Presenters & Staff for 2014
Beginner Eclipse Training: Steve KosmataIntermediate Eclipse Training: Keith Vincent
Advanced Eclipse Training: Jeremy Thorne
SearchMaster & More: Jim & Lynda Barker
Realtime Coach: Marybeth Everhart
Dictionary Jumpstart: Anissa Nirenberger
Eclipse & Passport Update: Betty Holder & Megan Seely
20/20 Punctuation: Margie Wakeman Wells
ESP Network Staff: Tim, Brenda & Julie Hollister, John, Marybeth & Allie Everhart, John Maggio, Rebecca Maggio, David Stanley, Scott Friend
Technical Support: John Everhart, John Maggio, David Stanley, Scott Friend
Conference Wrap Up Review
Detailed 2014 Conference Schedule
Our 2014 Annual Conference brought about a change in scenery as we shifted our event just across the street to the Skyview Suites Meeting Floor at Bally's Hotel & Casino in beautiful Las Vegas, NV. In addition to moving the event itself to Bally's, we also took full advantage of the stunning indoor walkway (complete with a promenade, shops, restaurants, etc.) that connects Bally's to the Paris Hotel & Casino - allowing our attendees to choose between a pair of amazing hotels, both within easy walking distance to the meeting floor, for the first time in our history. Our meeting area, the Skyview Suites, was located on the 26th floor of Bally's and was one of the most amazing conference facilities we have seen to date. In addition to each of the conference rooms having floor to ceiling windows that provided breathtaking views of Las Vegas (not to mention the under appreciated beauty of natural light) the long hallway connecting all the rooms together is lined with its own floor to ceiling windows running the entire length of the 26th floor. After spending many, many years in the underground conference floor at the Flamingo Hotel just across the street, the seemingly simple act of SEEING the outside world during a conference was enough on its own to make the move worth it!
Keith Vincent and Jeremy Thorne returned again this year and did a masterful job presenting our Intermediate and Advanced level Eclipse Training suites respectively. Steve Kosmata, who has presented several seminars for us in the past, stepped up and into the role of our Beginner Eclipse Training Instructor this year. Introductory training in any setting is difficult to say the least, and requires a special type of person to execute successfully. That being said, our staff and attendees couldn't be happier with Steve's performance and we look forward to seeing him again in 2015, and hopefully many years to come after that. Another new face this year was the talented Margie Wakeman-Wells, who joined our very good friend Jim Barker to bring us the most enthusiastic and exciting presentation on Punctuation our staff and attendees have ever seen! Reviews of her seminar were overwhelmingly stellar, and with any luck, we look forward to Jim & Margie bringing us more next year. As in 2013, we continued offering concurrent agendas on both Saturday and Sunday this year in an attempt to provide something for everyone, including those who wanted a small break from their Eclipse training. While results from both years of this agenda were generally positive, we found that in addition to pushing our equipment & staff a bit too hard, the split agenda with concurrent classes caused a greater conflict among attendees as to which class they should take than we anticipated. At the conclusion of this year's event we decided to move forward with our original format of a single class at a time from here out. Our new location kept our Saturday evening reception indoors this year, but with a bird's eye view of Las Vegas 26 floors off the ground, we didn't hear a single complaint. Our raffle drawing this year emphasized quality over quantity with most prizes (including multiple laptops, iPads, tablets and more) valued at $300 or more - allowing us to get through the actual drawing a bit faster than the previous year.
As always, we are infinitely grateful to have such an amazing user base and an incredible team of presenters and staff. Just like the Eclipse Software we all know and love, we feel that our meetings and attendees seem to just get better every year, in no small part because we continue to listen to our audience. The lessons we learn, mistakes we make and comments we receive after each event are always taken seriously and help us shape everything that follows. With any luck, 2015 will see us return to this amazing meeting space with our original (but enhanced) agenda format, less walking distance between classes and just like this year, fantastic raffle prizes worth showing up for alone. Attendee feedback (and just as important, acting on that feedback) is the single, most important element that makes our conference the premier Eclipse training event year after year. Once again, thank you for another amazing conference and we look forward to seeing everyone again in 2015!