20 Questions…
Today is a special day for us! Today we launch our Ultimate Homeschool Expo Membership Site at 1PM CST (we are on the countdown now!). I am SO excited!
Want to know a few things about the Ultimate Homeschool Expo? Well, let me answer some of the questions that have come across my email for ALL of you! Ready?
1. What IS the Ultimate Homeschool Expo?
Great question! The Ultimate Homeschool Expo is the very first online convention specifically for homeschoolers. We have a wonderful speaker line-up, a virtual “Vendor Hall” and even a virtual “Mommy Grab Bag.” The biggest difference is that the Ultimate Homeschool Expo has a much, much larger speaker line-up than traditional conventions. We have over 22 speakers. Plus! You don’t have to miss even ONE of them or their workshops–you can tune in at your convenience, either live or by downloading their audios later. The difference in these Vendor Booths is that you not only get to know the company (you have more time to visit with them and get to know them completely since you can also do that at your convenience–indefinitely), but you also get to try out their resources (there are lots of freebies from each of them) and personally get to know who they are and what they are all about. You will LOVE this method of getting to know these great businesses. Finally, the Mommy Grab Bag…well, you have seen NOTHING like this. Not only do you get your traditional catalogs and special offers that come in the grab bags at conventions, but there are thousands of dollars in free ebooks, free audios, free lesson plans, and much, much more. It all combines to bring you the ULTIMATE Homeschool Convention…The Ultimate Homeschool Expo!
2. Who are the sponsors/vendors? How can I check them out?
We are so thankful for our awesome sponsors for 2007. They have been the ones who have made this event happen. I would love to encourage EVERYONE to really get to know these awesome companies. They have something very special about them–they really care about homeschoolers. Every single one of these companies caught the passion for blessing homeschooling families. When you get your ticket and see all that they did to bless our attendees this year, you will see that there is just something incredible about their hearts. I cannot stress enough how much fun it has been to see their hearts pour out so lavishly. Well, check out the list and give them YOUR support. You will LOVE these companies:
http://www.ultimatehomeschoolexpo.com/?cat=9
If you visit their site, let them know you heard about them from the Ultimate Homeschool Expo.
3. Do I have to be there at all of these events?
That is a super question! AND…one of the biggest perks about the Ultimate Homeschool Expo. First of all, you do not have to there live for any of the workshops. Now, saying that, you probably will WANT to be there live. It is such a blessing to just kick back and enjoy listening to the speaker teach while you simultaneously get to “text chat” with new kindred spirits. You don’t get this type of fellowship anywhere else. You will make new friends. You can ask that question that may be burdening your heart. You can even have prayers on your behalf from moms around the world. After each session, you get personal time with the speakers via chat. It is just an amazing way for moms to get their mom-time and really have needs met.
Back to the question, you don’t HAVE to be there. Every session will be recorded, so yOu can easily download the seminars to listen at your convenience. You will also get access to all of the gifts given out. While they are profiled during the event to be sure that every gift gets the attention of the attendees, they are posted also on the Membership Site during this event. In fact, you can access all of the wonderful gifts today in our Mommy Grab Bag. Talk about awesome! So, you don’t have to be there, but you will LOVE being there if you can join us for even one session!
4. What do I get for $35.00?
Talk about stretching your homeschool dollar! This will be the very best expense ever! You get over 75 audio seminars ready-to-download as they are presented, edited, and uploaded. You get access to over 60 audios before the event even begins. Not just ANY topic, but the very best and fullest list of topics anywhere. That would be worth more than the ticket price, but there is MORE! Our Vendor Hall is packed out with free gifts from our Vendors. Plus, we have special gifts that they have donated to our Mommy Grab Bag. There are thousands of dollars of gifts that are yours when you purchase your ticket for our event. Again, you will find that this is the best expense EVER for your homeschool.
5. What about the audios? Can I get them on CD?
Each session for our event is recorded, edited, and uploaded to our Membership Site. You receive over 75 audios. After the event, we will offer the audios for sale on CD, on a pre-loaded Mp3 player, or on a USB Drive. Those will be an expense in addition to the ticket fee. Those with tickets will be able to purchase at a discount. But, those expenses will be separate from your ticket cost. As you can imagine, that will be a big job for our office to prepare. We will offer those after we get our audios edited, uploaded, and available for our attendees.
