This one-of-a-kind collectors event celebrated the 30th anniversary of the KOC.
Event Dates: Thursday and Saturday, August 3-5, 2017
Start Time: 8:00 a.m.
End Time: 5:00 p.m.
Note: In an effort to reduce lines, registration and product shop will open from 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. on August 3, 2017.
Location: Kansas City, MO
Registration
This year, to enable more individuals to attend, Hallmark is limiting registrations to two per person (with a unique, valid 2017 KOC membership number required for each registration). Regardless of the number of KOC memberships you have, you will only be able to register a maximum of two times. This will allow Hallmark to expand the number of people who are able to attend.
Opens: Registration will go live on April 3, 2017 at noon CST
(note this is different from previous years since April 1 falls on a Saturday).
Event Fees: $60
Travel/Hotel
A limited number of rooms are available at a discounted rate ($163.00/night + fees and taxes) for August 2-5 at the Sheraton. Individuals are encouraged to reserve their room early and mention “2017 Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments” to get the discounted rate. Group rate available until July 12, 2017. Subject to Availability.
Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center (host hotel)
2345 McGee St.
Kansas City, MO 64108
Reservation line: 1 (866) 932-6214
Hotel: 1 (816) 841-1000
For online reservations: CLICK HERE
Schedule at a Glance
Thursday, August 3, 2017
- 2:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. – Early Bird Registration, prepaid product pickup, product shop, Keepsake Village Photo Booth and Personalized Photo Ornament shops open. There will be no prizes or additional advantage to picking up packets early. Photo identification and valid KOC membership card matching the photo ID required. Secondary Market dealers begin opening.
- 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. – New Attendee Seminar – Learn all about this year’s Event, including tips and tricks to take full advantage of the Event experience. There were no giveaways, prizes or other complimentary items at this seminar.
- 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. – Welcome to the Keepsake Village Reception – Come join us for a KOC Event kick-off celebration! Enjoy appetizers, a cash bar and chat with other members and Hallmarkers about the KOC’s 30 years.
Friday, August 4, 2017
- 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. – Artist signings, product shop, secondary market, Keepsake Village Photo Booth, Personalized Photo Ornament Shop, and registration open.
- 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. (hourly, excluding 12:00 p.m.) – Seminars and Workshops. Each seminar lasted approximately 40 minutes.
- 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. (hourly, excluding 12:00 p.m.) – Village Games: Bingo, Spin-it-to-Win-It, and Keepsake History Trivia.
- 9:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 2:00 p.m. – Register-to-Win Door Prizes announced.
- 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. – Marjolein Bastin Signing
- 5:00 p.m. – Dinner Celebration – Those that have pre-purchased the meal will use their Dinner ticket from their registration bags to pick up their food. A cash bar will also be available. Enjoy festive music from our Hallmark Band and sit back and watch the Costume Contest at 6:30. There were no giveaways, prizes or other complimentary items at the dinner.
- 5:00 p.m. – Costume Contest – Show your Keepsakes LOVE with themed attire, costumes or just some flair! Costume Contest participants MUST attend this event. Judges will be seated just outside Exhibit Hall A. Be sure to swing by the judges table on your way into Exhibit Hall A. All participants will get the chance to show off their costumes on stage at Friday’s Dinner Celebration. Costume Contest Winners will be announced during the Friday night 30th Anniversary Presentation at 7:30. You will still be able to claim your prize if you cannot attend the Friday evening event.
Best costumes were awarded from three categories:- Best outfit that shows what collecting Keepsakes means to you (ex. Family, Community, Festive Holiday fun!)
- Best outfit inspired by a Keepsake Ornament Series
- Best outfit inspired by the Year 1987 (the first year of the KOC)
- 7:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. – Special 30th KOC Anniversary Presentation – A reception open to all attendees. You no longer have to be a Local Club member to attend…everyone’s welcome! All Event attendees are invited to be experience a very special presentation in honor of this important anniversary. The Village Shopping Center (Ballroom) will be transformed to theater seating and doors will open at 7:00. Look forward to some very special speakers and an exciting celebration of the last 30 years of the Keepsake Ornament Club. The presentation will be packed full of video, recognition, tributes, sneak peeks, and surprises! (even a few exciting giveaways!). Note: Live Auction moved to Friday night so everyone can enjoy the excitement and suspense of this amazing fundraiser.
