Guest host post by Lisa Schwartz It is time to get back to sponsoring tradeshows!  And here at ITSM Academy that means our mascot,  Franny the Flamingo  ( click to read her origin story ) is going to Las Vegas. She's been with us at every conference since the early 2000s and I am sure she is ready to hit the road, via my suitcase, to represent again.  And her moment is here. We just signed as a sponsor of #Pink23. It was an easy decision, year-over-year, the conference is awesome.  This year, one of the options is to host, and name, the Signature Drink. During the February conference, Franny will be celebrating her 19th birthday - the Canadian legal drinking age.  It seemed fitting to honor her contribution to ITSM Academy by calling the #Pink23 Signature Drink the Festive Flamingo . That way, everyone attending can join Franny’s birthday bash.  #flamingoals   As it happens, @ITSMDonna is also celebrating her birthday in February and we take birthdays very seriously - paid holiday

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.   Time travel to 2023 to read about Franny's 19th birthday party in Vegas! 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