For the past month or two I’d been keeping myself rather busy with gearing up for the Greater Greenwood Chamber of Commerce’s 2009 B2B Expo. It was hosted at Jonathan Byrd’s Banquet Hall, and the Presenting Sponsor was Innovative Technologies. Point Brake was one of the 13 Maximum Exposure Sponsors, and one of 44 vendors total.
It must be a true sign of perfectionism when a Flash portfolio display, Print portfolio display, 50 brochures (personally designed, printed, and folded), Free Evaluation voucher ($300 value), and 20+ page booklet (personally written, designed, printed, and bound) doesn’t seem like “enough”. Luckily, despite all my various insecurities, everything seemed to go incredibly smoothly and successfully. I even got compliments on the brochure design that I still wasn’t satisfied with, which really set me at ease.
There were many differences between this Expo and the last. First and foremost, I was far more prepared. I didn’t pull an all-nighter the night before, though I still only got 5ish hours of sleep. I thought for sure that an interactive display would enhance the experience of anyone who visited my booth, but not many people really took the time to look at either of the portfolios I had on display. I definitely found it far easier to talk to people at this Expo than at the last. I was less nervous and realized I only had to talk about things that I know all the ins and outs of, so that made it incredibly easy for me to relax.
The connections I made yesterday are really rather priceless. A few people in particular left a lasting, positive impression on me. Cynthia Fox, the State Farm agent I’ve been meaning to contact, stopped by and said some truly encouraging things regarding being a young, female business owner. Garnet Vaughan of The Marketing Department and Winchester Place (and also President-Elect of the Chamber’s Board) gave me some really intuitive advice regarding my display of the Free Evaluation vouchers. I’ll definitely be using her as a resource for a number of things. I was also very glad to finally meet Regina Miller of Geek In Pink. She definitely does not look like a geek at all! Then again, there are many of us who don’t, I guess. It was also just as nice to reconnect with familiar faces. Its always a pleasure to see Steve Murrell of Shannon Carpet One.
Here are some more pictures from yesterday’s event:
