Pulling the Trigger

I finally did it. After MUCH hemming and hawing I finally put down my deposit for the one tradeshow I'll be going to this year. My first full year in business I went to four tradeshows, then three for the past two years, and now I'm down to one lowly tradeshow. I knew I had to go, I just hate spending the money, especially in an economy like this were you just don't know if buyers are going to show up or not.

In fact, a friend and fellow business owner in my industry went to a tradeshow two weeks ago and said that she basically spent the entire time listening to the crickets chirp. Not a good sign but also not completely unexpected given that the show was in Florida, a state that is apparently still in the depths of this recession (depression?), and the fact that no one from outside states really want to travel that far. The show I just signed up for is in Las Vegas and has been growing over the past few years. Even my friend said that at the Florida show people had nothing but positive things to say about the Las Vegas show.

I've done this show before - in fact I think this is going to be my third year at the show? But in years past I've always hunkered down in one specific area where more of the "luxury" products reside. My friend (same one from the Florida show) already has a booth over there and I thought it'd be fun to get a booth right next to hers so we could keep one another company inbetween talking with buyers. Upon a little more examination though I realized that basically ALL my competitors were buying booths in a section that is known as "all natural" and I feared that I strayed too far from the pack then buyers might think I wasn't all-natural simply because I wasn't in with the rest of the group. Yes, you read that right, I let group-think dictate my buying decision. Truthfully though I think I made the right decision. If the "luxury" section was right next to the "all natural" then I woudln't have been as concerned but they are literally across the convention hall from one another. So I'm taking the plunge and will try switching it up a little bit this year and see what happens in the new booth location.

Now I need to figure out where, if anywhere, I can cut costs with the show. I went back to an inline booth this year versus a corner booth and that will save me about $300. I *think* that my business credit card has enough miles to fly me there and back and my hubby just happens to need to be in Las Vegas for business that same week so I should get to stay with him which means no lodging will be on the business balancesheet. If I didn't have to be back in Seattle the day after the tradeshow I'd seriously consider making the drive to Las Vegas and just hauling all my stuff with me as it'll cost me about $500 to ship everything there and back and that's my next biggest cost associated with the show. But driving isn't an option...perhaps packing lighter should be!

I am still excited about the fact that I'm not going to the Chicago tradeshow that happens to fall a few weeks after the Las Vegas one. In the past I've gone to both but the Chicago one has been on a slow decline the last few years. Last year was horrible and a huge waste of money and I just don't want to do it again. I figure the fact that I still feel as strongly about NOT going to that show, even after all these months, proves I made the right decision in that regard.