It is hard to believe it has been a month since we were descending on Riviera Maya, Mexico for the Connoisseurs Connections Summer Conference. It has been a month contemplating the soulful experience we had at our host property, Etéreo, Auberge Resorts Collection.
For our summer conference we, along with our Advisory Board, our Destination Partners, and our invited Meeting and Event Planners, all arrived to this peaceful oasis greeted with blessings by a Shaman to begin our stay; washing away our pain and fears and opening our hearts for all the magic we were about to experience.
Sitting over the mangroves with overwater walkways to find your way around parts of the resort, and a white sand beach at its edge, Etéreo set the stage for the story that was to unfold over the next few days. Designed with natural colors and décor, serving up authentic food, blessings at your door upon arrival, room drops with traditional messaging and Mayan storytelling, the resort was the perfect setting for our theme of Honor the Past, Live in the Present and Create the Future.
Etéreo provided us the base to embrace things with intention. Rooms, décor, seating areas, even rooms keys blended into the natural surroundings and everything had intention.
After weeks of rain, the sun arrived in sync with our attendees, giving us a warm open air welcome reception on property at ITZAM Restaurant and Terrace. With beautiful tablescapes and entertainment provided by Maritur DMC.
For our sunseekers there was a hat bar provided by the DMC as well as a sunglass fitting by our gifting partner, Maui Jim.
The following morning we hit the ground running with Day One of programming including one of our favorite “why’s”, our charitable beneficiary and partner, Doc Hendley, founder of Wine to Water. Doc delivered a memorable keynote while he took us thru his story of starting his non-profit, Wine to Water, captivating our audience with his experience watching the difference he is making in the world by implementing fresh water for drinking and household chores in hard to reach locations.
If listening to his story wasn’t inspiration enough it was followed with programming from Dear World, and Executive Storyteller Khatdija Meghjani, who took our attendees step by step thru the process of telling a story from their own lives that has had meaningful impact.
Some went down a road of overcoming adversity or challenges in their lives while others went towards the more light-hearted, bright lights of their life. Step by step we learned to sift through it all and come up with a “brain tattoo”. What is a brain tattoo, you ask? It is a short saying, set of words or anecdotal reference to your own story, something personal, something that may only mean something to you. Attendees then had the option to write this brain tattoo somewhere on their bodies and be photographed by our staff photographer, Kelli Price. The final product would be revealed the following day.
After a very emotional and intimate morning, our afternoon was spent at our Destination Showcase, where meeting and event professionals had the chance to sit one on one with our Destination Partners and take notes, discuss program leads and learn more about some pretty fabulous destinations and properties.
With whimsical king’s tables and décor in purples and greens and golds, the Midsummer Night’s Dream themed evening brought us our annual gala and auction. Our attendees knew the assignment and came prepared!
They were treated to a multi-course meal, followed by a live auction of donated travel packages to motivate our guest’s competitive sides. The auction brought in a mouth-dropping $50,000 to benefit Wine to Water, bringing our auction total for the year to $95,000. With a goal for the year to raise $100,000 for charity to say we are pleased to be this close halfway thru the year is an understatement. We are always blown away at the generosity of our attendees, as well as the generosity of our Destination Partners who donate the travel packages. We feel so blessed when this all comes together in such a way that allows us to give back to such a worthwhile cause.
Day Two brought us back together for roundtable discussions about hot industry topics. Pairing off our Meeting Planners with one another and our Destination Partners with one another at first, before round two mixed the groups together for thought-provoking discussion. Putting together heads from across the industry is always eye opening when you can collaborate on solutions or put minds at ease with discussion.
To close and come full circle we invited three attendees to stand up and tell their story from our Dear World exercise from the day prior. There were cheers, there was laughter, there were tears. Told with such composure, each speaker shared their own personal story with the room, and we closed with a stunning slideshow of portraits of brain tattoos from the group, shot by the talented Kelli Price Photography.
But it wouldn’t be a Retreats Resources event if we didn’t continue our conversation and spend the afternoon networking in the pool!
The grand finale evening took us to the beach. With cocktails and entertainment on the pier followed by dinner on the beach where we could sink our toes into the soft white sand, enjoy a final night of camaraderie and conversation under the stars as we dined at one long, beautiful table provided by Maritur DMC. The word magical was used over and over again. Indeed, it was a magical evening to top off a magical few days.
Finally, we bid hasta luego to the beautiful Riviera Maya, the lovely (and magical!) Etéreo and another Connoisseurs Connections Conference.
