The 2008 Under 21 Convention

*Updated with new pics

The 2008 Under 21 Convention, second year in a row, July 24-26th + bonus programs on the 27th and 28th.

I can't stress enough how amazing this event was, both for myself, attendants, and the soon to be viewers when the footage is released (which is as high quality or better than any other community product).

So let's recap.

The day before, as prepared as I was from last year, I was still busy as shit driving around Orlando picking up speakers from the airport and working with the video crew. Thank god I didn't take any summer classes this year.

Yeah...they're setting up a fucking crane.

That night some of my closest friends from home drove up to help and hang out. Zebra, a speaker staying with me, helped me finish my day 1 speech and I helped him finalize his as well (this guy IMO gave one of, if not THE best speech at the convention at 21 years of age. I think most people will shit a brick when they hear what he has to say).

Up till 3:30 am, sweet.

Wake up at around 7 am and go for a jog. Nothing like working out before starting one of the most important days of the year right?

Leave with friends, Zebra, and go to pickup a staff member, and one of my new room mates as of yesterday.

This event would not have been possible without her.

We get there on time. We get things set up, my security staff arrives, and so do attendants.

I have my book printed out for sale, everything's going smoothly. Around noon I begin the longest, and deepest speech I have ever given. Basically everything I've been wanting to get out and communicate to you guys for months now, in 2 hours.


I feel I did an incredible job, and not only got out some vital information for guys of all ages, but really demonstrated a CHANGE within my self for those who went last year and knew me personally. I think this was seen best in how I moved, animated myself, and radiated a deep sense of relaxation while up on stage (unlike last year haha).

Yes, those are my Vibram five finger shoes.

Right after myself Braddock from Love Systems took the stage and rocked the house for about an hour. Guy did a bad ass job, and everyone but my room mate seemed to love his speech lol.

Braddock and I kickin it. Big shout out to Nautlius for letting us use his projector.

After Braddock, Heartwork from Vin Di Carlo went up there at the tender age of 18 and really gave it his all. Gave out some great info and insight into what he does, and also ran the first audience participation event on stage.

To wrap up the day was the most surprising speaker, Zebra. A former (and one of the first) Under 21 Lifestyle students, I knew this guy was going to take it far last year. He lives in Europe (Sweden) year round so I took a gamble inviting him out to speak based solely on his posts and previous experience hanging out with him....

I was anything BUT disappointed. Did a phenomenal job. Pics are not available at this time of him.

Me, my sister, and room mate hanging out.

One thing that kind of surprised me was the turn out on day 1. It was about half of what RSVPed via e-mail. Hmmm...must be because the big 'pullers' like Sinn and Mehow weren't scheduled until day 2....right?

Anyways day 2 began with myself and Homerunking speaking for about 1.5 hours on health/diet/fitness and overall vitality. This was Hrk's first time up on stage, and I feel we both did a kick ass job. Expect more next year but more concise as we got out as much information as possible during our time block.

After we hopped off Sinn took the mic


Sinn was one of this year's biggest speakers, and did not fail to impress. Speaking at just under 2 hours, he really knocked the socks off a good part of the crowd. This guy is a bad ass speaker, and a fast mover at that (the camera guys had a tough time keeping up with him LOL).

After Sinn we have my former room mate and good friend, Ratisse. The same guy who fucked 60 chicks on the floor in under 7 months.

Ratisse was up there for about an hour and got out a lot of background/insight into his life. Sick job.

Right after Ratisse Nautlius and Right Hand Man (toplair members like myself/Hrk/Ratisse) took the stage and did some REAL damage. Nautlius gives presentations for work fairly often and it showed, seriously. I'm so jealous of his power point skills...=P

Seriously though, the content they discussed is GROUNDBREAKING and exactly what this community needs to hear. Be prepared, you might have to re-watch their speech a few times since it is so SOLID that it might be hard to believe "its possible" at first.

Pictures are not availble at this time.

