I went to CKU in Nashville in 2004 -- a total spur-of-the-moment decision for me, as I decided I wanted to go the night before online registration began!
I went by myself but found a great group of women to hang out with. We saved seats in lines and made sure we got a big table near the front of all general sessions. Trust me, you want a table near the front/stage! The "celebrities" are right there, and they're usually happy to stay and chat for a bit or pose for a picture.
Now, for classes. I only took nine instead of the alloted 10 -- there wasn't one I liked in that time slot. It gave me a chance to eat lunch and cool down! Also, if you like hands-on classes, make sure you sign up for those quickly as they go fast. For the most part, I signed up for the celebrity factor -- Stacy Julian, Lisa Bearnson and Cathy Zielske (my all-time fave). I missed out on a Becky Higgins class, but I did meet her and get my picture with her later on. Two classes I picked were duds, and I let the organizers know it in my class review. I took one truly hands-on class with the founder/owner of Lil Davis Designs. At the time, I didn't scrapbook 12x12 (still don't), but I was proud of the double-page spread I made!
There wasn't a vendor fair where you could buy a bunch of stuff. It was mainly the different manufacturers demonstrating the cool new products. I figured the Making Memories booth would have the longest lines, so I tackled that one as soon as the doors opened! Each booth had a make-and-take, so at the end of the day, I walked out with a bunch of cute projects.
If you want to get autographs of scrapping celebrities, I suggest you make little cards like I did: I cut 3x3 pieces of white cardstock and stamped CKU in the upper left corner and wrote Nashville 2004 in the lower right corner. Then I drew a border around the card. It was a lot easier to have something ready like that to ask someone to sign, in my opinion. Then, when I did my scrapbook, I was able to put the card on the page with the photo!
Whew! I hope this helps a little! CKU was a blast, and I'm sure I'd do it again sometime.
info about CKU
