Stationery Show Tips: Nuts & Bolts

Here's a great list of tips for to prepare for the stationery show from Smitten Kitten Blog.

Here are 9 of her 22 tips. Read the rest on her blog

1) Flooring - the trade show floor is essentially a concrete floor. Yeah sure you might dress up your booth flooring with some kind of carpet, but after standing on that floor for 10 hours, your feet aren’t going to know the difference. The only thing they’ll know is just how badly they hurt. Bring a spare pair of shoes. No no I don’t mean another pair of high heels, I mean flats. Yeah you might be a couple inches shorter in the afternoons than in the mornings, but your feet will thank you.

2) The hall is lit but you should get lighting anyways. If the booth across from you has lighting an yours doesn’t, it’ll make your booth look even darker than it is.

3) Lighting makes the booth hot. Make sure your outfit looks cute with or without a sweater.

4) Sweaters, jackets and purses can get bulky and look messy hanging on the back of your chair. I usually keep an empty box (a nice decorative box not a busted up moving box covered with packing tape) on a bottom shelf somewhere, out of sight, so I can store my random stuff during show hours.

5) Buy your coffee / muffin on your way to the trade show. Last I checked an extra large coffee and fancy muffin cost $9USD at the Javits.

6) Yes we are sensitive artist types. I mean why else would we be doing this? But remember that trade shows are the time for you to sell. Get that old cheezy used car salesmen image outta your head! It took me a long time to realize that selling is not a dirty word. If it makes a difference don’t think of it as selling, think of it as introducing your products to someone who doesn’t know anything about what you make. Kinda like introducing strangers at a a party.

7) Alright if you’re not convinced, if you are painfully shy and the thought of talking to strangers hurt more than a hot glue gun burn, then maybe it’s best to pass on the selling duties to someone who’s more comfortable. Otherwise you may end up hurting your business.

8 ) You can’t talk someone into buying your products. And why would you want to anyways? The buyer knows if your product is or isn’t a right fit for their store. Talking someone into buying something that isn’t a good fit just means that your stuff will end up sitting on the bottom of their sale shelf. Not a good impression. The right store will find you. And if they don’t find you this time, they will the next…

9) … which reminds me, you’ve gotta do the same show more than once. I can’t tell you how many orders we got at this show, came from buyers who just picked up a catalogue at the last show. You can’t judge the success rate from any show until you’ve done it at least a couple times. For me, three is the magic number. If the show sucks three times in a row, cut your losses and move on.

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TRADE SHOW BOOKS

How to Design a "Wow!" Trade Show Booth Without Spending a Fortune
Simple tips for your first tradeshow booth.

Tips and Tales from the Booth
Avoiding Trade Show Mistakes


Build a Better Trade Show Image
Professional recommendations for doing a tradeshow. Advice to take before you attempt one.

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