Over the course of the month we have read and seen so many great designs, people, and showcases from the National Stationery Show. From your witty and sarcastic greeting cards, such as Oh My Word! to unique and fashion forward invitations from Twig and Fig. But what was missing was an insider’s perspective, someone who hasn’t exhibited at the show before. What are the preparations? What are the commitments? And what are the many mixed feelings that goes through ones head and heart when you approach such a massive show with thousands upon thousands of other exhibotors, and many who have been doing this for years on end?
So with that said, I like to share some tid bits from a first timer, Katie, owner and designer of Kelp Designs. She creates beautiful stationery, note cards, and invitations. Traveling all the way from sunny California to the bustling New York for the show, let’s meet Katie and hear first hand how her first stationery show was a success.
Tell us a bit about yourself and your business.
I’m a Southern California beach bum, paper fanatic, design enthusiast, entrepreneur, wife and soon-to-be first time mom (although not necessarily in that order!). I’ve dreamt of having my own stationery business for years and years; and made my dream a reality when I launched Kelp Designs in October 2008. We create eco-friendly notecards, personalized stationery and invitations in bold colors and classic patterns — all 100% recycled. Kelp Designs got its start on etsy, but I’m excited to say we’ll be available in stores soon!
Katie and Pat
How and why did you create Kelp Designs?
Kelp Designs got its legs after I designed wedding invites and personalized notecards as bridesmaid gifts for several friends. I’ve worked in legal marketing and business development for 9 years (still do!), and love having a creative outlet where I can play with different colors, designs and textures. Balance is a challenge, as I’d like to dedicate more time to growing Kelp Designs, but I’m really proud of where we’ve come in such a short amount of time.
Where did the name orginiate from?
The name Kelp Designs originated from where I live — in Manhattan Beach, California. I wanted a name that reflected the ‘green’ aspects of my products, as well as the casual style of beach living.
What is a typical work day for you?
Is there such a thing as a typical work day?! π I’ve become a master multi-tasker. I answer Kelp Designs emails in the morning before I head to the office, then make time to check emails, tweet, and maintain the Kelp Designs etsy store and blog when I have down time or breaks at my day-job. I print, package and prep all orders for shipping at night when I get home. I usually save my design work for the weekends, when I can dedicate at least a few hours to play with new ideas.
How long have you been in business?
Not very long! In July 2008, I registered kelpdesigns on etsy (just in case I went through with this crazy idea). By mid-October 2008, I decided to start Kelp Designs and began fine-tuning my designs. On November 10th, I posted the first item for sale on etsy and had my first sale within a few hours! In January 2009, after a busy but successful holiday season, I decided to exhibit at the National Stationery Show in New York. In May, I attended NSS where I made great contacts, connected with lots of twitter pals, and best of all, received orders from several stores!
Their sign at the show
What were your goals for exhibiting at the National Stationery Show? Do you feel you accomplished them?
I didn’t really know what to expect as a first time exhibitor, although several online sources warned that new exhibitors shouldn’t expect orders at the show (some orders may come through after the show through follow-up) and that there would be significantly less people at this year’s show than previous years. Despite this, I set my sights pretty high. My goals were to get into at least three stores, increase visibility and awareness of Kelp Designs and meet as many people as possible — retailers, other designers, buyers, press and twitter friends. I accomplished all of these goals at the show and am continuing to follow-up on several strong leads. The feedback I received from visitors was invaluable and inspiring! I left the show with lots of new ideas.
What were some of your biggest challenges for prepping for the show?
Prepping for any tradeshow is a lot of work, but fortunately I’ve been to tradeshows in the past and had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into. This being the first time that my products and ideas were going to be on display and the fact that the company was so new, I did struggle with some basic business concepts when getting ready for the show — making my branding consistent, where to set pricing and how much product do I need to bring?
The other struggle is a pretty obvious one, but tradeshows are expensive! From the exhibit space, electricity, your actual booth components, pre-show marketing, prepping your products… it really starts to add up (and all of it needs to be ordered separately)!
Full booth shot
Take us through the 4 days and your overall experience as a first time exhibitor.
I’m going to cheat a little and go over the six days we were there, including the two set-up days before the show:
Set-up Day 1 (Friday): Caught the red-eye from LAX to JFK and headed straight to Javitz when we landed early Friday morning. Got the canvas walls of the booth up, hung our awesome Kelp Designs sign (created by my talented sister), put the ikea table and chairs together and began cutting out the free-standing, self-supporting cardboard shelving that would be the basis for our booth. Collapsed in exhaustion around 6pm and headed to the hotel for an early night. Wouldn’t do a red-eye flight again before a show — too tired!
Set-up Day 2 (Saturday): Headed back to Javitz in the morning to finish putting together the cardboard shelves and set up the products and other signage. At 2pm, learned that we couldn’t use the cardboard shelves because we didn’t have the proper paper work showing that the cardboard had been pre-treated for fireproofing. Minor breakdown. Overpaid a cab driver for a round-trip ride to ikea, bought inexpensive, easy to assemble metal shelving. Assembled shelving, set up products, posted product info and signage. Realized metal shelving actually worked well to display the promo magnets I had made. Nice.
