Stationery Geek on the road!!

Stationery Geek on the road!!

So as you all may know, back in July we attended our first ever event - The British Wool Show!! Now that we've had chance to recover from the excitement (and reflect on how it went) we thought you all might like to hear more about it.

First of all, we'd like to say that we felt our stall was a massive success and we'd like to thank all of the lovely people who supported us - whether you bought something from us, entered our prize draw, helped us colour in our big board or even just stopped for a chat - you were all amazing! We definitely wouldn't have had nearly as much fun if it weren't for all the lovely folk we met.

So how did we pull it all together? Did we know what we were doing? Did the show meet our expectations? Read on to find out...

 

I've always been a bit of a last minute kind of a person, all the notebooks and lists and diaries are really just a vain attempt at being organised! Our preparations for our stall could definitely be considered last minute - we only found out we definitely had a stand a few weeks before the event... cue mass excitement and mild panic!

Of course, the first thing to do in these situations is always the same (for me and Lucy anyway!) - brainstorming. We very quickly realised that we had rather a lot to do, and not much time to do it all - needless to say chaos soon ensued and our office became over run with boxes and banners and of course, lots and lots of lovely stationery. With so much to do, it was definitely a case of "all hands on deck"!

Somehow we all muddled through with minimal drama (late deliveries, machine breakdowns, and running out of paper/stickers/wires/card aside - think I only shouted at everyone a bit!!) and the weekend of the show arrived! It was time for us to pack up our trusty work van, Jean Claude, and make the 20 mile trip to Thirsk to set up our stand... With a sneaky detour via the fabulous Pond Cottage to stock up on baskets and bits and pieces!

Yes, I was extremely pleased with myself for snapping this photo with the Thirsk sign in the background - go me!

When we arrived, we found our "pen" and started to set up! We went from this...

...to this...

Not bad for first timers eh? (Notice my coordinating woolly SG bunting - another thing I was pleased with myself for!) Once we were happy with everything we carefully covered it all with sheets and hoped we would find everything in tact the following morning.

Thankfully, everything survived the night and we were ready to meet our adoring public (lol!) Here we are in our very smart SG uniforms!

I think we both had a big sigh of relief when we made our first sale 10 minutes after the doors opened! We really had no idea what to expect - would people like our stuff? Would they see the relevance? Would they just want yarn?! Would they buy or just browse? It didn't take us long to find out, and our quirky, crafty stationery went down a treat. We had loads of lovely feedback from people who were pleased to see something a little different and we sold much more than we could have hoped. We even managed to lure in a few unsuspecting parents and children with our big colouring board...

All in all the weekend went really well, and I don't think people would have known it was our first event if we hadn't kept telling everyone! That said we definitely got some good tips from our fellow exhibitors and figured out a few things for ourselves!

We are now looking forward to our next big events, both in November - Nottingham Yarn Expo and the Knitting and Stitching Show, Harrogate!!
Hopefully we'll get to meet more of you on our travels and spread the word to lots of new people.

Better start the preparations now... I feel a brainstorm coming on!!!

Mel :-)

SG HQ

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Comments

Angela - January 11, 2018

Will you be attending Yarndale 2018. It would be great to see you there.

Kathy Nicholson - August 22, 2017

Hi Mel and Lucy. Great blog post.
We must check out the Nottingham Yarn expo for Baavet Wool Duvets.
Congratulations on surviving and enjoying your first trade show and here’s to many more.

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