The Birth of a Convention Booth . . .

For years, customers at shows have said "I wish I could see how you put this booth together." So Friday, I took pictures all day long. Here they come, along with time stamps and a little bit of commentary . . .



10:35 a.m. -- This is our booth space, chalk marks on the floor to define our boundaries. If it's a carpeted floor, then it's colored tape. The first time I saw it, I was reminded of Les Nessman on WKRP in Cincinnati and the "walls" in his office.



The truck is backed into place and ready to unload. Our booth weighs six tons (yes, he said tons). We got lucky today -- it's pouring rain outside and we got to back the truck inside the building. Only happens three or four times a year -- most of the time, we wheel everything in from outside on hand trucks.



10:54 a.m. -- The gridwall has made it off the truck, so it's time for me to stop unloading and start building the skeleton of our booth. You'll see lots of faces in these pictures. We have "local help" -- friends we've made over the years in various locations -- and they help us with setup and teardown.



11:18 a.m. -- Gridwall about halfway up.



11:46 a.m. -- Unloading continues. Meanwhile, the gridwall is complete, and up goes the sign.



12:25 p.m. -- Lights up . . . lights on . . .



1:06 p.m. -- Stocking the shelves is underway. We're adding another ten feet of demo space this weekend for Sue Rothamel of USArtQuest, so the booth will look a little different on one end.



1:47 p.m. -- Shelves are filling up (this is the point where I realized that if I pulled the Ten Seconds' tower out a little, I could show the whole booth).



2:25 p.m. -- Sue Rothamel arrives with her husband, Dave, and his sister and brother-in-law and start unpacking in her demo space.



Meanwhile, we're still stocking shelves . . .



3:18 p.m. -- Most everything is in place, and now we're setting up the demo tables and putting in the small stuff. First view from the opposite end of the booth.



4:25 p.m. -- Sue Rothamel's demo space is taking shape . . .



We're about done, too. Karen has time for a conversation with Margaret Myers from Sparkle 'N' Sprinkle.



5:10 p.m. -- Cover up the small stuff for safekeeping. We'll finish in the morning -- we're outta here . . .

Saturday Morning, 9:58 a.m. -- All done, waiting for you to come in the front door. I've decided the pictures really don't tell the story -- it's much more exhausting in real life . . .