I’m in Salt Lake City, Utah for OnStage Live 2016, previously known as the Annual Convention. I went on the tour of the main offices yesterday. It’s a beautiful building with a huge waterfall in the 2-story atrium. Another demonstrator and I were invited into the “Picking Line.” When orders are processed a bar code is made. This bar code tells what size box will be needed, lists each item to be “picked,” and a precise weight for the filled box. As the box goes along the conveyor belt a worker scans the bar code which lights up the items in that area that are to put into the box. Somehow I assumed there would be workers racing up and down the aisles like something on I Love Lucy. The crew had participated in after lunch stretching exercises and then they went to their stations. A dozen or so items were arranged on the shelf so that the most frequently ordered items were closest to the bar code scanner. The boxes came along one at a time. No mad dashes up and down the line and “Lucy” was not scrambling to keep up.Later today the festivities get started in earnest. There will be presentations with techniques and ideas, Prize Patrol with gifts for a select few (hopefully all will win before it’s over) and a few where we all get something, opportunities to try out the new products, and best of all, we all get the new catalog and have the opportunity to pre-pre-order to be the first to get our hands on some of the new stuff.But there will also be the unofficial events like swapping. Demonstrators will congregate along the halls and aisles between events swapping cards. It’s a great way to talk to people from all over and trade ideas. In the past, at least since I’ve attended, we’ve had the “new” annual catalog and it’s nice to have samples for different ways to use stamps that we may own or to show our customers samples for stamps we don’t own. This year is a bit different. We haven’t even seen the retiring list yet. There are a few we’ve been led to believe will be available past the end of May but beyond that is only wishful thinking.There are also “organized swaps.” This is my first organized swap, started by Monica Davis. The swaps are to be tags that can be tied on a gift, or like Monica, tied on the tops of the orders she delivers to her customers.  I don’t personally use many tags, but every tag could be altered a bit to be a card idea. The photo at the top shows my tag for the organized swap and the similar card to swap in the aisles.Here are the free directions.2016 OnStage Swaps Timeless Textures Tags2016 OnStage Swaps Timeless Textures Two for One Card