Franny Flamingo
<p>I once asked <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisaschwartzitsm/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Lisa Schwartz</strong></a>, "Why is the flamingo ITSM Academy's mascot?" </p> <p><img title="Franny Flamingo" src="https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-zqfhi/images/stencil/original/image-manager/franny2.png?t=1693597803" alt="" width="160" height="120" align="left" />"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 <em>it</em>SMF (2004) show. Being based in South Florida, our booth theme was <em>beach</em>, and the giveaways were koozies, beach balls, etc. I also had ordered a somewhat sizeable <font color="#ff7ba4"><strong>inflatable flamingo</strong></font>, which I bought because it was 50% off. </p> <p>The frame to our booth came - think silver scaffolding - but the beautiful new art panels didn't arrive on time. Since we only had the frame, what's a girl to do? I had to get creative..." </p> <p><strong><a title="Franny's origin" href="https://www.itsmprofessor.net/2021/08/franny-the-flamingo.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read</a></strong> the rest of Franny's origin story, when and how she officially became ITSM Academy’s mascot. </p>