Musician Fred Johnson Entertaining the Crowd

Starting on Thursday, May 15^th through Saturday, May 17^th, 350 BNI Directors gathered at the Buena Vista Palace in Orlando, Florida.  The 2¹/₂ day conference, hosted by BNI HQ, BNI Orlando and Jacksonville, and BNI New Hampshire and Maine, was filled with networking, presentations offering valuable training tools, and festivities.

High profile Orlando residents Mickey and Minnie Mouse flanked BNI’s Founder & Chairman, Dr. Ivan Misner, onstage as he gave the Directors a warm welcome at the opening of the conference.  Other special guests included Jim Blasingame, Bob Burg, and Fred Johnson.

Throughout the event, attendees were treated to special performances by talented musician Fred Johnson who clearly wowed the audience with his amazing skill at musical improvisation.  There were 15 break-out sessions featuring networking insights from some of BNI’s best and brightest presenters, to all of whom BNI HQ extends great thanks for taking the time to conduct such excellent sessions.

At the close of the conference, some of the Directors offered comments about what they considered to be the highlights of the event.  Some of the highlights mentioned are as follows: Mickey and Minnie, New Director Orientation conducted by the “Above and Beyond” team, the opportunity to spend time networking with hundreds of BNI Directors, tracks listed on the agenda, Operations / Administration break-outs, office systems, and the presentation on BNI Connect.