.
DISNEY!!!
Hi ho, hi ho…off to Disney we go!
