How to Prepare for Young Living's International Grand Convention!

Planning for Young Living International Grand Convention

Each year, Young Living members from all around the world unite for a momentous occasion called Young Living International Grand Convention.

Looking back on my first experience, I remember all of the questions that I had while trying to prepare for my first trip to the Young Living Grand International Convention. I just felt so unsure and a little overwhelmed during the planning phases, and I'll explain why. It seemed as though, I was always one step behind the advice that was given for planning. Maybe just a minute too late on making decision about the agenda, reservations, and flights. If this is how you’re feeling right now, let me be just another person to tell you that it’s OK!

I have been in your situation and everything turned out to be magical, just everyone said it would. Your convention trip is going to be unbelievable. Its's really hard to put everything into words, but there is an energy at Young Living Convention and when your there your life will change. You will find a greater motivation to set and achieve any goal you want. You will have the opportunity to dig into your purpose and  passion, while at the same time becoming knowledgeable on all things wellness and self-care. Each workshop, lecture, general session, be ready to leave feeling like your ready to change the world. If your not making it to convention this year, you will be missed! Be sure to use this as a guide when your ready to start preparing for the 2020 Young Living International Grande Convention, which will all start happen soon after the closing party this year!
 
Last year being my first convention, I didn’t know how to be ready, what to pack, or how to actually go through the convention agenda. I had a great anticipation for the whole event because I was just so excited to actually be going. For some reason when I got started using Young Living products, convention seemed like something only business people attended, and at the time I wasn't quite sure where I wanted to go with Young Living.  Then I watched vicariously through social media all my friends jumping in lavender fields, watching the distillation process, drinking Ningxia Red, and freaking a Carrie Underwood concert! That was it, I couldn’t have the fear of missing out again. So after watching the 2017 Grand Convention at home, the year the breakthroughs with the Seedlings baby products and Savvy Mineral Makeup products arrived, I knew I was going next year. I started planning for 2018.  

I missed out on 2017 only because I didn’t think convention was for me, a new independent distributor but I was so wrong. Young Living Convention is for every single person, no matter where you are at on this journey. There is something to be experienced for all non-member guests, all members loving the products, and independent distributors from Stars to Royal Crown Diamonds. 

In two short weeks, I will be traveling back to Salt Lake City for the convention with my husband, family, and friends  from the Essentially Well community. I had such an amazing time last year, I convinced my husband to travel with me.  We are looking forward to catching up with our larger teams and cross line friends that are from all over the world. 

It's time to start thinking about how to optimize your experience at Young Living International Grand Convention because it can be overwhelming. From experience, I think its important for you to know that you may not get to everything. You want to go into convention with a flexible plan. Have an idea of when you will be going to opening session, workshops, the farm, participating in social events or team parties, but also understand that there is so much to do, see, and learn at convention that you may not get to everything that you had planned.

Although I am going to tell you how to plan for convention, remember to take time for opportunities that arise in the moment. Convention can be a great way to network and meet crossline friends.

Maybe be out of your comfort zone and go meet new people, talk to Young Living employees, and building relationships with other members that are there. You will learn so much more if you are open to opportunities.

Have the mindset of flexibility because these opportunities and connections can be made at any time when you least expect it during convention. So for example, if your running late to a workshop and you see a Royal Crown Diamonds, don't be afraid to stop and talk with them. You can both learn so much from each other, everyone has a story to tell about how Young Living is blessing their family. And if you are heading to product expo but a cross-line friend who supports you on social media asks to go to lunch, go to lunch!  

Make the Young Living Convention what you want it to be, don't hold back.

How to plan for convention:
Planning for convention takes about a whole year. It's important to be on top of the planning process in the future so that you can travel the days you want to travel, stay where you want to stay, and do not end up paying premium prices.  In this order here are the things I take care of, over the course of the summer, fall, and winter. 
​
Registration:
As soon as Young Living announces that registration for Young Living International Grand Convention is available, I would register immediately. As a Young Living convention attendee you should receive access to register prior to open registration for the upcoming convention. Last year, I registered for 2019 soon after convention was over. 