6. What if I have a MAC?
The software for our Conference Room only works in Windows. Of course, those with Macs can install Bootcamp and Windows on their system and easily use the Conference Room when in Windows. I know that many homeschool families are on a tight budget and this may be out of reach. We do offer RSS feed to all of the audios for those who purchase tickets. You can use our feed in iTunes on your Mac to access every session. Plus, you will also be able to access the entire Membership Site as well. If you purchase your ticket, we also give Mac users permission to access the Conference Room on a friend/families computer–we really want you there!
Just a note! I just purchased a Mac. I am working on some other solutions for Mac Users to attend our events. I am sorry for the inconvenience at this time. We want YOU to join us too!
The audios and Membership Site are copyright protected. You may not share any of the audios with your friends. Also, you may not share the links to the website or to any of the free gifts/special offers with any of your friends. Anyone violating this copyright protection will be removed from our membership and banned from our site without a refund of their money and risk prosecution–this is a violation of the law.
This event depends upon your honesty and integrity. Our speakers and vendors are each giving you hundreds of dollars in gifts. We ask that you respect their generosity by not sharing anything but your enthusiasm with your friends. If you want to share the materials, send them to our website to purchase their own ticket. We would love for them to join us. They may purchase their own tickets here:
http://www.ultimatehomeschoolexpo.com/?page_id=5
Remember, this is to insure that our sponsors are able to be as generous in future events. We appreciate your help in this.
Now, with this said, we DO have scholarships available for those who want to be a part of our expo, but are in financial need. We want you there! So, just drop me an email at Cindy@CindyRushton.com and we will register you or your friend for the event.
RSS is a nice new technology online. It enables you to subscribe to the “feed” from websites and receive their information directly into your computer as it is available. Look at it as you would a subscription to a magazine–you would decide which magazine you want to receive, subscribe, and it comes to your mail box. With RSS feed, you can subscribe to a website offering subscriptions and receive their posts directly into your computer. We have feed for our audios that can be received using a program like iTUnes. ITunes is free online. I LOVE IT! You can simply download it in minutes at http://www.iTunes.com. Then, you can find our easy instructions on the Membership Site for setting up our feed in your iTunes. You don’t have to have an iPod, you can receive the audios by feed in your computer. If you do have an iPod (or get one!), you can simply plug it up to your computer and the audios download from iTunes into your iPod. Talk about easy! You would be ready in minutes to carry our Expo on-the-go!
9. How long will I be able to access the site?
Indefinitely! This is one of the biggest perks! You do not have time limits on how long you have to pull the information offline. IT IS THERE! It will be there for your convenience indefinitely! Can you beat that? There are a few offers that expire (good reason to set aside time to devour each Vendor Booth), but all of the free gifts are loaded into our site for you to enjoy at your convenience. We know you are busy. So, we have set up a site that will bless you for years to come.
10. I have dial-up. Can I join you?
Oh! DEFINITELY! I have access to Wireless Internet when I am in town. But, at home, I only have dial-up for my internet. Actually, I recommend that if you have the option that you use Dial-Up internet for our Conference Room. It works consistently and has fewer problems with connectivity. My Dial-Up is only 26.4-28.8. It works WONDERFULLY!
11. I don’t have a headset/mic. Can I still participate?
Yes! It really helps for you to have a headset/mic if you want to “talk” in the room. I love that option for question time. It is also nice for the chat time after the sessions. It is not necessary.
You will need speakers to hear the session. So, that is your biggest need. If you want to get a good headset, you can find really nice sets at Walmart for around $16. Look for the Logitech brand. Those have great quality and are very reasonably priced.
12. When are audios posted and ready?
Our sessions are recorded live. The recording has to be edited, uploaded, and posted on our Membership Site. We work very hard to edit and upload them quickly, but it takes a lot of time. We have to squeeze that work into our homeschooling days.
One of the reasons that we led up to our event with Preview Chats is because we wanted for you guys to have plenty to keep you busy while the last rush of audios are recorded, edited, uploaded, and posted. We have done a SUPER job of giving over 60 before the Expo Week begins. During Expo week, we will be recording pretty much all day, except when we are feeding our family and sleeping. Please allow several weeks for all of the audios to finally be posted and available. We promise that it will be well worth the wait.
