PRE-SHOW
I started designing and planning back in October and for those of you who have done trade shows you know the time flys and for those who are planning to go, give yourself many months for trial and error. It is impossible to get it all done too so plan on surrendering some ideas. My wedding line was pushed back as was my baby album. As many of you know I am a one woman team and it is very clear I need to hire someone at this point. Up until the show I was working about 70+ hours a week and somehow functioning but I now fully understand I need help. And, that is a good thing because it means I am growing. Where help would have been great is with emails, printer coordination, shipping, ordering, and pack up. Yes, I did 99% of it by myself. Thank goodness I have an amazing father who assembled the booth and is a wiz at engineering. He also was there the first 3 days of set up in New York to assist and trouble shoot. I would have died without him. Thanks dad. I love you!!!!!
SHOW
The show was amazing. INK+WIT will now be in twenty plus new stores throughout the US, and also the UK and New Zealand! We had so much fun meeting everyone who stopped by and could not be happier that you were happy. Happiness was my first priority with the new line. I wanted people to be smile when they walked into the booth... and they did!!!
Our new stamp sets were a huge success which will be on the site tomorrow along with the new tea towels, mobile, and bunting.
Our booth worked out even though it was so small. But, it looked great and I was super psyched to see it come together. Overall, a huge success and I hope to share more great news soon in regards to custom projects with some very special people!
It was so nice to be near Albertine Press, Carta, Inc by Angela Liguori, Chewing the Cud, Fine Day Press, and Enormous Champion. Love you guys and miss you!!!! Wish we had more time to actually hang out. The show goes by fast and NSS if you can hear me make the last day a party so we can all meet each other and hang out. I missed so many people not to mention parties outside the show. The time just flys and here we are back in cyber space. I prefer in person much better. Call me old school.
• where I succeeded:
- 1. Allowing enough time to roll out a new product line (months of trial and error)
- 2. Editing the line down and making new work.
- 3. Going for the gold on my booth (my dad and I worked super hard to create the structure and with Diva's help, founder of Linea Carta, and Zeynep's architectural input, founder of Small Square Design, the booth turned out exactly how I envisioned but it would have been great if it was double the size. 60sq ft is just not enough. It is like a popsicle stand. Next time, bigger booth.
- 4. PR help (Thanks Jessica of Shiny Squirrel!)
- 5. Mailers
- 6. Email blasts
- 7. Staffing the booth with 3 of the best girls ever that are super sweet and attentive (Thanks Courtney, Beth, and Megan Auman!)
• what needs work
- 1. As mentioned above, a bigger booth for ample room to take orders, talk, relax, and soak in a lot at once. I ended up with quite a bit of various products this year and really had a small space to showcase. Go for a smaller booth if you have a minimal line and smaller scale objects to display.
- 2. A few extra days before the show to sleep.
- 3. Various products need multiple options. (our stamp sets will also be offered as singles now)
- 4. Skew numbers and product names on the shelves/walls to easily and quickly identify the products. All an all this worked out but I can see where it could help net time.
- 5. Allow myself more resting time during the show as I could not make it to after parties or events. I was exhausted at the end of the day and ultimately needed an asana practice (yoga practice on the mat) to loosen my hip and back. My right hip hurt much of the show and needed attention. I would have one more person staffed next year so everyone could have more time to walk around and rest.
POST SHOW
I returned Wednesday night to my home and watched 2 hours of Sex and the City with my husband. It was really nice. Right off the bat Thursday was organizing orders and follow up. In addition, doing another inventory count, and reordering (good sign). There is a strange exhaustion but excitement going through me right now and I cannot explain it but I am sure all of you know what I am talking about. It was such a great show and then you go home and your bed eats you alive.
A big thanks to The Shinny Squirrel, design*sponge, Oh So Beautiful Paper, Gus & Ruby, Urbanic, Parcel Post, Brooklyn Bride, The Sweetest Occasion, Paper Crave, Two Brunettes, and Mint for all of your lovely INK+WIT booth pics, blog posts and tweets. A big thanks to all of you who stopped by to say hi and took pics (we would love to see them, please email us at info@inkandwit.com)
... more soon (thanks so much for all of your dear support!)
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