If you missed out on registration, there is still a possibility you may get a ticket. Maybe not for this year, but in the future. If for some reason, if you couldn’t register for a ticket or you didn’t get a ticket, in the future wait until people start to realize that they are unable to go. I would say about 4-6 months away from convention, you start to se people trying to sell their convention ticket.  There is often many people that have a ticket but are now unable to attend convention. These people will be looking to transfer their ticket to someone who is seeking a ticket. There are deadlines for this process and Young Living will give the timeline each year. It’s important to pay attention to the dates. Finding people to transfer registration tickets for convention seems to be pretty easy if done early. My community has several convention Facebook groups where these conversations about exchanges are started. Please let me know if you need help.

Housing
Young Living offers hotel rates on the Young Living Convention Website. These rooms are booked in minutes, but don’t let that scare you. The last two years, I already had a few hotel rooms booked before these rates are even released. 

Hotel rooms become available about one year in advance so once Young Living releases the dates for the upcoming convention, I just keep track on when rooms are available to be reserved. When the dates become available, I call a few hotels that offer continental breakfast and find the best rates that I am willing to pay. 

I always try to call for a Young Living hotel rate room, but I have been unable because the rooms get taken so fast. There is usually one downside to reserving these hotel room with Young Living rates, that is they are usually nonrefundable. Again, you will most likely be able to find someone in need of a room if your plans end up changing for the upcoming yet. 

I find hotels that allow free cancellation and typically book a few rooms for my team. I also reserve rooms for longer than my intended stay so that once I have my travel arrangements decided for the trip, I can customize my room reservations. It's better to take away nights then try to add nights to your reservation.

I also look into Airbnb housing too. In 2018, my team stayed in Salk Lake City downtown hotel but this year we will be staying in Park City!  There are Airbnb's all over Utah, you can begin searching for the housing that is best for you and your trip. 

​Travel
Since Young Living International Grand Convention has been in Salt Lake City for the last two years, I have had to plan my airfare. Again, doing this early is on your side.  As soon as the airline companies release flights and tickets for the month of convention, I decided when I am going to fly out and buy my tickets very early. 

I enjoy flying American Airlines, Southwest, and United. 

Transportation
There are many ways to get around in Salt Lake City. Last year, since I stayed in the city and was able to walk or Uber to most places.

Although there was one thing that we didn't plan out so well and that was getting to the farm. When you sign up for your farm day experience, you can sign up for a shuttle from the convention or you can provide your own transportation.

We selected getting our own transportation but we waiting too late to book our car. See each time we looked at option, there were so many available until there weren't! We actually looked the night before we left and still saw plenty of options, so driving to the airport we were going to actually put a payment down to reserve a rental car at the airport, but all of the sudden there were basically no affordable rental cars left. In one night, just like that! My sister ended up renting a more expensive car for a few days because it was the only vehicle available.

I was never going to let this happen to me again. We booked our rental car in April this year! Since we are staying in Park City, we will be doing a little ore driving around than last year. 

Again, if your staying in downtown and you have the shuttle service farm day ticket, you will not need a rental car. If you did not sign up for the shuttle service farm day ticket, but you would like to visit the farm then you will need a rental car. The Mona Lavender Farm is about 45 minutes from Salt Lake City, so you will need to drive. 

We used the car to explore Utah a little more too. It was my very first time in Western United States, so the whole experience was amazing. The large mountains and valleys around Mona, Park City, and Salt Lake City were breathe taking. If your interested in doing a little exploring on your own too, then grab a rental car for a few days and have some fun! 

Leave space in your suit case:
Everyone will be a little different here, but I am trying to pack exactly what I need. No more because I want to leave room for any new products that I will be buying and bringing home from convention. In order to leave space in your suite case, figure out your outfits at home. You will most certainly want comfortable clothing and shoes to wear because the days are extremely long and there is a lot of walking. 

