The ASD Trade Show: Day 2

0

Our second day in Vegas began with about the same amount of madness as the first. But that morning, instead of rushing through the airport at 5:30 a.m., our Communications Manager Robert Green was busy rehearsing the presentation he was going to give at the trade show. I had the luxury of sleeping in a bit, but for whatever reason I couldn’t sleep. Perhaps it was due to my throbbing feet, which were still aching from all the walking we did the day before. I have to admit, I wasn’t looking forward to doing it again in a few hours.

After Robert had put the finishing touches on his presentation, we headed out to walk over to the trade show. Lucky for me, I spotted the hotel gift shop on our way out and, lo and behold, the store had foam inserts for my shoes! I was so happy I nearly cried. A mere $7 and five minutes later, my feet were happy again.

Robert gave a fantastic presentation on sourcing from overseas suppliers, and fielded dozens of questions from the audience. He discussed ways to research products and how to protect yourself throughout the sourcing process. He also reminded audience members to always do their homework before buying merchandise, ask lots of questions during the entire buying process and use common sense. Remember, if a price sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Before we knew it, 90 minutes had flown by, and it was time to bid farewell to the crowd and head to the trade show floors.

We chose to scope out the jewelry, clothing and accessories floor, and went through the process we had the day before. We talked to merchants about their products, shook a lot of hands and did our best to take it all in. Again, we were faced with too many booths and not enough time to see all of them before the trade show closed its doors for the day. I was impressed by how much work went into setting up some of the merchandise in the booths—surrounded by all that inventory, you almost forgot you were standing in the “ginormous” Sands Expo center and not a merchandise mart.

Our flight home was way too early the next morning, so we did the smart thing by not staying out too late, even though we had hardly experienced any of Las Vegas. Oh well, there’s always next year. Now I know what to expect—and I know to bring some comfy shoes for my poor feet.