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JR and I arrived at the booth this morning to find that the 8' tall translucent sign at the front of the booth had come unglued from it's attachments and was lying in the aisle. Bother. Some quick work with double stick tape had it back up before the show opened, but I don't trust our fix very much. I worked the booth until noon, then walked around the show for a hour and a half. There are 60 aisles for this show, and I've already covered 24 of them. Not that I'm spending much time looking at the individual booths. The show is aimed at people doing analytical chemistry. I don't do that anymore, apart from theoretical stuff. JR will be looking at instruments and supplies for the lab, sales manager will call on the exhibitors who are also our customers, Cloudy will be busy scarfing up all the freebies she can find.
Me, I get to just stroll the show and look at what interests me. I also get to check out what our competitors are doing, but there's usually not a lot there. Pretty much one of us will come up with a new type of product, and the others will come out with their own version soon after.
You also get to see people that you rarely see otherwise. People you went to grad school with, old professors, folks you know professionally, customers you've only previously met on the phone, even the odd ex-girlfriend. There are even people that I recognize only because I've seen them at previous shows. I've never talked to them, I don't even know their names, but I recognize them by sight, because I always see them in the exact same context.
One person that I do know, Crash, came by today. He went to URI several years after I did, but we played softball together for years on the department team. He lives and works in Tampa now, so I only see him at these shows. We caught up a bit, talked about old times, and talked about the fire. Thus does life carry on.
It's 80° F and sunny, so I decided to walk back to the hotel (about a mile) rather than take the shuttle. Took a shower, soaked my feet for a while, and now I'm heading back. One of our vendors is throwing a cocktail party at 5 for it's customers, and I feel it's impolite not to drink the free booze when it's offered.
Me, I get to just stroll the show and look at what interests me. I also get to check out what our competitors are doing, but there's usually not a lot there. Pretty much one of us will come up with a new type of product, and the others will come out with their own version soon after.
You also get to see people that you rarely see otherwise. People you went to grad school with, old professors, folks you know professionally, customers you've only previously met on the phone, even the odd ex-girlfriend. There are even people that I recognize only because I've seen them at previous shows. I've never talked to them, I don't even know their names, but I recognize them by sight, because I always see them in the exact same context.
One person that I do know, Crash, came by today. He went to URI several years after I did, but we played softball together for years on the department team. He lives and works in Tampa now, so I only see him at these shows. We caught up a bit, talked about old times, and talked about the fire. Thus does life carry on.
It's 80° F and sunny, so I decided to walk back to the hotel (about a mile) rather than take the shuttle. Took a shower, soaked my feet for a while, and now I'm heading back. One of our vendors is throwing a cocktail party at 5 for it's customers, and I feel it's impolite not to drink the free booze when it's offered.
