BA Face to Face Opportunity

I have just finished up with the sessions in NYC and London for the British Airways Face to Face contest with all of the winners and what an incredible group of people we all are! I feel so honored to have been included with them. We spent a day in NYC during the bad ice storm (some people had to go straight to London because of the weather). In NYC, we had breakout sessions focusing on elevator pitches, how to get funding for our businesses, how to do business outside of the US, social networking, PR etc. and the grand prize winner was selected. The judges (Bethenny Frankel, Bill Rancic and Barbara Corcoran) we there and all 250 of us at the Sheraton NY Hotel and Towers. Lots of cocktail parties were held and then we were off at 5 a.m. on Thursday in buses from the hotel to JFK to the BA lounge for a large breakfast spread and another networking session before our dedicated flight from JFK to Heathrow. Upon arrival at Heathrow, we checked into to the Sofitel Hotel and had yet another cocktail networking party. Bed time hit some of us hard and on Friday a.m. we started the day with yet another networking breakfast and a morning full of inspirational speakers - The CEO of BA, the Minister of  UK Trade, last year's BA Face to Face winner - and the most inspirational of all, the head of the UK Olympic committee.
After the morning session ended, we said our goodbyes and scattered around the world. Alot of the winners were off to Africa, India, Australia, Indonesia, London and Europe. What a truly amazing program to be a part of and it is only in its 2nd year! I met toymakers, head hunters, people building schools in impoverished villages in Africa and Laos, travel book publishers, you name it!
After a delay at the airport - Off to Rome!