Week of October 18th – LDI

I enjoy trade shows, but haven’t really had the opportunity to be on the back end. This time, I’ve had the opportunity to be a part of each and every part of the trade show process.

I explained how I helped build the dimmers and pack up the van and trailer for the show in the previous post. Once we arrived in Vegas, we checked into our hotel, and then went straight to the show floor to help put the finishing touches on the booth. Since I was in the last group to arrive at LDI, we had been getting phone calls from those who had gone ahead to set up the booth with last minute things we needed to bring with us.

The following morning was the New Products Breakfast, in which Doug Fleenor Design was a participant. It is essentially a breakfast where they serve stale bagels and watery coffee, and you can hear all of the vendors at the show give a ‘brief’ overview of their new products. I had to leave the breakfast a bit early, because we had to get to the show floor before it opened and put all of the products out on display.

During the show, I primarily helped with DFD’s promo event. We gave away free “got dmx?” t-shirts, in exchange for a picture, and a scan of the attendee tag of each person receiving one with the shirt. I learned a lot about the products from listening to the employees answer questions, and picked up on information quickly. I wish I were trained on all the product specifics, but I managed. Very often I just acted as a filter, answering basic questions, then directing the attendees to one of engineers, based on who was available, or who I thought would be best suited.

The three day show was exhausting, but I still found a bit of time to walk the show floor and experience what it was like. There were tons of vendors, all showing off their new technology, and doing their best to get you into the booth. During a couple of my short excursions, I was even able to talk Doug Fleenor Design up a bit, and get some people interested in the products.

At the end of the trade show, everyone helped tear down the booth and pack up. We were one of the first few booths to be torn down, and I think I got a few nasty looks as we walked out of the Convention Center, carrying the suitcases which held the remainder of the products we showcased.