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THE GOOD. Our new print shop manager, Julie, officially started! Brimming with energy and passion for letterpress, Julie moved all the way from Wisconsin to take the job, and we couldn't be happier. Emily and Margaret are throwing a lot at her as we have a ton to print right now but that isn't phasing her one bit. She's already learned how to sweet talk to Heidi and Handsome. Welcome to the team, Julie!

THE BAD. We got a huuuuuuuge order that needed to be filled in the span of just three weeks. That in itself is not bad (pretty awesome actually!). However, coupled with being short-staffed, the situation called for everyone to pitch in with packaging on top of their usual responsibilities. Sabrina probably boxed up 1,000 boxes of cards last week! I brought home hundreds of cards every night for a week and even got a few of my friends to help after work one evening! Now every flat surface in the shop is covered with boxes as we double-count the order and get it ready to ship. 

THE (NOT SO) UGLY. This happened last weekend. Talk about spectacular. 

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One of the best parts of the National Stationery Show is getting to meet the other exhibitors and seeing what’s new. I already had my list of must-visit booths (which I shared over here on The Paper Chronicles), and I was not disappointed. Here’s a roundup of my favorites!

RICHIE DESIGNS

Richele's sense of humor is spot on! I should just carry that yoga pants card around and show it to every other person on the street. You know what I'm talking about! Check out the coordinating mugs and notepads and more awesome goodies over here.

E. FRANCES PAPER


E. Frances Paper’s watercolors are the prettiest. I love how their cards are perfectly sentimental without being sappy. Who knew an ordinary little glue bottle could tug at your heartstrings? Find more beautiful cards from this sweet little company here.

YELLOW OWL WORKSHOP 

Yellow Owl Workshop’s booth was just as bright and playful as I was expecting! I couldn't pass this card without smiling, and I appreciated the memories that this card brought to mind. Food and puns – what’s not to love? Don’t miss their fun cards, diy kits, and stamps here.

SAPLING PRESS


Even if you have the shortest attention span, you will not be able to tear yourself away from reading every single card by Sapling Press like I did. It's like Lisa knows what we’re thinking (adult coloring books) and then injects them with a refreshing hilarity and sarcasm that makes us laugh at ourselves. Get more laughs over here.

THIMBLEPRESS


The Thimblepress booth was bold and beautiful! I'm a sucker for everything confetti. Put said confetti and a card together, you’ve got a party in the mail. So clever! Kristen also pointed out her new stand-up cards. They come up with small enclosure cards that go right onto the “plant.” Get yours here (you know you want one!).

Catch up on Part 1 and Part 2 of our recaps!

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Now onto the good stuff: the show!

SUNDAY, MAY 15

We felt great entering the booth on Day 1—even better after Eric gave Deb the thumbs up that the Starbucks line had finally dwindled down. With the lights on and the aisles cleared, it’s amazing how the Javits seemed to magically transform overnight. For those of you who couldn't be there, I thought you would appreciate this hyperlapsed booth tour I captured on my phone!

The Stationery Show is when many retailers start to shop in preparation for the holiday season. That’s why you’ll see nearly half of our booth was devoted to our holiday collection. We also had new everyday stationery, boxed notes, and gift wrap as well as a brand new line of edge painted correspondence flat notes (coming to our online shop soon!). I really enjoyed connecting with our customers face-to-face and getting their feedback. To our delight, we received a lot of enthusiasm for the spring release.

Now you can’t exhibit at a trade show and not have fun swag for visitors to remember you by. This year, we gave away little wildflower seed packets that we made to coordinate with our booth design. We also participated in Legion Paper’s ‘70s-inspired trading card set and had our interactive Name That Do cards out for people to collect. Check out the entire collection here.

Tip(s): You meet so many people that it’s impossible to remember who’s who at the end of the day. Save yourself the guesswork and write a note on everyone’s business cards as a reminder of your conversation and how to follow up. Also, avoid the Starbucks in the Javits at all costs if you don’t want to wait an hour for a cup of coffee.

MONDAY, MAY 16

We kicked off Day 2 with a few one-on-one meetings with our sales reps. We are always in touch with our reps over email and by phone but we don’t get to see them too often. In fact, it was the first time meeting some of our reps in person for both Sarah and myself. Unfortunately, Sarah could only stay through the morning; we needed her back at the studio to start working on orders! Clayton joined us at that point to help man the booth and field any questions. The traffic was steady, and it was probably the busiest day in terms of taking orders too!

The day ended with a fun rooftop party hosted by our friends at Postable! The photo was an afterthought taken in the stairwell as Eric and I were leaving (and very tired!).

Tip(s): As back up, it can’t hurt to take snapshots of your completed order forms at the end of the day. Keep your hard copies in a safe place but this is just one of those tips you don’t want to learn the hard way! Also, for a delicious and (comparatively) healthy lunch, forgo the food court and walk about a block north to Sunac Natural Market.

TUESDAY, MAY 17

On Day 3, we finished up our meetings with sales reps, and I had a chance to walk the show and visit many of our paper-loving friends! It’s always inspiring to see everyone’s booths and newest designs (more on this later!).

