My Life on the Road - 100% Travel Chick: Charlotte NC - Bistro Operations Class (BOPS)

Anybody that talked to me while I was interviewing for this job or after I got it knows that the Courtyard Bistro was the one piece of this puzzle that freaked me out. I hadn't every stayed at a Courtyard, had walked in one maybe once or twice and all in all knew nothing about it. I could facilitate front office, housekeeping and leadership as it is pretty much the same across brands, however the Bistro is a chain restaurant inside these hotels and we have to teach the culinary piece, yikes!
I had the opportunity to observe partial Bistro Trainings in Holland with Tricia and Akron with Emma and Shannon, then got the opportunity to see the entire training process in Dallas with Maj. After Dallas I was assigned to go to Jupiter to observe Bistro Ops (you can read about the sun and sand here) it was an amazing class and I learned so much from Vanessa, Tricia, Justin and Shannon. After I got home from Jupiter I got a travel release to go to Charlotte, however this time I wasn't observing I would be facilitating!
Vanessa sent out the agenda and I would be facilitating front desk, onboarding/hiring, micros and then facilitating the kitchen culinary piece with Shannon. I was super excited to spend another few days with Shannon and Tricia (they really make this job easier, I always learn something from them and laugh a lot as well) however was super nervous to be facilitating information that I am not 100% on everything. Shannon and I arrived on Monday to walk the property with Vanessa and go through our agenda for the next 2 days to make sure that we were comfortable with everything. Tuesday the class started off and Tricia joined us at noon that day. Shannon had her culinary piece, she did so good and I was SOOOO glad that she had that part of the training and not me! I talked about sales and service and then demonstrated how to conduct a wine tasting. We went to dinner that night and then had a great night of laughs and chatter, always a good time when I get to hang out with these ladies! Wednesday is a crazy busy day in the training world as we have 2 rotating stations, a tight timing schedule in order to get everyone to their flights on time and also lots of information which leads to lots of questions.
It was a great training class and again I learned so much from listening to the other trainers. They were supportive when I answered a few questions incorrectly and gave great feedback about my facilitating style. I had such a great time in the kitchen during the culinary piece of the class co-facilitating with Shannon, we balance each other well when we are working together.
Something must have gone right as we got great feedback from Vanessa, a thank you note from her as we all landed at home and are already tentative on the schedule for the next BOPS in Atlanta in two weeks!