Supply orders

Well, I just got off the phone after making three large supply orders for the approaching Stock Show.  As soon as the ton of wood and other parts arrive, it'll be all laser, all the time for the next couple of weeks leading up to the event.  There is quite a bit of software editing I need to do in getting files prepped to print, so that should keep me busy until our orders get here.  And we do still have some leftovers from our last supply orders that I can use up. 

There is still so much to get done.  The biggest concern is that we need to get cracking on a design for our booth.  To date we've only attended two (small) events where we offered laser goods for sale. 

The space we used was less than half a table at the first one..

...and a full table at the second one.

They were shared events, the real focus at the event was the model horse show going on.  We just had a sales table, in addition to model horses for display and show. 

Coming up we have a full on Trade Show where we have an 8'x8' booth to fill.  I want us to have a nice setup, but as of right now we have nothing, except the laser-cut holders that Jeff made for our first events.  We will probably do more of those - they are a great and space efficient way to hold a lot of pieces, plus they allow people to flip through and look at all of the designs. 

However, we also want to have a lot of things hanging up, to catch people's eye, and to be able to display more designs.  Being trade show newbies means we have nothing readily available.  I know there are companies that make "trade show displays" but 1) I'm not sure we want to spend the money on them and 2) I'm not sure we have time to get something like that ordered.  Also, this will probably be the only big event that we go to for the foreseeable future, so do we really want some sort of huge display racks kicking around the rest of the year?  I am going to do some investigating though. 

I think maybe we will end up trying to fabricate something - after all, we have a LASER cutter! - but I don't want our booth to look cobbled together either.  We'll see...  I'm going to investigate some ready-made options today and if that doesn't seem like it will work, then we need to get busy on designing our own display racks/stands.

So much to do!