Kansas City and More by Dusti Davis, DEI Scholarship Recipient

Kansas City and More

Written by Dusti Davis, DEI Scholarship Recipient

I want to thank everyone who supported my scholarship and trip to the BOMA 2023 International Conference in Kansas City! Thank you!

When I received the email that I was nominated to receive a DEI Scholarship to attend the BOMA 2023 International Conference I was honored. I knew there had to be some exceptionally talented contenders and when I found out I was picked, it was such an amazing feeling of accomplishment to be where I am today, in my career.

BOMA, Vendors, Friends
The BOMA Seattle King County team was so helpful from beginning to end, I do not know how I would have completed this trip without them. Not to mention my fellow Unico friends and my local vendors. It was a great feeling to have so many familiar faces with me during this conference. Not to mention all the connections that were made.

Flights and Hotel
My flights went without a hitch. I do not normally check a bag but had more than I could carry on. I also knew I would have more coming back. I was thankful for an uneventful baggage claim experience, to and from KS. I was a little surprised how far the hotel was from the airport. I have been spoiled with our airport so close at home. I had the most amazing hotel room; it was like a little apartment. There was a fully furnished kitchen, living room, bathroom, and bedroom. I slept great and was ready for each day, fully rested! The hotel staff was so amazing and very responsive. I would absolutely book with Residence Inn/Marriott in the future.

Kansas City and More
I had never been to Kansas City and had not experienced that type of heat in over 6 years! I am from Pennsylvania, but have adapted to Seattle weather, for sure, lol. I found out I am not as fast a walker when the weather is hot and humid. And speaking of walking, I put in a total of 92,315 steps while on the trip! 25,623 of that was on Saturday, June 24th! We walked to the National WW1 Museum and Memorial. What a wonderful way to experience our history. I got some great photos and will remember that forever. I went back to Memorial Drive a couple more times during the trip. I walked through the Missouri Korean War Veterans Memorial, which was also beautiful.

The city was so clean and welcoming of BOMA. I had a random couple ask me what BOMA stood for. They noticed all the signs and were curious. It was impressive to see the way the city came together for this one event. What a difference it had to make to many businesses in the area. I rode their “free” streetcar, to do some shopping and eating. What a great offer for the residents of this area. I also heard they were expanding the streetcar to Kansas City, Kansas. And it will still be free!

Expo
I felt like I knew some of the expo vendors before getting to KS. There were so many email exchanges and invitations to meet. I was blown away at the size of the expo and all the different vendors set ups. It was very impressive. I did my due diligence and stopped at each table on the raffle drawing cards, learned about their business, and got a stamp. On day one of the expo, I noticed this tool cart that I thought my engineers would love! I was planning to come back to tell them all about it. They gave two of them away at the first raffle drawing. Day 1, I did not fold my entry card and all cards picked were folded. So, on day 2 I folded my card four times. I was standing right behind the stage/caller, and we he pulled a card for the Mobile Shop Cart, it looked like my card! He announced, this winner is from WA, Seattle, and it is Dusti Davis!! I was ecstatic! They are going to ship the cart to my house, I am keeping this one for myself!

Sessions
There were some serious sessions during this conference. A few that made me cry, shake my head in agreement, open my mouth in surprise, smile from ear to ear, and laugh. I had to walk up to the instructor, Bo Mitchell, of the Workplace Violence: Mental Health Signs You Can See Coming and thank him for his session. The Sunday Keynote: Leading in Times of Chaos was exactly what we are working with today. Get in front of the NEXT BIG SHIFT could not have been a better title for this conference. Every single session was relevant to working in Commercial Real Estate in 2023.

The BOMA 2023 application was a life saver! TripIt also helped me tremendously with my schedule.
Everything was timed out perfectly, there was not a time I felt overwhelmed.

TOBY Awards
It was so fun to have a theme to go with the TOBY Awards Ceremony. Everyone looked fabulous!
The food and entertainment were wonderful.

Kansas City Convention Center
This was a perfect venue for the Conference! I was at ease with getting around to all the places I needed to be.

Even though I am from Pennsylvania and had never visited Philadelphia before I moved across the country to Seattle, Washington. Maybe, I’ll see you at the BOMA 2024 International Conference in Philadelphia!

Thank you!