John Strauss Design Blog

I'm sitting at the Las Vegas World Market Trade show this week. Today is day two. Trade shows are strange beasts, each attracting different types of crowds. One gets to know the vendors around you as each day you are standing in your booth for ten hours hoping for a sale or two. This show has been as slow as the summer show where we didn't end up selling anything. I am hoping for a good remaining three days, or we probably won't be back here again. The neighbors fit into certain categories: there is the crazy guy who doesn't really fit in and who ends up doing annoying things to you during the week like talking incessantly to you while you are trying to flag down the high end designer walking by your booth and avoiding the annoying booth neighbor. There is the foreign company that doesn't speak much or any english and whose ideas of marketing and graphic design is to stick some 8" x 11 1/2" copies from Kinkos on the walls. There is Mr. Sunshine who has something negative to say at almost any turn and on any subject such as being charged $60 for a breakfast of oatmeal at his hotel. The first trade show I did in Chicago, there was a company whose main salesman threw stationary items in the air and in the directions of attendees. We finally had to call security because he was scaring away everyone. I have seen cowboys and blonde bimbo designers here. There many Canadians and Mexicans. The Canadians are bummed out about the current status of the exchange rate which is not in their favor. I'm not sure what the Mexicans are shopping for here that they can't get produced in their country. More tomorrow....