I Think I Might Be "Tech People" After All!

Last Tuesday, I attended the 2015 Northwest Arkansas Technology Summit, presented by the Bentonville-Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce and the NWA Tech Council. When I first heard about the event, I was sure that it was not a place for me. My mental image was that of people with pocket protectors and social skills akin to Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory. File me under "prone to stereotyping" again.  (shame)

 

The event was very well organized and full of more information than my non-techy self could process. It was great in every way! I was exposed to so many new ideas and lots of things that apply to my life: professionally, as a blogger and as a consumer. 

 

Nearly 1,000 people were able to come together and learn from people who are getting it right when it comes to blending technology with their businesses. People were welcoming and encouraged questions and offered explanations. I was able to join a group of my fellow Northwest Arkansas bloggers to help promote the event on social media in real time, which was also fun.

 

Professionally, I knew that I could take away some things that would certainly help me in my daily marketing duties...and boy, did I! Mainly, as much as the world has gone to digital and online shopping, there is still a place for brick & mortal retail in the world. People may go into a store only to pull up an item on their phone to purchase, or check out an item in person before they buy online. It's still our job, as sales professionals, to provide excellent customer service to earn the customers' trust and make them want to buy from us.

 

Customer service is universal in any business; in person and online.

 

Another big takeaway for me? The job opportunities! This gave me such hope for my kids' future! I got even more affirmation to challenge, encourage and show them the value of technology in their lives now and in the future. I want my kiddos to embrace it and go toward it. The possibilities are unlimited and will continue to grow as they do.  

 

Here are a few of my tweets from the presentations at the Northwest Arkansas Technology Summit.

The event will be coming back in 2016, so watch for information if you missed this one and might want to check it out! If I can learn from it, you can too! Let me know and I'll save you a seat.

My Escape to Moss Mountain Farm

Last week I did something very unusual:  I took a day off work to do something just for myself. I joined a group of bloggers from all over the state at Moss Mountain Farm, which happens to be the home of Arkansas's own P. Allen Smith, of gardening and kitchen fame. I was part of an invitation-only group to have a private tour of the beautiful home and sprawling acreage of flower, rose and vegetable gardens on the property. Even a little rain didn't dampen our fun!

 

 

The main house at Moss Mountain Farm was, in a word, charming. While there were tons of collections, art works and vintage furniture pieces in the house, everything felt like it belonged--even the giant print of Black Dog, the fierce Osage Indian warrior. Allen personally gave us the tour, and told us a lot of history of the artworks on display.

 

 

As I toured the home with Karen from Ting's Mom, we both had the same thoughts about it. First was that we could never let our children loose in that home. And second, wondering who has to dust the place (thankful it's not us!).

 

My favorite room in the home was the screened in "sleeping porch," as I'm sure it's where I'd spend most of my time if given the chance. The porch overlooks the backyard and down into the Arkansas River valley. It was just so peaceful and beautiful.

 

 

After our tour of the home and the grounds, we were treated to a delicious lunch and program presented by the staff from the Arkansas Gift Program, or the AR 529 plan as it's sometimes called.  Silly me, here I was thinking I was being selfish and taking a "me day" when I was really learning something that would actually benefit my children after all.

 

The 529 program is a college savings plan that is supported by the state. Anyone can enroll for the purpose of saving for college (not just for kids). You can start an account online anytime, and it only takes $25 to start and a minimum deposit of $10 per month after that. There are a few really neat things about the program. First, specifically for lower income families, the state will match your monthly contribution! So it works a little like a 401k in that way, but not everyone will qualify for the matching funds. Another cool feature of the program is that the funds can be transferred to other people. For example, if Child 1 gets a scholarship and doesn't use all the money in the account for college, then the parent can transfer the money to Child 2 for use with education costs. Brilliant! There are some tax deduction benefits for residents of Arkansas and a penalty if you withdraw the money for using for any purpose besides education costs. It seems to be a very easy, low-risk way to start saving for college.  And with three kiddos in my family, I'm going to look very seriously at setting up an account soon.

 

 

You can find all the info you need about the Arkansas 529 plan at thegiftplan.com, where you can also set up an account.

 

 

Do You Know a Barbie Girl?

I know a Barbie girl! She lives in my house.  And she is going to love this surprise when she gets back from her trip to Grammy's house!

 

I've found out about this cool (FREE!) traveling event that is coming to Northwest Arkansas this weekend.  It's the Barbie Is Moving event, where kids can do some fun, interactive play with Barbie themed toys.  I also see a fashion show in our future.

 

There are three chances in our area to participate:

 

Today, June 7 at the Pinnacle Hills Promenade

Tomorrow, June 8 at the Bentonville Walmart Store at 406 S. Walton Blvd

Sunday, June 9 at the Walmart Store on Mall Ave. in Fayetteville

All times are 11:00am-3:00pm

 

 

I'm going to take both my girls on Saturday morning, to the Bentonville store.  Anyone want to join us?  If you make it to any of the events, use the hashtag #BarbieIsMoving to share pictures and the fun that you are having.  You can find me tweeting it up on Saturday.

 

 

If you are in another area, check out the website to see if Barbie Is Moving is coming to a place near you.  I'll post later to let you know how much fun we had.

I've got a new baby!

HA! Gotcha, didn't I?

It's sort of a new baby.  I just launched a Facebook fan page for this blog.  Isn't that exciting??  Well, I'm excited. It's something I've wanted to do for a while, but you know, I just don't have enough time in my day to get it all done. So I accomplish things in tiny little bits; baby steps, if you will.

Having a Facebook page for the blog will allow me to do lots of things.  I can have more "discussions" with my readers, I can introduce more people to my Party of Five and I can communicate with people who aren't my friends in real life (meaning, people I don't know).  The Facebook page will also be handy when I have a giveaway or important announcement to share.  Or maybe, just maybe, someone in Internet Land will stumble upon all this bloggy goodness and offer me a big fat paycheck for writing.

So go ahead and look me up.  You'll find the new page Bramell, Party of Five on Facebook.  Go "Like" it.  Now.  Or else I will yell at you and make you go to time-out.