National Stationery Show, NY '09

Wow! What a show that was! Heading into the show, I didn't know what to expect with the news touting grim reports on the economy everyday. As predicted, the show was smaller by 1/4 in terms of buyers and exhibitors. We simply didn't know if small was good or bad. Thankfully, it was good. A smaller show allowed a more concentrated pool of serious buyer and exhibitors to mingle and that is always good!

Let's start from the top. Three days before heading out to NY was a mad rush of wrapping up marketing material (aka press kits and giveaways) for the show. On top of the mad rush, my family came in town from Taiwan to go to my bro's graduation  at Vegas. Talk about a mad house trying to juggle between being a hostess, a good daughter and a business owner! With a few flared tempers and minimum casualties, I managed to finish what I needed and dashed off to NY on the redeye with Dan, the muscle to my  brains (ok, maybe he's also the brains but don't tell him I admit that). Poor guy just returned from a 3 day trip to Hong Kong and I dragged him off to NY within 2 days of his return. Talk about a messed up sleep schedule!

The plan was to hit the ground running on our 7 AM arrival Thurs. morn. We hit the bed instead and passed out until late afternoon. 

Fri. morning we cab off to the Javits Center and begin our set up. 

A before shot of booth #2063. The cardboard box Dan is sitting at doubles as a computer table and dining table for cheap greasy Chinese food.

Dan complains that I never let him out of his cage!

Ta da! An after shot of booth #2063. It's show time!

Business cards and giveaways. The bread crumbs were a hit!

Throughout the show, the energy on the floor was great! Not only did we meet returning customers, we also made new ones and picked up a few reps. along the way. More updates on that when contracts are solidified! A few of our twitter friends were twittering about the floor. It's awesome to finally put a face to a tweet!

Overall,  we were able to make a presence throughout the show with a few items in 3 categories in the Best Product display, a mention or two in the stationery trend lecture (Thanks, Sarah of Stationery Trend Magazine), a  surprise picture of me in my booth in Day 3's Stationery Today (Thanks, Kim also of Stationery Trend Magazine).

On the last day, clock chimes 12 and the grand carriage turns back into a pumpkin! (Literally! The photo was taken at 12:23 pm.)

It was bittersweet when everything came down. I didn't realize I was heading home to a three day weekend and, boy, am I grateful for it! More posts soon on other booths from NSS.

And, yes, thank you Dan for being my muscle. As the ladies in the next booth commented, you are wonderful eye candy!