Things We Learned At NACDA
Hello all! At long last, here’s the big NACDA wrapup from Zac himself.
Things We Learned At NACDA
1. Sneaking Kegs into the Anatole: Easy in concept, tough in execution - We called ahead months ago and said, “Hey… we’re renting a suite from you guys and want to have some clients up for some drinks. Will that be a problem?” The answer, “No.” CLICK! Hung up, wrote down the guy’s name and used that as our official “Do whatever the hell you want” pass from the Anatole. Still, fear prevented us from being so bold as to just drag 2 kegs right past the front desk. The solution? Carry them about twice as far all while trying to make it appear as if the item in your hands weighed no more than a trash can full of oxygen. Getting them past security was easy. Getting out of bed the next morning after having strained every muscle in our bodies was not so easy.
2. Sweets don’t go well with beer - Sweets were in full force on Sunday night and while everyone seemed to really enjoy the Oreo balls, who did we think we were fooling by thinking that this gang cared anything about stuff without alcohol in it? Next year: RUM Oreo balls.
3. Anatole security are a bunch of buzzkills - The party was going strong for almost three-and-a-half hours. Keg #2 had just been tapped. 5 gallons of Ol’ Blue (the official drink of the SweetSuite) were all but gone. Incriminating photos were being taken. Folks were wailing on Rock Band. ABBA was blaring. Things were just about to get wildly out of control. Unfortunately, fate intervened in the form of two very angry night hotel security guards who were apparently upset that they hadn’t been invited and decided to take it out on me. After a Rodney King-like beating, I submitted to their wishes and informed everyone that we either had to kick everyone out or face being forcefully removed from the hotel. We chose the former. My announcement was met with blank stares and more drinking. Eventually, we were able to get everyone out the doors and we were all left secretly wondering which Old Hat staffer called and made the noise complaint because they were ready to turn in for the night.
4. Apparently, getting kicked out of keggers in hotel rooms is “old hat” to most of Old Hat’s clients - The most common response to our early exit that we heard for the rest of the trip was, “Man… it was like I was in high school all over again!” So we took comfort in the knowledge that we not only threw a totally bitchin’ party but we were also able to make all of you feel young again. Next year we’ll have to have black lights and a make-out room to once again create some nostalgia for the good ol’ days.
5. The Hotel was in Dallas; The Exhibit Hall was in El Paso - It’s hard enough to convince people to come out to the exhibit hall to listen to a bunch of vendors try to sell you crap. Mix that with the fact that you had to walk 11.5 miles to get there and you end up with a bunch of lonely vendors. Luckily, in the battle between free booze and not wanting to have to walk very far, free booze always wins out.
6. “My name is Zac Logsdon. I’m with the University of______________” can get you into any party - Lucky for us party crashers, the companies that were throwing all the parties didn’t really care if you had proof of being employed by a university. We did our best to test the system every chance we got, too. So thank you to all those universities that unknowingly employ Robert and I for the purposes of getting into parties.
7. Club 786: A bar so underground, the hotel it’s inside of doesn’t even know about it - What do you do when the party you’re hosting gets shut down early and you’re left with an almost full keg of Bud Light? Open up a bar in your room. Last call at 2 a.m.? I don’t think so! Try 4:45… cuz that’s when the last drifters departed Club 786 (Zac Logsdon & Robert Smith - Proprietors). Three days later though, we still had about half a keg left. And there was no way I was carrying that back to the car. So we hired a homeless kid to come pump the remainder of the beer into the bathroom sink. Very unfortunate.
8. NACDA wanted us GONE! - “I’m on a trip paid for by my employer. I stayed out all night drinking. I have no reason to get up early in the morning because the only thing going on is that the exhibit hall is open from 8-10 a.m. I’m sleeping in. Wait. WHAT?! They’re serving MUFFINS?!?! What are we waiting for?!?!” Yeah… I think someone slipped Mr. NACDA an Andrew Jackson and a bag of rock candy and said, “We want the vendors outta here by lunch.” That’s the only logical explanation for opening the exhibit hall so dadgum early on the last day.
And the last thing we learned at NACDA…
9. Interstate travelers in Dallas do NOT appreciate being peppered with silly putty and shot glasses - So we’re driving back to Oklahoma and we were pretty confident that everything was secured tightly in the back of the pickup. That is, until Robert notices everyone behind us swerving to avoid a plethora of items that share one thing in common… they’re all dark blue. We pulled over and backed up down the side of the interstate to find a nice man who had pulled over and gathered up most of our left over t-shirts, shot glasses, and other items either out of kindness or out of desire take a bunch of free stuff home with him. We gathered up the rest and then noticed one shot glass out in the middle of the road. Right about the time Robert said, “We need to get that before it punctures someone’s tire,” a car ran over it and it shattered everywhere. We were pretty sure that within a couple of miles, the driver of that car would be cursing the name Old Hat. Luckily, none of our contact information could have been found on the piece of glass they’d be pulling out of their tire.
So those are all the life lessons we learned in Dallas last week at the NACDA conference. We had a great time and we hope you did too. Be sure to keep checking your mailboxes for next year’s SweetSuite invitations. See ya in Orlando.
Tags: nacda, Old Hat Creative, sweet suite