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The first day of the show always fills me with butterflies. I was excited, but also a lot nervous! I had silly thoughts like What if I forget how to have conversations with strangers? Or What if nobody visits our booth? But that all ended as soon as an enthusiastic attendee stepped into the booth and oohed and aahed about our cards. Phew! I knew right away that all of that work (from planning to execution) had been worth it. 

We had lots of visitors and by the end of day one, we were already halfway to our goal in terms of the number of orders placed! As you can imagine, Erin, Ally, and I were all super excited. 

The rest of the show was a bit of a blur. We reached our sales goal on Monday (day two)! It was an action-packed day talking to new customers, old friends, sales reps, and everybody in between. We took turns eating lunch when there were lulls in traffic. We also had a staffing switch mid-day when Erin headed back to Boston and Melissa (our good friend and owner of Print Therapy - go check it out now!) came to help us out at the show. That evening, even though we were exhausted, we headed over to Postable's party on a roof deck. Why didn't I take any photos?! It's always great hanging out with those guys. 

On Tuesday, George joined us at the show and we achieved our stretch goal! That was a good reminder that it's always good to have goals and stretch goals. Traffic was definitely lighter on day three, but we still had a grand old time in booth #1421! We told silly stories and had some lovely chats with customers. By the end of the day, I think we were all beginning to run out of steam.

Wednesday was the last day of the show and it was a half day. The aisles were pretty empty and we only had a few people visit our booth. We each spent some time looking around and visiting stationery friends in other booths, so that made the time fly. At 1:00 the show ended and by 1:01 we were breaking down the booth. George's wife, Thy, was ridiculously kind and helped with the breakdown. Altogether, there were six of us and everything went sooo smoothly! The van was packed by 3:00 and we were on the road by 3:10. It took us about 5 hours to get home.

Everything about NSS is exhausting to an introvert like me. But also I truly enjoy talking to customers and meeting new people! I was a zombie for about a week following the show and I'm honestly still catching up with emails and to-dos that were put off, but I also had a lot of fun!

A super huge shout out to our team for MAKING IT ALL HAPPEN!

Thanks for following along on our journey. :)

-April

Don't forget to check out Part 1: Set Up!

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It's so hard to believe that another Stationery Show has come and gone. But here were are, already a few weeks post-show. 

Ally already wrote about pre-show prep and outreach, but there's also so much work in the days leading up to the show. Starting with packing!

As the show approached, I made a pretty detailed list of everything I needed to remember from screws, display products, and paper towels to phone chargers, pens, and mascara. We crammed everything (including the walls) into a minivan we borrow from my father-in-law. It's always a pretty tight squeeze.

We hit the road a little before noon on Thursday, May 17. 

The drive took about 4 hours, but parking and loading-in were pretty easy this year. We arrived to a typical booth space: plain black curtains and a paper sign. 

Right away, Eric and I got to work setting up our walls as quickly as possible. They went up easily since this was our 6th year setting them up. The trickiest part is always getting them level, but we did it! Then we said goodbye to the Javits Center and headed to my Aunt's for dinner and good night's sleep. 

On Friday morning, we brought in the rest of our boxes and made a plan for the day. 

Erin and Ally joined us at 10 and then we really got down to business.

At times, it was hard to tell if we were getting anywhere. It felt like we were just moving boxes from one corner to another. But, little by little, things started to progress.

On Saturday, we worked hard all morning. We added all of the little finishing touches and then put all the cards on the shelves

We finished setting up around 1:30 on Saturday and we split up for a relaxing pre-show afternoon. For the third year in a row, I had lunch with my sister and we got manicures. Best of all, I was in bed by 9:30 so I could rest up for Day 1 of the show! 

I'll be back in a few days with Part 2: The Show!  

-April

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Welcome back for part 2 of our NSS journey. If you missed part 1, find it here.

After months of planning and days of set-up, the show is the fun part! We were thrilled to see the. It was so exciting because we really saw Clayton's 2- and 3-D models come alive. 

Hanging out in the booth is always fun because we have such a great team. Sunday and Monday, Erin and George helped out in the booth for the very first time. They both did great and got to meet lots of customers. Additionally, Melissa Wert, the owner of Print Therapy, was kind enough to fill in for several hours when we needed an extra pair of hands. When they headed back to our studio, veterans Clayton and Sarah stepped in and worked the show like the pros that they are.  

We were lucky to be super busy during the show. It was hard to even step away to grab lunch! I always love chatting with customers, reps, and other exhibitors because it's really wonderful to catch up in person and put faces to familiar names. 

Every year we dream up a fun giveaway for booth visitors to take home. This year, Clayton turn our birthday dachshund into a paper doll complete with a fanny pack!

 
We made a serious effort to display almost every non-holiday card on the walls this time around. It was pretty impressive to see them all lined up and looking so colorful together. 

This was the first time the April May for Smudge Ink line was shared at NSS! 

The E.B. Goodale for Smudge Ink section of the booth was super sweet and drew a lot of attention. Seriously adorable! 

Here's a first look at our 2018 Wall Calendar Journal and our Animalia Mini Calendar. They'll both be available soon. 

Have you seen our new gift wrap styles yet? They're super fun -- shop for them here!

I obviously couldn't resist getting my photo taken with our ostrich!

When it comes to blowing bubbles, Clayton and I have got skillz. 

As you can see, we had a blast at the show. But by the end of day 4, we were very ready to head home.

Sarah and Clayton helped Eric and me pack everything up and take down the walls. Then we had to navigate the escalator (it was off) and cram everything back into the minivan. We worked quickly and were on the road about two hours after the show officially ended! We hit lots of traffic, but by 8:45 pm the minivan was empty and everything from the show was back in our garage. BAM. DONE!

Next week I'll be back with our final post about NSS where the team will share some photos of their favorite booths.  

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So. The 2017 National Stationery Show happened. It's done. We did it! Now that we've had a long weekend to recover from the annual whirlwind I'm here to share some behind-the-scenes of setting up our booth. 

THURSDAY, May 18
Eric and I did all of the building in our garage, so we started by hauling everything into the front yard and very carefully packing it all into my father-in-law's minivan. 

We left for NYC around 11:00 am on Thursday and by the time we got to the Javits Center, unloaded our walls, made our way to our space, and parked the car it was about 6:00 pm. We spent 2½ hours setting up the walls and then we headed to my Aunt's house in New Jersey for a good night's sleep. 

we arrive to these lovely black curtains delineating our space

the walls are up!

FRIDAY, May 19
Eric and I arrived back at the Javits Center around 8:00 and unloaded the rest of our booth materials from the minivan. Erin and George joined us a little later. Together, we put up the shelves, laid down our flooring, built a few pieces of furniture, and put together a little endcap cabinet. The hardest thing we did was to apply a huge curtain decal to the E.B. Goodale display. It took forever! We worked until 6:00 pm and then called it a night.

SATURDAY, May 20
We got so much accomplished on Friday that Saturday was a total breeze! We put all of our product onto the shelves and tables, arranged the furniture just so, touched up the walls and furniture, and (most importantly) we hung up our big blowfish, hedgehog, and ostrich!

We were completely done with set up by noon and we parted ways for a relaxing afternoon off before showtime. I was lucky enough to get some much-needed sister time 

Come back next week for Part 2 our of NSS Recap and to see the finished booth!  

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