2010 National Stationery Show {Before the show cont.}

Only 3 more days before the National Stationery Show begins and I’d like to end the pre-show talk with interviews from both sides of the spectrum. First up we have a seasoned veteran sharing their tips and experiences from the 14 years of exhibiting. And then we have the pleasure of reading about the roller coaster of emotions from a rookie.

First up is the Inviting Company based out of North Little Rock, Arkansas.

Tell us about yourself and your business?
Inviting Company has always been known as an invitation and stationery company, but recently we have expanded our business to include paper tableware and a wide variety of gift products.

What have you been doing to prepare for the show? Did you do anything different than the years past?
We are continuing to diversify our product line to bring customers what they have been asking for – which is more fantastic stationery products from Inviting Company, but also expansion into gift products.

Any tips for new exhibitors?
Every contact or lead is like gold – treat them that way!

And we round up our pre-show interviews with a rookie exhibitor, Nancy and Beverly, from Hazel and Violet.
Tell us about yourself and your business?
We are a small letterpress company in Arizona – At this time it is the two of us. We have been friend for 25 years and have always shared a love of paper and typography. We do custom invitations, personalize social stationery and greeting cards.

What made you take the plunge to move into wholesale?
We really liked the idea of making greeting cards. We have so many ideas we wanted to express and it seemed the best way to make the kind of cards we wanted. We have partnered with a fabulous designer who really ‘gets it’ and knows exactly what we want. It will be interesting to see if this avenue works for us.

What have you been doing to prepare for the show?
So much work! We thought the hard part would be the printing – We were wrong – it’s the press releases, the catalog, the press kit, the marketing! show specials, packaging…on and on. We think we are finally together though.

Thank you ladies for sharing your preparations. Check back in the next few weeks with my experience walking the National Stationery Show and finally an After the Show wrap up.