What the heck is a Planner Convention?

This weekend, I attended the Chicago Planner Convention. This was its fifth year in existence but also its first year in a new hotel in downtown Chicago. As a new attendee to this event and a first-time Planner Conference attendee, the only point of reference and comparison I had was to pen show events. So, the remainder of my descriptions and opinions will be through the lens of a regular pen show attendee and first-time planner conference attendee.

First off, what do you do a planner convention? If I experienced it correctly, attendees did a lot of the same things we do at pen shows: shop a marketplace of new-to-you as well as familiar favorite vendors and attend classes, workshops and lectures that talk about the whys, hows and whats of planners, journaling and writing. While a fountain pen show might have classes on tuning nibs, painting with your fountain pen inks or swatching you inks, the planner conference focused on topics like Visual Notetaking, how to use specific planners, bullet journaling, mind mapping, and using certain types of pens or stamps or other tools.

Unlike fountain pen shows, the Chicago Planner Conference included a keynote event on Saturday morning that brought all the attendees together in one room to hear featured speakers.

I travelled to the conference with Lisa from Vanness Pen Shop and Joe Crace from Gentleman Stationer. For the weekend, we were Team Vanness.

The event is incredibly well-structured and organized. Prior to the event, attendees received documents with descriptions of classes and workshops, options to participate in a first-timer orientation and many other options. There were also Facebook groups for attendees and another specifically for vendors.

Friday, the show opened with opportunities to pick up badges and swag bags and a cocktail hour & shopping event. The cocktail hour was sponsored by Cloth & Paper and each attendee received one free drink ticket to use on Friday night. As a vendor, we were delighted by shoppers who were browsing the market with a cocktail in one hand and their credit card in the other.

One of the key activities at the was the Saturday Keynote speaker “general session”. Part of the excitement for this event is that each table for the event is festooned with product swag. Tables are sponsored by a specific shop or vendor and each person at the table is provided with a goodie bag or some sort full of gifts. Prior to the weekend, attendees are given a chance to vote for which table they want to sit at (options were sponsors from Vanness Pen Shop to Cloth & Paper to Pelikan, Zebra and Rickshaw Bagworks. Each person who sits at the tables also brings a small “table mate gift” in the form of candy, stickers, charms, etc. so that upon arriving the tables are literally buried like the base of the tree on Christmas morning.

Once the excitement of the pile of gifts subsided the speakers were able to share their stories. Saturday afternoon was filled with the workshop sessions. Some were hands-on, how-to-make style workshops while others were more lecture/discussion-based. Lisa hosted a class about fountain pen basics and what papers work best for fountain pens. Joe and I provided AV support and occasional snarky side comments. I was more the snark than Joe. He’s too nice to snark.

Saturday evening after the workshops provided attendees with more opportunities to shop and visit the marketplace before donning their party clothes for an evening of cocktails and dancing at “Planchella” — a planner-themed, Coachella-inspired dance night.

Sunday wrapped up with another coffee reception and market shopping followed by another all attendee session and finally a one-hour “Power Hour” in the marketplace before heading home.

As a vendor, the Power Hour shopping event provided a last-minute rush of shopping and, for attendees, an extra discount from some vendors to entice a few final purchases.

In between, since most attendees were staying at the hotel, there were secret swag drops and swaps held randomly throughout the hotel. Did I mention there was a special app just for the event that provided alerts on your phone for when sessions were starting as well as all these little swag drops? Yes, it was THAT organized.

There was also a whole host of volunteers who helped vendors, attendees and everyone in between navigate the event, answer questions and just be awesome. Volunteers watched our table, brought us water, helped us when we got lost and would just check in with us as vendors throughout the weekend. Thank you to each and every one of you who took time to help us. Also, the valets and the bellhops at the hotel were amazingly kind! Kudos to the staff at the Hilton!

Overall, the event seemed more focused on the workshops, lectures and meet-up than the marketplace which I think is a smart move for these activities as well as a little better for attendees since as much of the event is focused on the “how to use” and “why to use” as it is on the “buy more to use”.

I hope that pen shows slowly morph to be more like this event. I don’t want to get rid of all the things I love about pen shows. I still think pen shows have done a better job at creating after-hours hang outs and opportunities for the community to share and boI was so new to the community and coming at it through the vendor’s helper position rather than a full-fledged attendee.

Stay tuned! I will be giving away a metric ton of swag later this week to create your very own virtual Planner Con!