Watkins
International Business Convention 2003
(Click on pictures to see them full size)
 What
a beautiful city! It was a wonderful mix of old and new. You can see where they are
redoing old buildings by keeping the facade of the old one and creating a new modern
building with the old fronts. Beautiful! I was fortunate because one of the members of my
team lives in a suburb of Vancouver so, since I went to the Convention a day early, I was
able to see a lot of the area. This picture is of Canada Place where our
Convention was held.
 We
started at Crescent Beach so I could put my feet in the Pacific Ocean
(I'm an Atlantic Ocean kind of gal.) As you can see, it's low tide and that's me walking
out to the ocean. We had lunch of fish & chips at a restaurant
called Charlie Don't Surf right on the water in White Rock. Then we
were off to Queen Elizabeth Park to view the beautiful gardens.
 Our
next stop was Gastown where there were hundreds of shops for our shopping
pleasure. Gastown is also the home of the Steam Driven Clock pictured
here. That's me with my Manager Sue next to the clock. We spent some time shopping here -
mainly to find souvenirs - tshirts, maple products, gifts for our families, etc.
Our next stop was Stanley Park with a
beautiful view and some very interesting totem poles.
We also spent some time in North Vancouver at the Market,
Lonsdale Quay and enjoyed the view of Vancouver from across the inlet.
 A special thank
you to my Consultant, Rich from Vancouver, who played tour guide and took us on this
wonderful tour!
What Happened at my Convention?
I know that some of you have been following along in my
newsletter a bit about me and the Watkins Conference. I thought you might like to hear
about the awards and my speech.
On Friday evening our Awards Banquet was held at the
Convention Center. Those of us who are Bronze Managers or above were invited to a
reception before the Banquet. We had wine and Watkins hors d'oeurves and some time to
network. After 2 glasses of wine they told us that they wanted us to WALK across the
stage and INTRODUCE ourselves with our name, title and where we were from! AACCKK ROFL
 When it was my turn,
I said "Linda Sikut, Bronze Manager, Buffalo NY AND Honorary CANADIAN!"
I brought down the house! Everyone was cheering. LOL It made it so much fun. They then
took me to a special seating table UP FRONT! Yeah! I am a front row person because I am
short. It's the best way for me to be able to see. I also knew, from past experience, that
sitting at one of the front tables meant I would be given some kind of AWARD!
 After a delicious
dinner, we sat and prepared to hear the awards that were given this year. My Watkins
Coach, Donna Brooks went to the podium and started talking about sponsoring. Then she
explained that the Top Sponsor catagory was not just about sponsoring a lot of people, but
rather about sponsoring folks and teaching them how to get started. This is reflected in
their numbers during their first few months. Then she started calling names. # 3 Karen
& Keith, Executives, then #2 Clem & Barb, Executives. In our business we have
Consultants, Managers & Executives. I'm a Bronze Manager. Then she announced the #1
winner and IT WAS ME! WooHoo! What a surprise! I am number one in the US
and Canada for helping new folks successfully start a business!
 The next
catagories were for general overall percentage of growth and I came in #7th in that
catagory! Wow! Two awards in one year! That has never happened to me
before! Since I got flowers for both awards, I gave those flowers to my Manager Sue
because she helped me earn that award. Thanks Sue! You're the best. See my award photos here
 For those of you who
wished me well on my first speech before the full convention, I want to THANK YOU! It went
great! I actually surprised myself. When I was practicing, they told me that the speech
would just roll up on the teleprompter and it would be easy. AND it was!
 The
teleprompter they use is clear that so from the back of the room you can't even see it. (see
picture) Just before I went on stage, I got that awful "fear" feeling, but
I told myself that this was an exciting convention and I needed to be excited. I said to
myself. "Linda, you just earned NUMBER 1 Top Sponsor, now go out there and tell them
how you did it!" That worked! When I went onstage I was not nervous at all. I
couldn't believe it! My speech was on Saturday, after lunch, and that is the lowest time
of the convention. Everyone is tired and it's so easy to lose your audience. But they were
with me! They responded to all of the questions that I put out. At the beginning I asked
"Did y'all enjoy your lunch?" Someone in the front called out "Y'all?"
I responded by saying "Yes, didn't you know I am an honorary Southerner
too?" A big cheer went up in the audience and I was on my way!
At the conference we learned about new products and saw and sampled our Holiday Gift Line.
Get ready folks! We have wonderful new products coming your way.
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