2006 Annual Conference

May 9 - 11, 2006 Portland, Oregon

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Thursday

Thursday was another big day! A full day of classes, networking, discussions, vendors, demonstrations and chatting with other soapmakers culminated in the Annual Awards Dinner in the evening.

First thing Thursday morning was an Experts Panel consisting of Rob Brown, Kevin Dunn, Linda Stevens, Irene Linauer, Jackie Thompson, Sharon Ruck, Anne-Marie Faiola and Casey Keller moderated by Leigh O'Donnell. It moved quickly and lots of material was covered, thanks in part to the fact that questions were submitted and organized in advance.

After-confererence surveys show that this was a very well-liked aspect of the conference so there are plans to include and expand the Experts Panel in 2007.

Irene Linauer did a demonstration of marbeling cold process soaps and, as usual, she produced some beautiful soap!

At the same time, Marie Gale spoke on Using Your Website Effectively.

In the afternoon there was a panel discussion with Dennis and Kayla Fiorvanti and several Essential Wholesale staff on the subject of private labeling. Michele Giordano spoke on market research and Anne-Marie Faiola from Brambleberry also spoke to the attendees.

Awards Dinner

The culmination of the conference was the 2006 Annual Awards Dinner. Good eats, good talk and a number of awards presented!

President's Volunteer of the Year Awards:
This year two members received the President's Volunteer of the Year Award.

Leigh O'Donnell who was ground crew at the 2005 conference, stepped up to the plate in November and agreed to take the place of out-going board member, Nancy Underwood, and then took on the job as Conference Committe Chairman for the 2006 conference. That's above and beyond and deserving of the Volunteer of the Year Award. Not surprisingly, she was elected to a full two-year term on the Board of Directors in the 2006 election. Congratulations, Leigh!

Robert Kishtok worked on both the 2005 and 2006 conferences as a volunteer and in that capacity handled all the donations for goodie bags and raffles. All the great donated stuff at those conferences was thanks to Bob's hard work. And, also not surprisingly, he was elected to a full two-year term on the Board of Directors in the 2006 election. Congratulations, Robert!

Soapers Showcase:
Attendees all had the opportunity to vote on the soaps submitted by the Soapers Showcase participants. There were five categories and "Best of Show" and awards were given at the Awards Dinner. See Conference Summary Page 4 for pictures of the winners.

Longevity Awards:
There are some members who have maintained their memberships over a period of years. Some of those members were present at the Awards Dinner and received Certificates of Appreciation for their continued support of the HSMG:

2007 Conference
New this year at the Awards Dinner, the date and location for the 2007 conference was announced. All attendees received a special wrapped gift handed out by the volunteers. As the gifts were handed out images of the 2007 Conference city were displayed (no one guessed!). The gifts were a miniature tool box with the HSMG logo on it and inside was a personal invitation to the 2007 Conference in St. Louis, MO on May 3th - 5th, 2007.

So that's it - it was a great time!