Originally Posted by billycwhatup

The event was yesterday at the Gaylord National Harbor. I would estimate around 250 people were in attendance at the "National Pastime" sports bar at the hotel. There were a handful of Marriott Rewards folks milling about to socialize but none seem terribly desirous of heavy conversation about the program. The food was a wide ranging series of buffet stations including hot dogs, nachos, sushi, shrimp cocktail, oysters, pulled pork and sliders. The bar and bar service was wide open and drinks were flowing.

An appearance fee was paid (presumably) to former Redskins cornerback Darrell Green who does not appear to have much a future as an orator. Said differently, a small bit of preparation in advance of rambling and generally incoherent remarks would have been great. Admittedly, I'm not a Skins fan but he had absolutely nothing to say and did not appear the he cared that he was unprepared. Meanwhile, he patiently signed autographs for a lengthy queue (head shots he brought only, he apparently would not sign any merchandise or other goodies).

The Marriott-specific portion of the event was underwhelming and not terribly well organized. What was billed to be a "program announcement" at halftime was the breaking news that it was Marriott Rewards 30th Birthday. It was declared that the next year will be "The Year of Surprises" (sounds like the B side of a Chinese restaurant place mat) but the surprises were quite limited. They brought people to the front that had a series of October birthday to see which would "win a private party." Unclear what kind of party, where or what the rules were. Each of the finalists was presented with a balloon - one of which apparently revealed the winner when popped. The only caveat is that no one had any idea who won and only a Marriott Rewards employee was able to decode the contents of the balloon. Really odd.

We were presented with what was deemed to be a stadium blanket but actually had a rubber coating on half, so you wouldn't want to snuggle up with that anytime soon. Perhaps it's actually a picnic blanket?

Anyway, it was a nice enough event but nothing particularly juicy or interesting from a Marriott perspective.