Recently I asked Lisa Schwartz , "Why is the flamingo ITSM Academy's mascot?" "Franny has a long history at the Academy . At our very first conference, we were just two ladies with a dream, traveling to Long Beach CA for an early it SMF show. The frame to our booth came - think silver scaffolding - but the beautiful art panels I designed and ordered, didn't arrive on time. Because we are in South Florida, our booth theme was Beach, and the giveaways were koozies, beach balls, etc. I also had ordered a somewhat sizeable inflatable flamingo, which I bought because it was 50% off. Well, we just had the silver scaffolding, so what's a girl to do? I blew up all of the inflatables, including the flamingo, who we immediately named Franny. I shoved the beach balls into the silver frame and hung Franny from the top, using a conference lanyard.* Thinking, Klassy with a K . Sadly - and shockingly - I don't have a picture... but at the time, I was pretty upset