Next up was supposed to be Mehow but due to flight problems AFC Adam swapped times with him. The world's third best PUA as ranked by Thundercat did not fail to drop a few jaws.

This was actually my first time meeting the guy, but I have to say he's another INCREDIBLE speaker. Super animted, charismatic, captivating.... and gives off a really good, down to earth vibe both on stage and one on one.


This guy also mentioned us on the latest Thundercat, big thanks for getting the word out there.

Day 3 started off with me going through the Q and A we started on the forum. I went right down the line, hitting each question with as much value as I could. Took a lot of Q and A from the audience this day too.



My shortest speech, but still potent. All in all I believe I spoke over 4.5 hours throughout the 3 days.



Directly after my speech was Mehow, one of the community's best. This is the guy who came last year when the event was just starting up and believed in us. Great job last year, awesome as well this year. I only wish I could have given him more time but flights suck sometimes.

After Mehow the one and only Manwhore was up. This guy came out last year and was one of our top speakers. Seriously, this guy was bad to the bone for 2 hours, like MANLY fucking shit. Listen closely when the footage is released.

After Manwhore, El Topo took the stage. I met this guy back at a lair talk, and man am I invited him out this year. Really charismatic, and funny speaker. Seriously (or not so seriously depending on how you look at it), this guy was funnier than most stand up comedians, and he brought the rain as I call it (rock solid value).

In the later half of his speech he invited up 2 close friends and fellow instructors, Doc Holiday (who also had his 21st birthday the night before) and Entropy.

I wish I could have gave them more time, but 2 hours was pushing it, and you'll be seeing them in 09 ;).


Libidoescape was a speaker from last year who wasn't able to contact me until the schedule was full...damn. Well he's a close friend so I managed to sneak him in for a solid 15 minutes before our group Q and A. Be sure to check out his footage from last year on

members.venusianskills.com

And a much longer presentation next year.


To wrap up the event was our group Q and A with all remaining speakers. Imagine that....for 30 minutes you can ask

Mehow
Myself
Sinn
Zebra
Doc Holiday
Entropy
Libidoescape
Heartwork
Ratisse
El Topo

and eventually Homerunking (not pictured)

any question you want about anything.

Pretty sweet huh?

This IMO was another golden peice of the event, expect 1.5 hours of this next year since it went so awesome. I think it's really cool to see the community uniting in a way like this as well.

And that was the 2008 Under 21 Convention.

All in all this was the speaker list

Dream

Braddock

Heartwork

AFC Adam

Zebra

Sinn

Ratisse

Entropy

Libidoescape

Nautilus

Right Hand Man

Manwhore

Mehow

El Topo

Doc Holiday

Homerunking

It's also worth noting the approach a thon (free in field workshop) I hosted. This is something Zuzu from Toplair inspried me to do, and I'm glad I did it. Last year it was a bit messy, fun, but messy. This year I kept it TIGHT, value packed, and to the point. Rather than go through the standard speech I just took Q and A, walked guys through moving sets/seated sets, gave guys openers to use, and paired newbies up with advanced guys. For all those that helped out, big thanks.



We were going to host a second one for older attendats the second night but you'll hear why that didn't happen in a moment...

Some of you guys may have noticed my energy/enthusiasm slowly declined throughout the event, and eventually you all found out why.

That why is, I messed up with the budget this year, big time.

2007 we had a free video guy, and lower costs all around. As a result, it wasn't as organized as I would have liked.

In 2008 I went to far in the other direction. I like keeping my shit tight, and I feel I did a great job running the event. I learned from my previous mistakes, and thought I corrected many of them.

One in particular came back to bite me in the ass. In 2007 I only had about 20 rsvps leading up to the event. The day before I got considerably more, but still was scared out of my mind financially the day of. Fortunately though, MANY people showed up that didn't rsvp.

This year I pushed RSVPing through e-mail. In total I had just under 100 guys rsvp, not to mention an additional bunch who didn't rsvp show up....right?

