I travelled to Nashville for the Alliance Conference. The timing could not be worse because of a big project at work. The information I got at the conference was very good. I spent nearly the entire conference inside the hotel.
The hotel is 58-acres under one roof. It was massive consisting of several smaller themed areas attached to a convention center. The convention center easily handled our 4400-person group.
For the opening reception the center of the hotel called Delta Island was set up with various food tables and bars. They had some local band playing down on one end. The music was a mixture of surfing music, zydeco, and country.
On the second night, the vendors had a chance to mingle. I went to dinner with a vendor downtown. The downtown skyline features a large building that was featured in the original Batman movie. After dinner at the Merchants Restaturant, we went to the Wildhorse Saloon. This saloon featured line dancing. The patrons looked as if they could have been in Texas at a place like BillyBobs if not for the weird plastic looking hats that were prevalent all over Nashville.
The third night of the conference featured a concert with Charlie Daniels and Jo Dee Messina. Charlie played a great set. I am not familiar with Jo Dee’s music but she interacted with the audience and made for a fun time.
After the conference on the last day, I made for the airport. They called for volunteers to get bumped and I volunteered. I made $200 for a 2 hour delay. I have already spent this voucher on 3 tickets to St. Louis later this month.