TOP SECRET CSFX16 PACKING LIST

If you are joining us next week at the brand new, kick-ass Delta Toronto for the 2016 Canadian Sponsorship Forum Xperience, you need to come prepared. Only a rookie or a Denver Broncos fan would show up at the doorstep of one my events without properly preparing. This isn’t your Mom’s packing list for summer camp when you were nine years old and overly anxious about passing the early morning cold water swim test.

Nope. You’re an adult now. Regardless of whether you are coming from Victoria, BC or Victoria Street Toronto, you are on your own to get organized for the splash you are about to make. But, because the inner ringleader in me always wants to get out, I thought I would share with you some of my personal secrets for what you should pack.

In honour of our Moms, I am not going to use numbers. This pains me as I love using numbers, but hey did your Mom ever use numbers for her lists? Me think not! Okay, where to begin?

• Check your Uber app. If you don’t have it, load it now. Maybe take a couple of test runs to get your passenger rating up so you can get higher on the dispatch priority. Make sure it’s up to date and you have a valid credit card. Rumour has it that Toronto cabbies think this would be a great time to strike and show the world what an (in)hospitable city we are.
• Custom reserved seating sign. I’ve always daydreamed about this. If you want the best seat in the house for Don Mayo, Kim McConnie, or Mitch Joel, why not give this a try.
• A cold compress for your neck. Unless you’re Justin Orfus from my team, you are going to spend a lot of time looking up!

• Find room in your gym bag for your crossover dribble because our CSFX Delegate Basketball Tournament is going to be for industry bragging rights! You know that pressure you feel on a Par 3 during a corporate tournament when two foursomes are stalled behind you. That will seem like a Grade 3 gym class compared to the crowds at the NBA Center Court where we will be hosting our tourney. So come prepared.
• A cup full of decisiveness. Think about the challenge you will have selecting among these head to head speakers: Wrigley Canada’s Dan Alvo vs Labatt Breweries of Canada’s Andrew Oosterhuis, Metro’s Nancy Modrcin vs Holt Renfrew’s Alison Simpson, Canadian Pacific’s Mark Wallace and Crankworx’s Darren Kinnaird vs the women-only panel.
• Your autograph book. I know it’s not for you. It’s for your nephew in Saskatoon. He just happens to have the same name as you! Wow, so many coincidences.
• Your Emmy Award. Judy John won one for the #LikeAGirl campaign she spearheaded for Procter & Gamble. I’m sure she will show you hers, if you bring yours.

• Your Inner Maker. Mark Stewart, Chief Innovator at wonderMakr, isn’t going to let you sit on your hands during his session. No, you will need to get them out and ready to make, break, and shake your way to learning how to be innovative.
• A teammate for Saturday. If you haven’t taken me up in our special offer yet, you have no one to blame but yourselfie! Do you like my new word?
• Your best social media one liners. You will want to make your friends jealous when you’re up close and personal with the world’s best ballers during the NBA All-Star Practice on Saturday.
• Our app. We have saved a thousand trees this year and not printed a guidebook, so if you want to network with that person you met in lunch Friday, you will need our app to send him a followup note. His, and everyone else’s, coordinates will be right at your finger tips.
• Underwear. Yes it seems obvious, unless you attended Forum in 2012 when we handed out, you guessed it, underwear as a delegate gift.

• In those underwear, you may want to have your name, cell phone, and a “If found, please return me to the Delta Toronto” message.
• Thundersticks. Why would MH3, the hater of all Thunderstick promotions ever implemented, be suggesting you bring the very same. It’s simple. Our speaker lineup is worthy of much more than applause and I can’t imagine you doing the wave. Besides, that’s so baseball. So I think to really show your love, you need to bring a little extra. The choice is yours, bells, horns, freshly energized lungs. I will even admire your inflatabe clappers!

There really aren’t a whole lot of rules about attending CSFX, but bring your A-game. We are bringing ours!