What I didn't count on was

A. the economy
and
B. Pushing rsvps harder meant more flakes.

I think all but a handful of rsvps from last year showed up. This year? A solid 40 didn't arrive.

This is my fault however as I should have enacted some type of deposit...but I had last year as a reference point and wasn't worried. Especially with momentum from last year and more marketing.

Anyways, day 1 of the event I dropped every penny out of my bank account and credit I had to pay the hotel and keep the video crew around, praying that a boat load of people were going to show on day 2 to see Sinn and Mehow.

Only a few more did.

....Holy....shit. I have problems.

I was a few thousand short and had no idea where it was coming from. I promised the AV guy I would sell my car within 2 weeks if worse came to worse to keep him around. And yes I was serious.

Thank god for El Topo. I talked to him about what was going on and he had the idea for a fund raiser at a local resturaunt. 50 dollars and you can have dinner with Sinn, El Topo, Afc Adam and more...

We raised nearly a grand that night. I also sold a few pre orders for the footage, and some people donated money. One guy donated 200 dollars, but big shout out to everyone who pitched in, no matter how small.

This was enough cash to keep the camera guys around, but I'm still broke and a few thousand short. Was not expecting this.

Luckily on Day 3 I talked to Nautlius about what was going on. We ended up on a conference call where Nauty and Right Hand Man talked me through a few options. Eventually I talked to El Topo some more and between the 3 of them I managed to stay level headed, creative, and resourceful...

So now I'm at the point where the video crew is waiting for me to finish payment before editing. The sooner the debt is paid, the sooner the footage gets out to you guys. All in all, over 23 hours of footage.

The collective footage, which will be available on Venusianskills, will turn this community head over heels. Literally, this product will be incredible. As high quality or better than any other product out there. Never before has this much value gathered, ever.

So how are we going to raise the remaining funds? (about 2 grand).

Probably the best way is next year's early bird ticket available at

www.under21convention.eventbrite.com

My birthday is August 25th. I'll be 20 years old and would love to be out of debt to another individual. If you guys can help in any way with that, it would be the ultimate birthday gift.

You can buy next year's ticket now for $150 dollars, 100 less than next year's door price. Big savings? You bet.

AND

Until my birthday, when you purchase the ticket, you receive a FULL free copy of The Dream Way and accompanying products. This normally goes for $42 dollars on

www.TheDreamWay.net

Remember, this deal and price only last until my birthday, August 25th. After that the price jumps to 200 dollars and the ebook deal ends.



Another way we're hoping to raise funds is individual speaker sponsorship. If you spoke this year please e-mail me at

support@under21convention.com

For details on watermarking your footage for a very low and fair cost.

I originally considered a full title sponsorship but realized that that could hurt the convention long term, and that this community will come together when the time comes.

There are still 2 more ways you can help out.

1. Is to donate. Honestly I'm not big on hand outs/freebies but I'm in a tight spot. If you want to donate you can use eventbrite, but they charge a small amount.

If you would like to donate directly without any fees please paypal any amount to

Beachmuscles65@yahoo.com

No amount is to small or insignificant. Please e-mail me if you would like to donate or help out in some other way.

2. If you've been holding back on signing up for a workshop with me, NOW is the time. Forkit from the forum has already signed up for the end of the month. You can join him and recieve a 250 dollar discount, just e-mail me at Dream@under21lifestyle.com

See http://under21lifestyle.eventbrite.com/ for more details.

Also check out my latest review from WellDawg at http://www.under21convention.com/forum/showthread.php?t=792

That's all for now guys. Rabit from the forum was the first to buy next year's ticket. Who will be the next?

Thanks so much guys. I know this will turn out alright, and not because of me, but because of us.

YOU guys make it possible.

See ya next year!

-Dream

ps-keep the convention reviews coming!

pps- HUGE thanks to all the speakers, attendants and staff that came out.