(My Impressions)

The ADDA conference was just held in Orlando Florida. July 24^th-27^th at the Rosen Shingle Creek resort in Orlando Florida. I am thrilled I had the opportunity to attend. I was also very proud to be accompanied by my wife Yvonne. We had a wonderful time and met some fantastic people. It was initially my plan to crash it, but after being there a short time my wife convinced me to register and stay in Orlando for an extra day. I could not be happier she did.

I am not going to identify everything I learned, but I will hit some of the highlights of what made the trip so much fun. I saw some of my friends whom I had only known as online faces and words. I was honored to have been interviewed twice. The best part was the people I met. It was strange at first seeing the faces of all of those I only knew through my site, but I got used to it fairly quickly; I was even approached by a few people who recognized me.

ADDA Conference | The Venue

The ADDA Conference was a beautiful venue. I am sure it must have been a five star hotel, it was enormous, and beautifully decorated. I felt like I was not supposed to be in a place this nice. It was certainly nicer than our room at “Garbage Gardens” where my wife and I were slumming it.

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ADDA Conference | The People

Jeff Copper, DeShawn Wert, Eric Tivers and Mike Fedel, who I know very well, were there and it was awesome to get to meet them in person. They are some of my favorite people in this community. There were also others who I barely knew or had never met.

 

One of the more refreshing people I met was in a session I attended given by a “Doctor” Yes; a doctor. I did not know this going in or I would not have attended. Dr. Kirsten Milliken of playdhd.com, gave one of the more entertaining presentations. She exhibited none of the characteristics you might expect from a doctor in her presentation. She gave no medical or scientific advice or remedies, but rather very useful practical tips and suggestions. She is one of my new heroes.

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I also met and got to know Laurie Dupar of Coaching for ADHD. I had my picture taken with her because I wanted to make one of my readers jealous (haha). Laurie is an awesome lady. We had more in common than I was aware and we talked each other’s ears off.

I met Rick Green and his lovely wife Ava Green of “TotallyADD ®” Rick was exactly as I imagined him to be. My wife and I spoke and laughed with Ava for quite a while and she gave us a DVD of their video. She and her husband Rick were kind enough to sign the jacket.

Then there was Alan Brown of ADDCrusher®. I was very excited to meet Alan. Alan seemingly cannot walk from one place to another, without someone coming up to him to praise him or to pick his brain. He grabbed me and Yvonne and we snuck off into a bar and sat down. Alan bought us both a drink and we were able to sit and talk for an hour and a half. Anytime I was with Alan he was very adamant about introducing me to whoever he was talking with. He is a giver and a real class act.

ADDA Conference | The interactions

I would especially like to thank Jeff Copper and Eric Tivers for taking the time and caring enough to interview me for their blogs. Jeff Copper and I did a video interview and that was not as rough as I imagined it would be since I have never done a video interview. Eric and I did an audio interview about what were my impressions of the ADDA conference and how I came to be there.

I am sure I will make attempts to be at the next ADDA conference. There was an overwhelming awareness I had that all of the people there had at least one thing in common. They all cared very deeply for all of those of us with ADHD. I could not have been more proud to have been in attendance.

 

Perhaps next year I will even have the honor of presenting. I think this would be an incredible experience and what a great opportunity it would be to speak in front of such a fine group of human beings. We’ll see.

I am Tom Nardone and you are welcome.

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