As a former hospitality slave, sorry, I mean FRONT DESK CLERK at a luxury hotel, and as a person who was born and raised in Dallas, I have grown to hate the  convention.

The hard working citizens of Dallas cannot take our beloved light rail to your job in Downtown Dallas because all of the cars will be full of perfumed and powdered old biddies gabbing and pushing MK cards at you while you're trying to sip coffee and stay awake.   THEN when you try to go on lunch, because God forbid any employer let you have an entire hour to unwind, you spend all 30 minutes of your lunch break trying to find a place to eat because it's full of all of the women who can't afford lunch because they spent so much on the trip and on a hotel that all they afford is the pizza place on the corner, and you try not to laugh at (or slap) the 200+ pound 50 year old woman asking what "low carb" options are available, because she has to look good in her dress tonight. 

THEN, when you get off work at some God forsaken hour, you are acosted by several women on the way out of your department to the back of the hotel so you can change, go home, and cry for a few hours before someone goes what's wrong? Is your financial situation so bad that you have to work on your feet? Well, MK may be the solution for you.  

And let's not forget the poor women whose directors tell them that they will be staying in the same 4 star/5 star hotel as them, and you have to repeatedly tell them that they aren't booked at your hotel, and of course, you can't give out the director's room number, and you stand there and repeatedly try to call the director's room, because you know her ass is there, you just checked her in about 3 minutes ago, but the Director has been smart enough to block all calls to her room so she can "rest". SOOOOO you take pity on the lowly consultants and decide to try some of the other downtown hotels to see where they are booked, and it turns out after some poking and prodding from another director, they have been abandoned to a hotel in one of the northern suburbs, which means they'll be stuck on the train with the commuters going to the farthest point of the metroplex.  They begin to hem and haw about how they will get ready for the dinner tonight when the dinner is in Dallas, and their hotel is basically in Oklahoma.  And the whole time, you're trying to remember to be compassionate, because you don't give a flying poo about what they're going through.

*wooo* let me stop before I sound bitter.

But I can tell you this about seminar: the hotels are almost always overbooked, and you will end up with the raw deal on the rooms. should you decide to go, please research the hotel, and when you call to find out what kind of rooms they offer: DO NOT TELL THEM YOU ARE WITH MARY KAY.  When you go to make your reservations, of course you will tell them that, but when you're just trying to research, they will tell you anything because Mary Kay is trying to sell the seminar packages to every consultant and director. The hotels will sometimes refer you back to Mary Kay to get info on the hotel. And they will sell you every cheap motel and homeless shelter that has a room for the convention.  All we could give were the rates for the packages, and what our hotel did and didn't offer.

And as a semi-broke 26 year old, you can always find something cool to do in your town or in your state for less than the price of seminar. And as the baby of the family, I understand what it's like to want to travel without family. If you're paying, and want to go, they can't say no.  Even if I announce that I'm going somewhere with a boy, I'm still super scared to tell my family, but then again, I take my own breaths and pay my own bills, so what can they say?

Good luck, whatever decision you make, I'm sure you'll have an experience to remember.

Oh Busy, your post was great.  I flinched a few times and laughed a couple of times while reading.  But mostly, I think I just felt  Sick. 

I went to seminar one time (and one time to CC).  It was more than enough for a lifetime.  Change your life?     It changed my life alright.  When I look back now, I wonder how did I ever agree to spend $1000 for motivational speeches from a group of women who I wasn't sure were telling the truth - sell the sizzle is the name of the game. 

I don't think it's worth anyone's time or money to go to Seminar.  This life changing  event somehow always seems to feature the same type of stories that I heard at my ex-NSD's weekly trainings, New Year/New You training, "September Get Motivated because the Seminar glow has worn off" Training.   All of the MK events are billed as "Change Your Life" events.   

Ladies, Your words of wisdom are worth a lot to me, really. I'm very torn between going and not. I did flinch when I was reading your stories and I am a newbie so I guess I am a bit naive. I would like to see it for myself and make my own experiences and mistakes. I have already submitted for time off from my full time job and have been talking to my sister consultants. My director has in the last year gone through a divorce and her four children have been having separation issues, so she may not be going. I wouldn't even be in the arena. why do they charge the same price for arena and Hall A seating? oh well. I will probably be making up my mind in the next week since I am sure the price of air fare will go up. thank you ladies.
queen bee

I've been to seminar twice and to cc once. The first time, I wound up being pushed around in a wheelchair because the 8+ miles of walking (no lie - that is what you do between meetings - walk, walk, limp, collapse) killed my legs. (I have MS) The second time, I took a walker. It didn't help. The first time, I was booked in a room at the Wyndham Anatole $$$$$ with a person from another director's unit - one that she hadn't even met yet. This person was about as insane (in a bad way) as I've ever met in my life. She had 6 kids under 5 (said she hated being a mother, yet was pregnant within a month with #7), was a pastor's wife (liberal church), and said she wouldn't sell things like color cosmetics or vitamins (which we sold at the time) because she didn't believe in them. I also heard many late-night rants about topics that never should have been coming from the mouth of a supposedly devout Christian. I'm no saint, I've worked as a firefighter!!! But believe me, the hotel experience alone wasn't worth the trip.

