5 things I can’t stop thinking about, after Seeds of HOPE

Yours truly, with keynote speaker and performer Nathan Osmond

Never has a week zipped by so quickly!

It’s pretty hard to believe that last week at this time, we were embarking on our second full day at Seeds of HOPE (Helping with Obesity Prevention through Education), TOPS’ first-ever health and wellness forum.

Many of us flew in on Wednesday, and stayed through Sunday, although the event was primarily Thursday-Friday-Saturday. Needless to say, the entire experience provided an action-packed few days!

As I start to organize next steps — just in terms of marketing, communications and publicity — and continue gathering my thoughts, it occurred to me … perhaps my TOPS friends would enjoy reading some of my takeaways.

So without further ado: Here they are!

1. How cool is our TOPS president?

Seeing TOPS President Rick Danforth, and his lovely wife Anne, interact with our members, really stood out to me as a refreshing sight. Of course, I know how wonderful Rick is (I work with him full-time!), so it shouldn’t have come as a surprise. But still, how many organizations like TOPS have a president who has truly walked in a member’s shoes? The fact that Rick joined our group, became a Coordinator, at one point had lost more than 100 pounds; and then worked his way to the highest role within TOPS Club — speaks volumes. He really is as easy to talk to and accessible as he seems, if you had the chance to bend his ear for a few minutes at the event!

When you couple all that with his impressive public speaking skills and his expertise as a microbiologist — I hope you attended his talk on the microbiome! — I was blown away by the entire experience. Having Rick at the helm of our ship is the absolute best.

2. What made Seeds stand out, was that there was something for everyone.

The event was extremely well-run and well-organized (shout-out to Coordinator/Board of Directors member Randy Givan, and Service Program Administrator Judy Pruett, who did a LOT of the heavy lifting).

We had the entire group together for keynote addresses and such, twice a day — typically at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., and those were excellent. Shoutout to Mike Breeze, who became a fast friend and someone I spent a lot of time with, picking his brain about marketing and what he would do if he were in my shoes. Turns out, there were networking/connection opportunities here for all of us … and I wasn’t necessarily expecting that for myself!

Anyway, outside of those talks that went on the main stage in our massive conference room, attendees had the chance to “choose their own adventure,” if you will. Remember those kids books? For example, if you wanted to attend a session on diets vs. healthy eating, you most certainly could. If you hoped to learn more about growing as a chapter, you could then opt to attend a publicity meeting (run by me!) Or if two sessions you wanted to attend, ran at the same time, you were likely in luck: A lot of these were offered at multiple times, so that hopefully, people had an opportunity to schedule everything in, eventually. The sessions were SO valuable.

3. You guys are SO warm and welcoming.

From an impromptu tour of the venue from Randy, and then a subsequent tour from Field Staff member Bonnie Rose (who led some excellent sessions on grief, as well), to just chatting with members and really getting the chance to hear and learn more about your lives … I loved that part so much. I’ve heard a lot over the past two years about how TOPS is like family, and I really got to see it in the flesh last weekend. Thank you guys, for letting me in, for saying hi in the hallways, for complimenting my outfits (lol), asking about my children and more. Being on HQ staff is such a privilege, and our members at Seeds made me feel like the luckiest. Let’s tell some more stories together and get TOPS rolling again, shall we?

Shout-out to the DeVicariis family (Laurie, Chris and David)

4. This was the first-ever event we’ve hosted like this — so we’re only growing from here!

It’s true that our founder, Esther Manz, organized the group’s first national convention all the way back in 1955, coinciding with the American Medical Association’s convention in Chicago. The AMA helped TOPS establish the sound medical ties that make this organization so different from commercial weight-loss companies and clubs. Now that TOPS is in its 76th year, we had hoped to return to our roots, getting back to Esther’s core mission and legacy – and re-strengthening those ties to the medical community.

And that we did!

Look at this gorgeous ice sculpture we had on the main stage!

I will say — if you have feedback for next time, we will likely be issuing a survey or some type of form to collect your comments. So hang tight! Relish the good times, all the best pieces of advice you picked up, your new TOPS friends and more … because it’s only going to get better each and every time we host something like this.

5. Along those same lines … I’m already looking forward to 2026.

We didn’t announce the next location when we were all gathered in Springfield, Missouri, and we haven’t announced it on social media — because it’s not firm, to be honest.

Sometimes, the mentality (or at least, what I hear from where I sit) is something like, “TOPS HQ doesn’t tell us anything!” But I’ll pass along a message, especially when it comes to this topic in particular: We haven’t told you, because those details have not been finalized. We don’t want to speculate; we want to tell you when we’re 100% firmed up and ready to make the announcement. So sit tight … I’ll let you know more when we’re ready to share! And no, “2026” wasn’t a typo. We’re planning on revisiting this event in some form, every other year, rather than annually.

THANK YOU, Seeds of HOPE attendees, and all the Field Staff who brought this to life! See you in two years!

*And here’s the link from when Nathan went live on Facebook, from the concert Saturday night!