Monday's schedule was packed with activities. I hardly took any pictures at all. Here is one of the convention center where we were waiting to enter the customer gallery. There were so many people!

The customer gallery was amazing. It was at times emotional. Inside there were walls with customer letters - good and bad - for us to read and relate to. There was an enormous wall of cups and 'cup phones' for us to listen in on actual customer calls to the customer care line.

Then of course the video about 'Bob' and 'not-Bob'. The conversations we all have to have about the difference in the way we treat our regular customers and the customers who don't come in everyday. It makes me feel bad to know that I haven't treated everyone with the same level of care and enthusiasm. That's what these conferences are for!

The partner gallery was inspiring. It provided new ideas for engaging and inspiring our partners. There are activities to do when back in our stores to help build a strong team which in turn creates a better experience for our customers. I look forward to meeting with each of my partners individually.

I participated in an executive round table with Troy Alstead, our senior vice president of finance. As a table we talked about the effect on Starbucks of the economy and what is happening on Wall Street these days. We also talked about store budgets, store manager bonuses and how new programs/promotions get thrown at us so frequently making smooth execution challenging.

An awards dinner for the South/Southwest Zone finished off the evening. The store managers of the quarter for 2008, store manager of the year and district manager of the year were announced and recognized for their work.

After dinner it was back out to Bourbon Street! Another late night, but we got to sleep in!