Everyone has heard the idiom “the calm before the storm.” It always pops into my head when Quilt Market is right around the corner which always makes me laugh. If there is a “calm” before the storm that is Quilt Market, I have yet to experience it. But I am not in too much of a rush to do so. Sounds kind of eerie to me…
When I mentioned how there was never a calm before the “storm” of Quilt Market to one of my contacts at Quilts Inc, she laughed and cheerfully reminded me that the storm had come and gone and “it’s now safe to go to the show!” I guess you really learn how to streamline things when your endure 10 days without access to your office (or electricity for that matter) only a month before show time. Quilts, Inc did an amazing job pulling things together after Hurricane Ike almost took Houston out completely. I was totally captivated when I read Quilt Market founder and director Karey Bresenhan’s blog entry about Ike’s aftermath.
Warehouse Assistants Arnold and Rodel with Big Boy (the crate)
One of the more intimidating pre-trade show tasks is that of getting every single thing we’ll need for the show—from inventory racks to altoids— gathered and packed up into our shipping crate in a way that makes sense. I am almost sure that our trade show shipping crate is the largest of it’s kind. The people that custom built it for us must have thought we had the hugest ego. The first truck that came to pick it up had a lift gate but the crate was just a little too tall to fit inside. The superstar forklifting skills of Warehouse Assistants Arnold and Rodel actually drew in a small crowd.
Megan and I being silly during set-up
Megan Wisniewski and I met up with the crate again a week ago in Houston, TX. The first day of booth set-up is lots of hard physical work. Our goal was to set up as much as we possibly could in the time we had. I am always amazed at how much we do get done that first day. When you make it as fun as possible like we did, it’s actually hard for me to take breaks for rest. When you become still all you hear is the sound of hundreds of other people working away. So sitting there just doesn’t feel right.
On Set-up Day #2 CEO Todd Hensley stopped by to help for awhile. It’s awesome when people stop in and just can’t help getting their hands dirty right along with me.
CEO Todd Hensley helping me out in the booth
Here are some photos I took right before the show opened on Saturday. The booth in final form…
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It’s always fun to gather in the parking lot and watch the spectacle of “The Loading of the Crate.” It’s second only to “The UN-Loading of the Crate,” which should be any day now. I’ll bring the popcorn.
Ha ha ha! Adrianne is totally right, but Danielle, I must say that you’ve gotten both loading and unloading the crate down to a fine science. Word up. See you in the parking lot!
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