This year’s Creative South began with a road trip from the great state of Tennessee southbound to Georgia along with my sidekick Chewie, AKA Ryan Slater visual designer for Engage, and designers Emily Carlton, Luke LeFevre, and Nick Sloggett.

Along the way to Creative South is a chance to visit new places and try the local fare. This year, the first stop was Birmingham, Alabama for some Cajun dishes at my favorite restaurant, Pappadeaux, where I amazed many people with how much food I could put in such a small frame of a body. The worry wasn’t the calories. Nope. The worry was expensing so much food! But, when the check came, Mr. Sloggett bought my lunch. (Thanks Nick!) Now I don’t have to explain the gator bites, crab cakes, mozzarella sticks, salad, crawfish, crab claws, and fries to our CPA. Oh, and praline cheesecake. Wait, did I really eat all that?

With Birmingham in the rearview mirror, we were on the road again with Georgia in our minds.

We rolled into Columbus, GA in just enough time to check into our respective housing options – some of us chose to use Airbnb while others opted for hotels. We then rolled over to the VIP dinner where the speakers and staff and other friends got together to kick off the conference. This year I was on the Creative South staff and a speaker along with Luke. As such, we got to enjoy some southern dishes, talk shop, enjoy life with other creatives, and end the evening over a fire pit baking s’mores. (Yes, more food.)

It was a great way to begin the Conference weekend and prepare for the class sessions to come. More on that in a future post.