Despite a delayed spring and cloudy skies, it was all sunny smiles inside the Wolf Creek Golf Resort for the Ponoka Women’s Conference, April 12.
“It was great, the feedback was positive,” said organizer Lauraine Weir. “Just watching the women interact with each other was wonderful.”
“There just weren’t any glitches at all,” she added.
The event was attended by 97 women, which Weir feels is a good amount to slip Ponoka back into the tradition of a women’s conference. “When we had started initially we thought if we had 150 to 200 that would be good.”
However, Weir decided the smaller number was more advantageous for this event. “For the first year, it made that we were all in the same room together. It was a great number to keep it kind of intimate,” said Weir, who added the small session numbers and comfortable aspect it added was one most well like parts of the event.
The conference held four mini breakout sessions focusing on fashion tips, undergarment fashion, skin care and relaxation for the women to attend. Weir says small numbers of participants in the separate events kept the women from feeling intimidated during the more personal sessions.
The small numbers also allowed for easy visiting and reconnection with friends that sometimes fall on the backburner to busy schedules and daily demands, which was one of the goals of the conference.
Weir said one of the main obstacles the Ponoka Agricultural Society faced was how to make the event — planned in two months — as grand as possible while keeping attendance costs down. The answer came in the form of many business donations and sponsorships as well as a $3,500 grant from FCSS. “That was just a huge shot in the arm when we realized a month ago that we could apply to them.”
The winner of the conference’s $600 makeover was Kelly Bell and Weir says the event is something that’s going to take place again.