A big highlight was going to Oh So Beautiful Paper's Paper Party. Kudos to Nole and her team for a fun, disco-inspired evening! After another long day on our feet, we kicked back with some refreshments, more friendly chatter, and photo booth glamour shots. Deb introduced me to a bunch of great folks, and by the time we left I could barely speak from all of the shout-talking. :)

Tip(s): Say hello to your suppliers on the Supply Side. Here again it’s a chance to put a face to the name which I think is always so helpful in continuing a relationship where so much of the communication is online.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 18


The last day of the show is only a half day, and not surprisingly, it's usually fairly quiet. A few more customers visited our booth, and we invited them to sit down with us because we were honestly too tired to stand anymore! As soon as the clock struck 1:00 we started breaking down the booth. We had everything taken down and packed into the van in less than two hours. By that point, we just wanted to get out of there and get home. The drive back was, thankfully, completely uneventful.

Tip(s): Provide extra seating. Our little side bench was a very popular spot for people to rest. If they can sit, they (and potential orders) will come!

Stay tuned for Part 3: Favorite Booths!

Catch up on Part 1!

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THE GOOD. The National Stationery Show was great fun (see Part 1 of my recap here), and we got a whole bunch of orders! Now, we're busy little bees printing cards and stocking up on envelopes and packaging materials so we can fill orders and get them out the door in a timely fashion. We're all pitching in as much as possible to make this happen. The post-show flurry of activity is a little overwhelming but most definitely all good! 

THE BAD. The studio is SO MESSY! All of the last-minute prep for the National Stationery Show left this place in total disarray. To make matters worse, we were too exhausted after unloading our cars that we piled everything in a rather large and unsightly heap right inside the entryway. Fortunately, we do have a big clean-up day planned! It's a chance for us to reorganize (like filing that large pile of paperwork on my desk!), purge (errr, how have we accumulated not one but two broken chairs?), and bust out the Pine Sol (those floors are getting a good mopping).     

THE UGLY. Google Trends mapped the top "how to spell" searches for words by state, and apparently, we need help with the spelling of our own home state. 

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Holy cow! The whirlwind that is the National Stationery Show has officially come to a close. We've been meeting weekly since January in preparation—that’s 20 weeks of planning for just 3 ½ days! Clearly there are a lot of paper nerds out there because I get a lot questions about what’s involved in being part of the Stationery Show. So for our fans (thanks for all of the support!) and just plain curious (interested in exhibiting one day?), I thought I’d recap the most memorable bits and also leave you with a few hopefully helpful tips.

PRE-SHOW

One of the very first things we tackle is coming up with the inspiration behind the booth design and all of the related promotional materials. This year we were drawn to our bestselling floral boxed note shown here, letting its shapes and colors set the creative direction. You’ll see this concept starting with our pre-show mailer which we send out to retailers inviting them to visit our booth.

Tip(s): When you have a lot of other creative stationery companies vying for attention, there is a high bar to make sure your mailer stands out against the crowd! For a good primer, read this post on Oh So Beautiful Paper. Also, be sure you have the correct postage amount when mailing these babies out. 

THURSDAY, MAY 12

My husband, Eric, and I borrowed my father-in-law’s minivan for the trip (lucky for us, he loves a roomy vehicle!). The booth walls, taking up the most room, were the first to go in. Everything else got squished in wherever it would fit. With the van filled to the brim, we hit the road at noon, stopping only for a totally delicious BBQ lunch at Uncle Willie's in Connecticut.


Final stop: NYC! We arrived at the Javits Center and moved everything to our booth space fairly quickly. Our original plans were to only unload the van but (thanks to the pulled pork sandwiches!) we were feeling pretty peppy and decided to stay and assemble the walls. That kept us in the dark and stuffy Javits late into the night but it was definitely worth it knowing we would have less to do the next morning.


Tip(s): Don’t skip lunch, drink lots of H₂O, and wear comfortable shoes.

FRIDAY, MAY 13

Getting to our booth on Friday morning wasn't exactly easy. First, there was the normal commuter traffic. Then, we had to skillfully navigate our way past all of the crates, furniture, equipment, and trash that filled the aisles of the Javits Center. It’s quite the obstacle course, but we made it! 

Upon arrival, we were greeted by our still standing walls! No natural disasters or faulty engineering on our parts, yay. Eric and I organized ourselves, and then the rest of our setup crew (aka Sarah and Deb) arrived shortly afterwards just in time to puzzle together the foam flooring. We put up our sign, lighting, decals, and all of the shelving. We also mounted the large 3-dimensional display pieces Clayton had designed and created out of hand-cut paper. The making of these pieces deserves a separate blog post in itself!

By 6 pm we'd gotten most of the products on the walls and decided to call it a day. Eric and I went back to my aunt's in New Jersey and had huge plates of spaghetti & meatballs, and I think I was in bed by 8:30 pm!

Tip(s): Bring more than one step stool, and have a spotter!

SATURDAY, MAY 14


On Saturday we only had some finishing touches left—making sure all of cards were placed out evenly, cleaning up the walls, floor, and furniture, setting out the flowers, etc. Done by lunchtime, we all headed out to enjoy the rest of the afternoon.

Tip(s): Leave at least a half day to decompress beforehand so you can start the show feeling fresh and ready to go. A tired and cranky disposition is not exactly a good selling point. 

Stay tuned for Part 2: The Show!

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