How events/conferences are changing

We recently went to an event and noticed that the size of the booths has started to decrease in size. I think a lot of that is due to the price of a booth has been increasing and the business that you get from an event may not be increasing compared to the price increase.

The other thing that is changing is the items that are being given away at events. You are no longer seeing t-shirts or items like that being handed out freely because of the cost of them as well. I think that other thing that is deterring companies from having a nice give away is that there are quite often a few individuals that show up and their entire purpose is to see what items they can get for free. So many of these individuals don't care about the company or product at all, they just want is the item that is being given away. 

It can be difficult for any company to have a booth at any conference because there are so many additional costs that they must also think about. It isn't just the cost of the booth; it is being able to have the individuals available to man the booth for the entire time of the conference.  Do you need to put staff up at a hotel and provide them meals to be at the conference or are they local and the only thing you need to do is provide them with the ability to man the booth?

All conferences have been changing and some events there were free in the past have now started to charge you to attend because so many people were only there for what they could get for free. It didn't matter if it was a meal or a drink or just a lot of items available from events.  I am not complaining about the events that have had to start charging to attending because there are a lot of costs that attendees don't realize that the organizer is incurring.

A weekend escape to Belleville, Ontario

A lot of us enjoy spending some time on a mini vacation and it doesn’t have to be that far from home to make it enjoyable. The trip I am going to write about is going from Toronto to Belleville for a weekend escape. The distance is 175km so it should take you around 2 hours to get there if you take the highway but there are lots of things to do and see if you decide to take a slower route. 

Here it is an idea of a possible route so that you can see some of the other things during your journey.

The first stop for us along the way is to stop in Cobourg to visit a yarn store that I like. Yarn It! Where you can find some nice hand-dyed yarns and accessories to go with them. When we make this stop there is usually some yarn added to the stash because I cannot resist getting yarn from here as they do have yarn that they dye themselves.

The second stop is going to be The Big Apple which is just off the 401 in Colborne. If you are driving east, you will see the Big Apple as you are approaching Percy St so that is where you are heading. This is a nice stop where you can pick up some pies that are so nice to have. There is also a general store as well as 401 Cider Brewery where you can pick up Hard Cider as well as some wines. If you have children, there is also a petting zoo and train rides if you are there in the summer.

This picture was taken from the highway so it is that close to the exit.

From The Big Apple you can decide if you want to get back onto the 401 or take the slower route which takes you through the towns of Colborne, Brighton, and Trenton. If you take highway 2 through Trenton you will pass the Canadian Forces Base Trenton, and you may see some of our military planes sitting on the tarmac. In Trenton there is also the National Air Force Museum of Canada where you can see the past, present and future of Canadian aviators.

After leaving Trenton we normally will continue the drive along Highway 2 until we are just outside of Belleville where we head towards the 401 and our hotel which normally has been the TownePlaceSuites by Marriott as it is a convenient location for making day trips into Prince Edward County. There is a lot of things to see and do while in Prince Edward County from walking along the main street of Picton, to going to Wineries as well as spending some time at the beach.

Now one of the reasons we enjoy staying at the TownePlace Suites is there is free breakfast each day of your visit and all the rooms have a kitchen area which is wonderful as you do get a full-size fridge. The fridge comes in handy for keeping the things you pick up in the county cold until you head home. There are a lot of restaurants within a short drive from the hotel so lots of choices of where to have dinner. For us one thing we enjoy is being able to work next door to the Casino and have dinner there. The only disadvantage of this restaurant is its adult only as it is inside the casino and it closes at 8 pm except Friday and Saturday through the summer it closes at 10 pm. (separate blog written about the hotel and casino)

While in Belleville there is still lots of shops to visit and restaurants and one splurge is to go to Reid’sDairy and have some ice cream. One word of warning when you go there is that the amount of ice cream you get if large. If you get 2 scoops, be prepared to have lots of ice cream but it is so good.

I hope that I have helped you plan a trip out to Belleville, and you enjoy a mini vacation away from the city. I know that we always enjoy our trips and each time we go we try and do something a little different and explore a different area of the county.

Please read the original post

There are so many times that there are comments on a post that don’t have anything to do with the original post. What is important is if you are replying to a post on social media is that you need to read the original post and then comment on that.

Recently there was a post that asked people to clean the dead leaves from the curb in front of your house. This person was simply asking everyone to make sure that the water could drain alone the curb to the city drains to make sure that there was no flooding on any of the streets.

What happens was a lot of people decided to complain that they were asking people to rake their lawns which this person never asked for. It is amazing how many times people make assumptions and don’t read what the original post was about. Of course, I tried to manage it the best I could by repeatedly saying it wasn’t requesting people to rake their lawns just clean the curb of leaves. 

It is amazing how many people only see a few words that are written and don’t read the entire post and then they complain that the original poster is wrong. What we need to do is look at and read the original post to make sure that we understand what they are saying before we post a comment. 

If there is a post that you don’t totally understand, maybe try and ask a question or two before you complain that the post isn’t correct. In this case someone was simply asking for leaves to be removed from the curb to ensure that water could drain to the city catch basins.

Canada Day

 Canada Day, formerly known as Dominion Day, is the National Day of Canada. It celebrates the anniversary of Canadian Confederation which happened on July 1, 1867. It is a statutory holiday, and everything is closed (outside of Quebec). You can sometimes hear it referred to as Canada’s birthday

There are usually a lot of fairs on Canada Day which can include parades, fireworks and some rides and food. Also, on this day it is quite common for new Canadian citizens to be sworn in during a ceremony. This ceremony can take place in different locations and sometimes can even happen before the start of the Blue Jays Baseball game if the Blue Jays are playing at home. 

A lot of cities and communities plan their local Canada Day celebration, and they can be a lot of fun to attend.  Here are just a few locations where you can find an event

• East York, Toronto, Ontario

• Ottawa, Ontario

• Vancouver, British Columbia and region

• Calgary, Alberta

Each event is going to be a little different than the next one and it all depends on if it is a big city organizing it or a local community. No matter where you are in Canada (except Quebec) you will find some sort of festival celebrating the Confederation of Canada. If you happen to be driving around on Canada Day, why not stop in at a celebration to see what is going on. They can be a lot of fun and a great way to celebrate with others.