NSS Day 1 (Sunday): Lots of energy at the show! We were in booth 2070, which was the area for smaller booths and lots of new businesses — fantastic neighbors! There was a good flow of people throughout the day and lots of positive feedback to the cards, the booth, our packaging and our magnets! No orders, but lots of good contacts. Think prices may be a tad too high for the boxed sets. Mental battle over whether to change pricing. Ugh.
NSS Day 2 (Monday): More people than yesterday! Rumor on the street is that more of the buyers and local retailers come out on Monday, as not to give up their weekend. Not sure how true it is, but there were a lot more ‘professionally’ dressed people wandering around. Decided to lower the pricing of our boxed sets a smidge, with the rationale that I’d rather get into a store at a slightly lower price and benefit from the exposure (am I jumping the gun?!). Met several twitter friends in person, our promo magnets got rave reviews and… wrote two orders! Oh, and the CEO of a big NY store/chain stopped in and told me that I “have a very sweet, beautiful line that will do well”, then said he’d send his buyers over. yay! it was a good day!
Photo courtesy Crow and Canary
NSS Day 3 (Tuesday): Starting to catch a cold, and losing a little steam… but the energy at NSS is infectious and kept me going (its hard to be on all the time!). Overall slower foot traffic than Sunday and Monday, but lots of activity in the late morning (11 – 1ish) and then again in the late afternoon (3 – 5ish). Had some time to walk around, visit with friends and see what everyone’s booths looked like — some very creative folks at the show. Lots of good leads and more orders!
NSS Day 4 (Wednesday): Definitely the slowest day of the bunch, but still met great contacts. Show closes at noon, and you can see the exhibitors getting ancy to pack up around 11am. Started breaking down the booth at noon and were done about 1:30. We donated a number of items from our exhibit booth (canvas walls, cardboard, metal shelving, table & chairs, etc) to a school and art program in New York, so we dropped those off in the afternoon, then headed to the airport!
Do you plan on exhibiting in the future?
Yes, I’d like to exhibit again next year — the exposure for Kelp Designs and ability to meet so many great contacts in one place was phenomenal.
Any tips/advice for anyone wanting to exhibit at the National Stationery Show?
– Booth: When designing your booth choose light weight, easy to ship and install materials, that still reflects your brand & style. And, if you can store your shipping materials behind your booth – do so. It can sometimes take hours after the show for your empty containers to be returned to you.
– Networking: Bring lots of business cards and don’t be shy about asking people that stop into your booth for their business card if they don’t offer it — you can’t follow-up if you don’t know who they are. And, of course do make time for follow-up after the show even if its just a quick email.
– Catalogs vs. Line Sheets: Suggest handing out one page line sheets rather than bulky catalogs — again, less to carry and/or ship, and cheaper to print. You can always send a catalog as follow-up if someone really wants one. Also, don’t forget to put together some press kits for the press room. We dropped off 25 small kits which included a press release about us being at the show, our line sheet, our pre-show marketing postcard and a business card. Each piece had our complete contact information on it. By the second day, we only had 5 kits left in the press room… so I’ll likely prep more next year and I might include some samples in the kit.
– If you can, bring help! Days at the show are long, so its best if you have at least one other person there with you so you can run to the bathroom or grab lunch! I was lucky enough to have my husband, mom and sister there throughout the show, which was a huge help. And, if you can’t bring helpers, make friends with your booth neighbors. We filled in for a neighbor across the way when she needed a break π
– Comfy shoes are a must! Lots of standing throughout the show, so bring your most comfortable shoes. If you can afford it, spring for the extra padding under your rented carpet or flooring — your feet will thank you!
– Pre-show Marketing: First time exhibitors get 100 free mailing labels for registered attendees — we used them to send out postcards before the show, and surprisingly had a large number of people stop in because they received the postcard. Make sure you get your labels as a first time exhibitor!
– It’s a big commitment (financial, time, and energy) to exhibit at a tradeshow, but when its the right time to do it, you’ll know.
Good luck!
Thank you so much Katie for all of your insight! And for those who are thinking of exhibiting next year, I hope this information is helpful.
Great interview, Bridgett! I like the first-timer perspective and so happy for Katie that NSS was a success.
great feature! its really interesting to see a first timers perspective, especially as a company just starting out! thanks Katie & Bridgett, for putting this together π
Awesome post! Incredibly informative – Thank you!
Thanks for sharing all this info! I heard everyone talk about going, and was curious what it was really like. Glad it went so well for Katie.
Thanks Bridgett for the opportunity to share my NSS experiences! And, thanks to everyone for the well wishes and support! I’m happy to chat with anyone that has further questions, feel free to contact me π
-Katie
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