Gold Coasting (D1 – D2)

D1 – Tuesday 6th October 2009

I’m down on the Gold Coast for a few days (attending a conference and tradeshow) and thought I’d write a little to keep you in the loop. I’m currently sitting in my lovely hotel room listening to the sounds of the waterfall and lagoon outside as the full moon begins to rise in the sky.

We arrived yesterday to setup the tradeshow stand… and everything was going really well until we unpacked the company and realised two crucial parts to our tradeshow booth’s design were missing… the bolts that held all of the stage-trussing together, as well as a small section of trussing that would join two bits together.

Luckily, after a few quick phone calls, we found out that someone had left them in the carpark downstairs at work when we were repacking the ute! Luckily we noticed this at around 1pm (setting up the tradeshow booths was due to begin at at 2:30) and my colleague and I did what we could and waited until around 5pm, when another colleague was due to check-in to the hotel – luckily he had the mising pieces with him and we worked until around 7pm to get out both setup.

Now that it’s all done – it looks great. We have two 30″ LCD TVs hanging off the trussing as well as lots of lights, heaps of posters and banners and a few bar-tables and stools where people can come and play with the product. The middle section of the stand is ticked in behind a hotel support beam, but we have designed the booth in such a way so that people “flow” through it.

We’re right up next to the entrance of the tradeshow hall, so heaps of people always mill around and I’m pleased to say our ‘flow’ design worked like a treat! We have 4 staff on duty manning the booth – 3 of us, including me, are here all week and the 4th person is a roster filled with the remaining staff from our office – so each gets a go to come and see what manning a tradeshow booth is all about.

D2 – Wednesday 7th October 2009

Today was open day and it was busy as can be. Being right up next to the entrance to the tradeshow area meant we had a tonne of people come into our stand from the word go. In fact, we had lines of people waiting to speak to us – which was great!

I’m also very happy to have personally made 3 potential sales and 1 definite (he’s paying tomorrow, can you believe) so far – all in one day! That’s not bad, considering it’s only my second tradeshow and I sold the most for the day. Hopefully tomorrow I can convert the potential’s into definite’s!

This evening there’s a Welcome Dinner on, but only some of our staff are registered for all of the events (I’m not one of them ) so I decided to spend some time and have dinner with my boss’s wife and their kids (since they’re all staying here at the hotel too).

The restaurant here at the hotel here is fantastic, with lots to choose from – and dining with kids is a different experience. I can’t remember the exact ages of my boss’s kids… 10, 4 and the little one is just 4-months, I think? They were very well mannered. It’s funny how one of the priorities as a parent it to keep them entertained – my boss’s wife has it down pat! Colouring-in drawings and pencils.

I got to hold the 4-month old bub a few times. He wasn’t as heavy as I’d imagined – for some reason I must have thought that babies were heavier, hehe. When my boss came down to say goodbye to his wife for the evening as we were entering the restaurant, he grinned at me holding the baby and said “That’s a good look! That could suit you, you know” hehe. He suggested we take a photo to send to Dale

It was funny being in the restaurant though… my boss’s wife, myself and her 3 kids. We had a bit of a laugh at one stage when she noticed a few people trying to work out the dynamics of our relationship, LOL!

We had a few cocktails and some pasta / pizza while the kids had fish & chips / a burger. The kids desserts on the menu sounded fantastic though – A sandwich of M&M cookies filled with ice-cream?!? YUM!!! As there was an ‘age limit’ to the kids menu, we joked that we should get the boys to order two each (with one extra for each of us adults ) heh.

But all good – today was a great day and I’m happy about my sales performance. I’m kind-of glad I was able to have a bit of an early night, as I didn’t sleep very well last night for some reason. we didn’t go to bed until midnight and even then I didn’t get to sleep until 2am and it was an on-and-off sleep I think I’d just had a stressful day – but I think if I get a good nights sleep tonight, I should be alive and kicking tomorrow and ready to close some more deals

I’m also looking forward to Friday night, when my boy is coming down. Granted I won’t see too much of him (the big convention finale “awards dinner” is on), it will still be good to have him here overnight. He knows my boss’s wife too, so if he does want to hang out with her and the kids, I’m sure she won’t mind.

That’s all for tonight… I might have a shower and head to bed for a bit of an early one – I certainly need the sleep with a few more late nights coming up. Until next time, be good =)