It’s been a month since we were back from our second participation at the National Stationery Show. We had time to rest, to go back to our routine at the workshop ... and here is our review of the NSS 2018. A review with already some nostalgia since, it is official, the NSS will not take place in May 2019. From next year, it will take place in early February, alongside the NY Now at the Javits Center in NYC.
This year, our challenge was to capitalize on our experience, while getting out of our comfort zone. The major change was the decision to ask a carpenter to build the walls of our booth. A real investment to be amortized over the long term, and especially a real logistics to transport and set up the walls of our stand.
What we will do again ...
- Try to have a more sustainable experience. We invested in wooden walls, reused some of the material purchased last year, and used the decor of the workshop.
- Make a 4-month backcast, to invest time and money in the right place and make the right decisions. Keeping time for the customs declaration: you have to be patient and rigorous!
- Organize and help each other with other participants, it allows to divide the costs but also relax the atmosphere. Unity is strength!
What we will avoid in the future ...
- The small errors of inattention ... Just as print a wrong price list in our catalog, and have to reprint and paste the good list on each copy.
- Never underestimate the waiting time at customs and congestion in New York! Arriving 2 hours before the closure of the Javits Center to unload the truck is stressful!
- Take a AirBnb room far away from Javits ... and waste time on public transport. In short, time is money and in New York it's even more true!
To conclude, after this second experience, we know that a trade show like the NSS is a major event, which requires preparation and energy! Nothing is acquired, and it is not always easy to face the unexpected. That said, we're always growing out of it, and we're learning a lot about us, about the stationery industry, about the trends of the moment. And above all, we make beautiful meetings! So for sure, we will be attending other trade shows, in New York or elsewhere!