Saturday, August 5, 2017
- 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. – Artist signings, product shop, secondary market, Keepsake Village Photo Booth, Personalized Photo Ornament Shop (Pickup Only), Silent Auction and registration open.
- 11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. – Silent Auction – Highest bidder announcement and last call for final bids.
- 12:30 p.m. – Silent Auction – Announcement of Winners.
- 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. (hourly, excluding 12:00 p.m.) – Seminars and Workshops. Each seminar lasted approximately 40 minutes.
- 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. (hourly, excluding 12:00 p.m.) – Village Games: Bingo, Spin-it-to-Win-It, and Keepsake History Trivia.
- 9:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 2:00 p.m. – Register-to-Win Door Prizes announced.
Agenda
New Attendee Seminar
Learn all about this year’s Event, including tips and tricks to take full advantage of the Event experience. Note there was no giveaways, prizes or other complimentary items.
Welcome to the Keepsake Village Reception
Come join us for a KOC Event kick-off celebration! Enjoy appetizers, a cash bar and chat with other members and Hallmarkers about the KOC’s 30 years.
Silent Auction
We are proud to host this year’s silent auction in partnership with CureSearch for Children’s Cancer. CureSearch is a national non-profit foundation that accelerates the search for cures for children’s cancer by driving innovation, transcending research barriers and solving the field’s most challenging problems. This year’s auction for CureSearch will be full of amazing prizes, from hand-painted artist originals to 2018 first sample ornaments, all of the items up for auction are a win-win. All auction items will be on display in the Ballroom throughout Friday’s Artist Signing Events. The Silent Auction will kick off at 8 a.m. on Saturday. Auction items will be described and bidding will be open until 11 a.m. To bid on the items, simply stop by the Ballroom any time between these hours. At 11:30 a.m., the highest bids will be announced and you will have one final hour to bid. You won’t be able to see the competing bids so be sure to bid high! Then, come back to the Ballroom at 12:30 p.m. to hear the announcement of all auction winners.
Welcome to Kansas City Gold Crown Event
Location: Crown Center Gold Crown Store
Before and after the Thursday night Reception, the Crown Center Gold Crown Store held a special shopping event, featuring local exclusive ornaments and lapel pins.
Mystery Bags
Wait until you see what’s in this year’s Mystery Bag! With a retail value of $100, it’s a high dollar gift bag that will be offered at a very special event price. There will be 900 mystery bags available for sale containing at least 10 Hallmark gifts, including a few mystery ornaments. Just 350 bags will contain a very limited quantity repaint of the 2016 mini Hummingbird so you’ll need to be quick to get yours!
Opportunity to Buy Early
You will receive special early release access to the 2017 Mary’s Angels 30th Anniversary Keepsake Ornament. The ornament is not available in stores or online until December 1. This anniversary angel is $17.95 and can be purchased either in the Product Shop or at the Pop-Up Shop in the Exhibit Hall.
Get your photo taken with friends in front of our Keepsake Village backdrop. Share your photos on Facebook or Keepsake Community. Use #KOCEvent2017
Artist Signings
New this year, attendees received signatures from all of the artists. In addition to the one signature per artist, they also signed the Studio Edition, Santa’s Sleigh. Artist signings started at 8:00 a.m. ran every half hour with the last line starting at 4:30 p.m. Artists took breaks for lunch at 11:00 a.m.
Artists were divided up into four signing lines:
- Artist Signing Line #1 – Patricia Andrews, Nina Aube, Tom Best, Tracy Larsen, Anita Marra Rogers, and Nello Williams.
- Artist Signing Line #2 – Jake Angell, Katrina Bricker, Ken Crow, Terri Steiger, Sue Tague, and Sharon Visker.
- Artist Signing Line #3 – Joanne Eschrich, Kristina Gaughran, Rodney Gentry, Robert Hurlburt, Jim Kemme, and Don Palmiter.
