#79 I danced. In public. And other Badass Conference Adventures

I have a couple of socially-driven overwhelming fears. Karaoke is one. Getting my hair done is a second. But the biggest, most scary fear I have is dancing in public.

At the conference, every night had an amazingly spectacular party or event of some kind, and during the day, it was full of learning opportunities, networking, and test-driving of all the new senior-focused business ideas in the Expo center.

I could easily call any one of the experiences I had during the conference a "badass Adventure" individually, but instead I'll group them into categories under the main title of "the badassiest conference of all time".

MILE HIGH BALLGAME EXPERIENCE

My dear friend Traci was in charge of planning the big LCS event at the conference. When I say big, I mean BIG! I was lucky enough to tag along with her during the on-site party prep visit and get a"behind the scenes" peek" at what goes into organizing a party of this magnitude.

Holy cow! The party was held at the Coors Stadium -- home of the Colorado Rockies. What an incredible experience to be standing at the top of the stands and suddenly see the score board and all the ribbon banners suddenly come to life with the LCS logo with a background of Traci's background gameplay music. AMAZING!

The tech director came to demonstrate the use of the microphone for Traci and to do a test drive to be sure it was working. When they were done, I casually asked if I could have a turn. (!). Once I got the mic in hand, I couldn't help but do my own sports announcement "Welcome to the ballpark everyone and get ready for a fun game" -- hearing my voice booming all around the stadium (and out on the street, I realized later). So fun!

The party was amazing. The first half was down on the field itself and was so fun reconnecting with my LCS friends and colleagues. Down in the dugout, we realized the Bullpen phone was available and we had some fun posing for action photos, at least until the kindly security guard arrived to tell us to get lost. Did you know the duggout seats are heated?

The rest of the party was upstairs with tons of food, folks and fun, including the mascot of the team. He's a dinosaur. In case you couldn't tell.

AMAZING job Traci for an incredible party. You ROCKED it!!!!

SPEAKEASY STOP

After the ballpark party was over, Traci and I had one more party to hit, which was held in a speakeasy. Took us a bit to find -- which I guess is the point -- and we found ourselves in a super crowded dark pub with specialty drinks and bartenders who blew fireballs into the air to celebrate last call.

MY WINNING STREAK

Part of the conference was an Expo where you get to network, learn about the latest and greatest in senior living products and services, and to pick up goodies/win prizes/have fun.

Now, y'all need to know that I NEVER win anything. Like ever.

But not here!

For some reason, I hit a winning streak. The most fun was a game where you had 30 seconds to click a button in order to land on a red light 6 times before the time ran out.

Simple game. Totally easy. I got myself a new set of AirPod Pro. But the best part was the giant celebration that happened with the booth's attendants and my friends Heather and Dana. Just couldn't stop laughing and celebrating!

I also won an Echo Dot by spinning the Wheel of Fortune at the Amazon kiosk, and I won a raffle drawing from another company.

I tried to buy myself a scratch-off lottery ticket in the airport this morning, figuring I might as well try to keep my winning streak going. But the machine was out of order. Guess my luck is ending now!

But hey...I did get bumped up to first class, so maybe my luck will continue!!!

PODCAST ADVENTURE #3

In my badass adventures, I have had two previous podcast experiences -- one was when I played a character in Emily's podcast, the second was participating in an LCS educational podcast. Now I have a third to add to my resume!

One of the booths at the Expo had a podcast station where they were looking for participants to be interviewed about their role in Leadership within the Senior Living industry. So I told them I would be happy to help out if they needed me. The next day, I got a message asking me to come to the booth for my interview. So I went, with my friend Joanne coming along with me. I got my headphones on and settled in at the mic, where we spent the next ten minutes or so having a recorded conversation about my leadership experiences and giving advice for listeners. I'll update you when the podcast is ready to listen to!

VIRTUAL REALITY

I've always wanted to try virtual reality and I finally had a chance to. Joanne and I each got into our bicycle chair, grabbed our controls and donned a VR helmet to play a racing game that included balloon smashing and a pretty hefty dose of motion sickness. Let's check that one off my bucket list for now. Next time, I'll Dramamine myself.

TAPAS FUN

One event was a night out with the LCS Corporate Resource Team with included both old friends I have known for years and new aquaintances. It was a nice, relaxing night and I got to try out a "Dirty, Dirty Martini" for the first time. Pleasant!

DANCING QUEEN

So now we come to the pinnacle of my badass adventures...the thing I was the most scared about.

The final night event of the conference was a "clubbing experience" at a theater with a live band, open bar, and dancing.

Oh poop.

I wanted to go. I did. But we all know this kind of event doesn't lend itself to letting me go hide in a comfy table talking to people and enjoying the vibes. No talking would be done because of the volume of the band, which meant there were only two things to do.....drink their excessively gigantic cans of alcohol or water --- and dance.

Not only would I be dancing in public for the first time in 10 years, but I would be doing it in front of my boss, the company leaders, my colleagues, and everyone else who were jam packed on the dance floor and at the tables surrounding the dance floor (including a second story -- so they had a great eagle-eye vision of me doing my step-step-clap-clap old lady dancing).

Good golly freaking dangnamit I don't wanna and you can't make me!!!!!!

But I did.

Are you proud of me?

I danced for three hours.

At one point, one of my coworkers came up to me and said, "Hey...Beth Grigg is dancing". And I said, "Yup." And then we continued dancing side by side. He was a much better dancer than me. And hey... Did you notice that he didn't say, "Wow Beth...your step-step-clap-clap old lady dancing style is soooooooo good! You must have been a professional before joining our team". But then again, he also didn't compare me to the viral meme dancing lady in the gif below, so there's that.

My wonderful boss Jill came up and danced with me! She is such a graceful dancer and kind person, and was so sweet when she leaned over to remind me, "Don't forget to make this a badass adventure!". Love her so much for that!

And with her words, and everyone else's camraderie, especially the circle of Heather, Dana, Traci, Errin, and Dan, I realized that so much fun can be had by letting a little loose, trying to quiet my own criticizing demons in my head, and just laughing and enjoying music while double-fisting a Liquid Death canned water and aPineapple Seltzer. And maybe, doing a step-step-clap-clap old lady dance is not so bad.

And as Traci told me, "Don't worry. You aren't the worst dancer here".

True dat. The was an older fellow on the dance floor who was doing The Twist. Not ironically.

So maybe my old lady dancing beat his.

I think I'm a little competitive. :)