Game on!

Today was the big day: the "soft" launch for The Dream Society. Approximately sixty (60!) people showed up to hear me talk about the latest iteration of The Dream Cafe or, as I described it, the latest cover version of that catchy little song penned by Pierre Couture and Debra Rice twenty some years ago.

The event was organized and hosted by Aaron McRann from Community Foundation South Okanagan. (Can't say enough good things about Aaron and his organization!) Aaron gave me a quick introduction and, after that, there I was on the stage of the amazing Dream Cafe for the first time in my life. I even went so far as to belt out... "Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone..." After that, it was a deep dive into the new business model.

People were very kind and listened patiently as I blathered on far too long. Finally, after at least 30 minutes -- which probably felt like hours for everyone else -- as I was apporaching the end, the first hand went up. And then another. And another. For close to an hour, on and on it went with people asking one great question after another. And much to my surprise given the Café's rocky financial history, everyone was incredibly positive. There were numerous rounds of applause and, dare I say, some palpable excitement in the room.

When the talking was all done, I had a lineup of people waiting to ask me more questions and Aaron had a lineup of people waiting to hand over their money. Will have to wait a day or two for a total, but I'm pretty sure we sold 10-15 Diamond memberships tonight, each of which costs $1,000. Just as importantly, I had numerous people tell me I could count on them to volunteer.

There are still more details to nail down but, based on the response today, I think it's safe to say that the re-launch is officially underway. Exciting times ahead!