- Artist Signing Line #4 – Robert Chad, Tammy Haddix, Matt Johnson, Edythe Kegrize, Deb Nielsen, and Orville Wilson.
Additional Artists:
- Lynne Norton – available to sign 8:00 a.m. -11:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
- Marjolein Bastin – 100 attendee names were drawn to receive her signature on Friday morning.
- Ruth Donikowski was unable to attend the 2017 event.
Experience Keepsakes!
- Holiday Décor Tutorials: Looking for new, exciting ways to decorate with your Keepsake Ornament collection? This seminar will feature four different 10-minute decorating tutorials with several crafty presenters. Also included – 2018 sneak peeks, prize drawings and an exclusive Collectors pin for attendance.
- A Close Look at Keepsake History: Our Hallmark Cards Historian will join a member of the Keepsake Studio to take you back in time. Travel through the Hallmark Vault and look back at some of your favorite Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments and the origins of the Keepsake Ornament Club. Also included – 2018 sneak peeks, prize drawings and an exclusive Collectors pin for attendance.
- A Feeln Seminar with Dr. Christmas: A Holiday Décor celebrity will be hosting this session. Don’t miss an exciting Tree Decorating tutorial, exclusive video presentation and a chance to learn how to fully leverage your annual Feeln subscription bene t of your KOC membership. Also included – First viewing of a Keepsakes video, prize drawings and FREE hot cocoa!
- Keepsake Innovation Panel: Take a journey with several Keepsake Ornament developers, responsible for the engineering, sound, writing and functional design of Keepsake Ornaments. Video content and panel interviews will reveal the making of some of our most innovative ornament designs, including the exciting Star WarsTM Storytellers ornaments. Also included – 2018 sneak peeks, prize drawings and an exclusive Collectors pin for attendance.
Games
Stop by anytime on Friday or Saturday to play a game for more chances to win fun prizes. Present your game tickets from your registration packet for a chance to play. Space is limited for each game.
- Spin-it-to-Win-It!: Every half hour, we will draw names to spin the Wheel of Prizes. Use your game tickets to enter. Submit multiple tickets in one drawing or spread out your luck throughout the event.
- Keepsake Bingo: A classic game, with a Keepsakes twist. Sit back and play for your chance to win fun prizes.
- Keepsake Trivia: Think you know a lot of about Keepsakes? Place your game ticket in the Trivia category you think you know best. Names will be drawn, questions will be asked and prizes will be won!
Workshops
Each workshop will run for 40 minutes and will change over at the top of every scheduled hour.
- Envelope Decorating Tutorial: The creatives behind our Think.Make.Share blog are excited to teach you new ways to dress up greeting card envelopes. Sit down, learn new lettering skills and enjoy the demonstration.
- Gift Wrapping Tutorial: It’s not the Holidays with- out gift wrapped boxes under the tree. Learn new gift wrapping techniques and leave with lots of fun ideas for Christmas and beyond.
- Snowman Ornament Craft: If you pre-purchased the Snowman Ornament Craft kit, designed by Hallmark Keepsake Artist Tammy Haddix, bring your ticket to the workshop to paint and nish your special Keepsake Ornament. Additional Snowman Ornament Craft kits will be available to purchase onsite.
Convention Buttons
Attendees could receive unique buttons at each of the following:
- Each Artist Signing Line (different button per line!)
- Seminar – Keepsake Innovation Panel
- Seminar – A Close Look at Keepsake History
- Seminar – Keepsake Holiday Décor Tutorials
- Workshop – Envelope Decorating
- Friday Night’s 30th KOC Anniversary Presentation
- Mystery Bag
Event Product
Additional prizes up for grabs: 2004 Exclusive Christmas Chess Sets, $25 Hallmark Gift Cards, Comic Con and D23 Event Exclusives, Star Wars Storytellers: Darth Vader’s Tie Fighter and Death Star, Premium ornaments, and Roku Devices for video streaming.
Event Notes
One of the other register to win board prizes were “Original Keepsake Hand Painted Molds.” If you or someone you know won one of these, could you please share a photo of them? Thanks! Abigail