I traveled to Dallas last weekend to attend the 25th Anniversary Celebration for our old friends and clients Alford Media Services. They put on the dog and pony show in a big way, and also tied in their annual Chili-Cookoff. Event Engineering sponsored a Chili team and our team of Butch Palmer, Randy Beckham, Tom Watkins, and myself captured 2nd place in the Chili competition and an honorable mention for Showmanship. Did I mention that we presented our Chili with pyro from Pyrotex?

It was a great way to spend some time with friends old and new, and the Chili was pretty darned great. Kudos to chef Tom Watkins for all of the hard work in the kitchen, to Butch Palmer for the secret recipe, and to Randy Beckham (and the lovely Linda) for the pyro.

The "Everything You Can Imagine is in This Pot - Hunters Chili Team"

What do you think, was 2009 the year you expected?  Now that we’re in November it should be pretty clear where things will end up for the year that is about to close.

Maybe I always prepare for the worst (it’s the technical director in me) but I had expected this year to be a lot worse for us, and for the business in general. Now that the government is off our backs perhaps the free enterprise system will kick back into gear, and companies will resume rewarding their top performers with meetings in pleasant locations. And they will tease the wannabe top performers with a chance to get out of the office and attend those events. There is nothing wrong with  motivating the sales force if we want to turn around the economy, I say.

All for now. Roll the trucks, load it in, let’s have a show!