Here's what I got out of it: loads of junk from the sales booth that have since broken or worn out too quickly, meetings led by women who had no more experience than I did - just had bought more cosme-crap than I had, and absolutely nothing NOTHING that I hadn't already heard at local larger meetings. I heard so many people tell me that I couldn't miss seminar, my first one was like you - I had only been selling for a few months, and had actually been making some money at that point. Well, the flight home, I was in tears because I had spent so much money, and didn't feel good about it. My director put me in touch with a woman who had tickets, but instead of doing the "official" transfer thing, I just got someone else's nametag and stuff. I was told not to change the name on it, and just take that person's place at meetings. I didn't know better, and I came away feeling "dirty" about it. Sick I didn't sleep, it took me over a week to physically recover from the first one.

  Stupid me, I went to career conference, and got some stupid sunglasses and a couple of eye shadows. The teaching there was the same old stuff. "here's my sob story, and how MK made me a new woman!"  Stand up, , sit down,  blah, blah, blah, repeat. Go to meetings I didn't qualify for, be told to "Fake it till I made it" - ummm... in my book, that's called LYING!

I skipped the next year, everyone came back and said, "wow - what an awesome seminar!"  One of the directors that I actually liked told me in private that she'd never spend her money again for such a waste of time - she could have made money that week rather than wasted over $1K on the SOS. Stupidly, I signed up for career conference that year, then when I had emergency surgery and wanted to cancel, my nutso  told me that if I stayed registered, she would transfer my registration to another of her poor, blind followers and bring back the product for me. Well, I bought the lie - after all, I was in the Blinkin' hospital!!!!! she came back, I had to call her 3 times to find out where my stuff was and where my money was from the "transferred registration" and of course, the crap was that she didn't try to transfer my registration. She took my product for herself, and when she finally delivered it (not all of it, though) to me, it had been used!! What a crock. But I still was buying the LIE.

I then went to seminar after I recovered, took a walker, but got to sit in the Arena. OK, better seats. I got up and left halfway through the speeches - it was like I was listening to "Yay ME" for hours. Oh yeah, I WAS!!  I wanted so badly to think that I was doing this for my business, that I was seeing for myself what it was like, that somehow, it would pay off in the end. The teaching was even worse this time, I was in DIQ, and what I heard made me really wonder if I needed to be in such an under-handed, greed-driven group of  . I tried - I REALLY tried to like it. I wanted to like it. I wanted to find out that this business could REALLY do what Mary Kay Ash was talking about all those 40 years ago. But alas - the pink glasses were coming off. I found myself (a previously successful MK sales person with $1000+ weeks) not wanting to promote what I thought was hypocrisy in a business in the highest levels. Even the NSDs were disillusioning me - they taught things that on the surface "looked" like MK's principles, but when you stepped back and allowed it to seep into your brain, you realized that MK is probably rolling in her grave. I also have never been in one place that took more scripture out of context and perverted it for their purposes. My sales dropped because my enthusiasm for the business dropped. I still love the products, I still have dedicated customers, but I refuse to recruit, and I've blocked my  's incessant emails completely. (she's one of those that forwards EVERY piece of crap that is sent to her - she's sent me viruses several times!)

If you are happy selling products to your friends, keep it that way. Otherwise, you'll be back here after seminar and wishing you had listened to us! (Sorry to be so blunt - I had people tell me not to go before, but I really believed that I could find something good about it.)

If you have posted your question here about attending seminar, you already have a few doubts in your mind. Examine what you expect to get out of your experience, then make an informed decision about how you'd like to spend your money. If you are at all liking your MK business, seminar is not a "don't miss" opportunity, it's a "DON'T GO!" experience.

Just my    (I think it's possible to enjoy this business if you just sell to your friends, buy your stuff at wholesale, and stay away from the 

 

one more little tidbit...after going last year....our national area was staying at the Hilton...but our unit didn't get our reservations in on time so we stayed at a great little hotel just a block from there... the one thing i kept hearing from everyone at the Hilton was standing in line to use the elevators.  there were consultants that stood in line over an hour just to get to and from their rooms!!!!!!!!!!!!! can you IMAGINE after a long day standing in line to get to your ROOM???? 

 

and all you'll want to do is....

Don't Go!  Those things are just a waste of time and money.. It's all hype!  Lots of story telling and a big expense for nothing.  Sure they tell you you should go and that you will learn a lot.  Haven't you already had enough of that.  It's the same things over and over and over again.  You have to pay to get there, pay to stay, pay to eat and everthing you do cost MONEY.They give you nothing.  Save your money and go on a nice vacation.

Yes I can, good for you.  Relax and enjoy