Convention Essentials: 

• A small bag or book bag, last year Young Living gave us a swag bag to use for convention. 
• Camera, iphone, and Ipad to take pictures, videos (when allowed) and write notes to bring back to your teams. 
• Portable charger for your devices. I have the Jackery Portable Charger,  12000 and it worked perfect for the entire trip. It also comes in handy on long travel days or flights. At convention, I used my phone  to take a lot of pictures while on the farm. I have videos of the distillation process, asking questions in the product expo and talking to Young Living employees. It is essential to have a charger for convention. The portable power charge allowed me to keep my battery fully charged. 
• Order any food, snacks, or water from AMAZON and deliver to the hotel for the day you arrive! There is no need to travel with these things, just have them shipped to your hotel, how cool it that!
• Pack your Life 9 probiotic in this Chill Med to Go, in your checked bag.
• Hat for the farm experience, you will be in the sun. 
• Comfortable clothing and nicer clothing too
• Comfortable shoes 
• Notebook, pen, business cards
• Your Young Living Essential Oils 

Young Living Convention Experiences:
Opening Session / General Sessions:
These sessions are the most powerful events to attend. I recommend arriving to these sessions early so that you and your group can sit together. These sessions are filled with key note speakers for leadership, motivation, and personal growth and Young iving will be making major announcements and product education. Be ready for pictures and videos because these general sessions will be educating the members on all the new things coming to Young Living!

After the announcements, which will happen at one of the general sessions, most people will be ordering the new products and the interenet will be very slow. Young Living will offer convention exclusives, my advice is to order a few of those things because you will not be able to order them when you leave. It's a bonus to be at convention because you get access to these things and you can order all the new products immediately. Young Living often has a convention bundle which will be the easiest way to order quickly and efficiently. 

Farm Day Experience: 
The weather can be extremely hot in Salt Lake City, especially on the farm so it's important to plan accordingly. I will be bringing my hat, sunblock, sunglasses, water bottle, lavender. peppermint, and thieves hand sanitizer. Personally, I will be wearing cloths that I don't mind getting a little dirty and comfortable foot wear. 

Young Living Headquarters:
​Visits to headquarters is a new experience to the 2019 Young Living Convention. I am looking forward to seeing the Young Living campus where the magic of this business happens. 

Product Expo:
All of Young Living Essential Oil products will be displayed for you to discover. There are usually people with informational handouts or experts on the product available to talk. In the expo you can even sample and try some of the products. Have fun, explore essential oils that you do not have at home, taste the Einkorn products, apply Savvy Mineral makeup, and take home handouts. 

Workshop:
After the first opening session, Young Living schedules educational workshops for attendees. This year, the workshops will be from Thursday through Saturday. These workshops are scheduled for learning in-depth information from experts in the field or well experiences leaders on specific topics. 

Workshops are in various locations and this year you only has to register for a location. There is a workshop scheduele that Young Living has put together. All workshops will be availabel to you in the location that you registed for, which is so nice for them to change the workshop shedule. Last year, I was running around, wasting most of my time looking for the room assignments. Now I can't wait to just stay in my seat and wait for the transition of the next workshop to come to me! 

For the workshops, I recommend having an ipad, notebook, pen, portable charger, snack, water, and possible a sweater to wear if you get cold.  You will be listening to highly qualified people about Young Living, the products, wellness, animals, the business, to name a few things. During these workshops, take notes so you have the information to come back to or share wit your team at home. 

Closing Party: 
A true celebration to end the Young Living Convention in Salt Lake City! There will be a lot of ground breaking things that happen with company and the Young Living Foundation. Many people will actually be working toward supporting the foundation while at convention, so its a time to celebrate how Young Living is changing the world and changing the life of families all over. It truly will be a celebration for every member that is a part of these movements.

At the closing party this year, we will be listening to Imagine Dragons! 

More Events on the Agenda: 
During the registration process, if you are quick and lucky, you can register for more events to experience at Young Living Convention. The agenda has YL Fit, Young Living Foundation 5 K and Relay, YL Spa, and more! 

It's very hard to get registered for the spa and the yoga session. I have been unsuccessful for both years of registration. Based on how quickly they are filled, I know they are an amazing experience. If you get the change to register for these events on your agenda, I wouldn't hesitate. 

Related Essentially Well Posts:

• How Young Living Changed Our Lives! 
• New and Improved Premium Starter Kit

As always, please feel free to comment and tell us about your Young Living Convention Experience to help our community learn more. 

If you haven't gotten to it already, please subscribe below for the latest updates, offers, and promotions exclusive to our essential oil community!