By Marlita Hill
From February 23-28, the DA:NCE team went to the National Radio Broadcasters conference in Grapevine, TX. Billed as the “world’s largest gathering of Christian communicators,” the conference was held at the impressive Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center. I was taken aback by the palatial lobby and atrium that greet you when you first enter the resort. The pictures of the Gaylord were striking in themselves, and the actual building was just as remarkable in person.
We arrived at the conference a day early, which gave us an opportunity to locate our booth and other important places, as well as venture around the resort and check out its various shops and restaurants.
As the opening of the conference approached, the atmosphere became increasingly lively with more people arriving and vendors starting to assemble their booths. Being a media conference, there were cameras, lights, microphones, and cables everywhere. One of my three highlights of the conference was seeing the various vendor displays—which ranged from the standard table and chair setup with a few visual elements to an elaborate two-level display that had a cafe-like setup. I loved observing how the different organizations brought their allotted empty spaces to life with screens, couches and chairs, artwork, electronic billboards and banners, and more. One vendor who was catty-corner to our booth had a lovely, welcoming setup with a rug, bookshelves, lots of artwork and knick-knacks. It looked so inviting but I couldn’t help thinking about how long it would take her to pack it all back up once the conference was over.
The attendees and vendors were an interesting mix of people from across the U.S. and abroad. I had no idea there were so many media organizations and different ways to share your thoughts and ideas with people. I found it amazing to think that this conference, as large as it was, only featured a sampling of the media entities that actually exist.
Eventually, it was time to get to work. Our main purpose for attending the conference was to get the word out about DA:NCE’s mission and the great work being done to further that mission. Over the course of the conference, we got the opportunity to share our work with many people from all walks of life, including pastors, parents, business owners, and people who never really gave much thought at all to dance or the impact it could have in children’s lives. In addition to connecting with people who passed by or visited our booth, I was so impressed watching Mary give and pursue interviews and opportunities to share about DA:NCE’s mission. She was tireless and impactful. In one notable interview, the interviewer was brought to tears as he recognized the importance and impact of this addressing harmful dance. Over and over, I watched her help people understand why they should care about the dance experiences children are having. And understand they did, often referring her to other interviewers to share more.
One big lesson I learned from this experience is not to assume anything about people. As people passed by our booth, they would look like they weren’t interested, were in a hurry, or wouldn’t possibly care at all about children dancing at all. But most times, they ended up being people who were not only interested in hearing about our mission, but were also interested in joining our mailing list, referring us to other people, and even getting more involved.
