Back from Nashville

By Cheryl Heppner

June 2009

Editor: It's that time of year again! The start of Hearing Loss Convention Season! As is normally the case, HLAA kicks off the activity in June. Char and I didn't attend this year, but super reporters extraordinaire Cheryl Heppner and Bonnie O'Leary from NVRC will be providing detailed coverage of the activities.

More coverage of this great convention is at: http://www.hearinglossweb.com/res/hlorg/shhh/cn/2009/2009.htm

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Sunday morning Bonnie O'Leary and I took in the final event, the annual Awards Ceremony and Breakfast. As always, it was one of highlights of the convention, We hustled from there to the registration area to return our listening system receivers and mark our official end to the convention.

After hauling our bags to the hotel registration area, we enjoyed some of the unofficial convention, sharing a cab to the airport with Beth Wilson and Tina Thompson. Beth and Tina are great storytellers who make any trip pass too quickly.

While waiting at the Nashville airport for our flight, I checked my work email and found a message from reader Bob Bourke. "Thanks for the continuing coverage of the convention," he wrote. "Take a day off." I took your advice, Bob! After arriving home I spent the evening unpacking and watching a couple favorite shows recorded in my absence.

This morning while organizing papers from the convention I noticed that all the receipts for meals I'd charged to my room had "HEPPNER, CHERYL AND GALAXY" on them. Now there's another first! Good thing Galaxy can't read and wonder why she didn't get any of that food. I had only been back in the office 4 hours today when I got a survey from the Gaylord Opryland Resort asking me to give feedback on my stay. They certainly rank at the top for hospitality, and they do not cut corners in staff training. Everyone, including the wait staff and the cleaning staff, seemed to know the answer to my questions and were happy to be of help. The Nashville HLAA volunteers were just as welcoming, always patient and good-humored.

I had a really great time at this convention and made wonderful new friends. I was also the recipient of many kindnesses. I wish my brain were not so post-conference vacant so I could recall the name of Tall Guy who sat on my right at the opening ceremony. He came searching for me at the next morning's research symposium. After watching my frantic notetaking during the opening ceremony, he'd printed out copies of the slides used by the symposium speakers to cut down on how much I'd need to write. Tall Guy, whoever you are, it was a big help and you get 4 big gold cyberstars.

Despite worries about the economy and the flight cancellations/delays due to weather, this seemed to be one of the best-attended conventions in recent history. Some of the workshops were packed and the exhibit hall didn't have many lulls. With so many attendees, it took two days for me to find reader Joe Gordon. He sent me an email with a hug in the subject line before the convention and I just had to collect it in person.

Pull out your calendar now and cross off June 17-20, 2010 for the next HLAA Convention, to be held at the Hilton Milwaukee City Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The hotel boasts of a spectacular downtown location that's second to none, and has Paradise Landing, an urban indoor waterpark that is the first of its kind in America. Bound to be a splash! Check out the hotel at http://www.hiltonmilwaukee.com/.

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