13. What is the Mommy Grab Bag?
Remember those fun grab bags that you get at conventions? One of my favorite things about going to a convention is getting a nice cup of tea at the end of the day and digging into my grab bag. I love looking over the new products, reading all about them, and getting all of the extra goodies, like magazines and samples.
We could not think of planning an event without a Mommy Grab Bag. AND…ours is ULTIMATE!!
Not only do you get the great catalogs with tons of fun, new products listed and described, but you get SO much more! You get free audios, free ebooks (some of these you may even have on your shopping list!), articles, coupons, special offers, complete studies, printable planning sheets, notebooking printables, and much, much more. I had a blast compiling all of the goodies and I can barely wait for all of you to dig into them. This will be the most ULTIMATE Mommy Grab Bag EVER!
14. Can my children listen in?
Yes! Each of the workshops are taught with the entire family in mind. Some are more specifically for the entire family. But all are completely appropriate for any age. In fact, remember those old radio shows with the entire family gathered around? Well, we are just bringing that concept into 2007! Gather around the computer and dig into topics that will inspire the entire family!
15. How long do sessions last?
Talk about a tough question! Our Preview Chats have had an average of 1 hour for the presentation and up to 1- 1 1/2 hours of questions. The schedule during expo week will be much tighter. But, we do allow time for questions to be answered in detail. We do not want for anyone to leave our expo without ideas and answers or at minimum, direction toward their answers. If you have to miss any part of the expo, it is recorded and it will be available on the Membership Site.
16. Do I have to be live for doorprizes?
Most of our doorprizes that are given to everyone are posted on our Mommy Grab Bag page. There ARE some super doorprizes that will be given out live for those that are in attendance. We have some great donations from our sponsors and speakers that will only be available for those attending sessions live. These are extra goodies!
17. Who are the speakers?
We have an AMAZING line-up of speakers for the UHSE 2007. You may want to know how they were selected? They were selected by several criteria:
Their heartbeat for homeschoolers–they are all passionately devoted to helping families step-up to the call of homeschooling. They are all committed to seeing you succeed.
Their messages–their message are life-changing, practical, and easy to apply. I personally know each and every speaker. Their ideas WORK. When each was asked to speak for our event, they were asked to share what was on their heart. These awesome topics were their choices for this year. You can be assured that you will hear fresh, new, excellent topics each time you tune in. Plus! Watch how consistent the message is. We have spent hours praying and seeking God for HIS messages. You will love these!
Who are they? Here is our list of speakers:
* Catherine Jaime
* Christine Field
* Cindy Rushton
* Crystal Paine
* Elisabeth Rushton
* Harold Rushton
* Jill Novak
* JoJo Tabares
* Katie Kubesh
* Kimm Bellotto
* Lorrie Flem
* Marilyn Moll
* Marilyn Rockett
* Matthew Rushton
* Niki McNeil
* Paula Reetz
* Rhea Perry
* Ron Wright
* Sherri MacLean
* Tammy Cardwell
* Terri Johnson
Just peek at our website for links into their websites. You can see the schedule and their topics on our calendar. Here is the link to that:
http://www.cindysdesktop.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/ExpoCalendar.pdf
18. Will there be other events like this?
YES! We are planning to offer this particular event every year as the Lord directs. Plus, this event is brought to you in part through Talk-a-Latte. Talk-a-Latte is an online ministry for godly women. You can learn more about it here: http://www.Talk-a-Latte.com
We will be using the Talk-a-Latte Conference Room for this event. Talk-a-Latte brings you weekly study classes, monthly seminars, and regular events, like UHSE. In fact, as soon as this event is wrapped up, we will be gearing up for our big Back To School Blast! Well, more on that later!
http://www.cindysdesktop.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/ExpoCalendar.pdf
Do note: There were some changes on the schedule. It is updated now.
20. When can we access the Membership Site?
The very best question! It is ready! Get your ticket today and you can access the site! You can dig into all of the goodies beginning today! Just get your ticket here:
http://www.ultimatehomeschoolexpo.com/?page_id=5
See ya there!
With much love,
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