CHA Winter Convention is near!
For some reason I think that y'all want to hear about the trade shows that we go to so I thought I would take a few minutes to tell you all about what we do at the CHA Conventions (Craft and Hobby Association). I read on their website that CHA is "the craft and hobby world's fair" and that pretty much describes it! Let's see if I can put it in perspective-if you've been to a Memories Expo you may know that they have about 75(ish) booths that are usually 10X10'. Sometimes the booths are double-sized at an Expo. Booths at CHA start at 10X20' and it is not uncommon for many vendors to double, triple, quadruple up on their booth space. This year they have over 1,100 vendors in 325,00 square feet of space! Most vendors "trick-out" their space by adding carpet, furniture, whole rooms... One year I went to the Paper Adventure's booth and they had a whole office set up inside their booth with little rooms buyers could go in to sit at a desk with computers to order. Massive!! Last year the KI Memories booth had Elsie there doing make-n-takes in a faux-kitchen! They had it set up with real cabinets and counters, a vintage Frigidaire, a center island with overhead lights, barstools and even the kitchen sink! It was so cool!
Inside the convention center they have two floors with vendors. The bottom floor, which we all call "the basement" is just for NEW vendors and all the categories are mixed. For example you will see scrapbooking mixed in with tole painting or floral. Most of the action is upstairs. There the vendors are put into sections so that if you are a scrapbook buyer you can concentrate your time all in that area. In case you think that area is small...if, let's say we have an appointment with one of our vendor reps at 1pm and it is on the other side of the scrapbooking area, it will take us about 15 minutes to get there! Of course that takes into account walking down the aisle the wrong way at least once!!
The show lasts 3 1/2 days and that is not enough time to take in just the scrapbooking booths! I mean it! We miss something every year! The show floor is open from 9-5:30 and with about 15 minutes to grab a truly yucky lunch, we are walking and shopping the whole time. OK...we do take a potty or Starbucks break if we need one!
There are classes going on the whole time. We can take creative or business classes. We usually take a business class or two. Never know where the next great idea will come from! There are morning meetings that happen before the show floor opens and there are "parties" after it closes usually for "preferred" buyers. At these parties we schmooze with designers, company owners, etc. We get to have some hands-on time with the latest products, there are usually treats to eat and freebies to bring home for give-aways but most importantally, we get to order product!
Most nights we go back to the hotel room stocked with catalogs and goodies and go through and to make sure we ordered what we wanted or to write up orders! With a time zone difference, we try to go to bed early, but it is never on "our" time schedule! It is great fun to put on our PJs, tune into some sappy romance movie, grab a late-night snack and a pile of catalogs to snuggle into bed to drool over!
This year Kristen and I are getting to go and Kristen tells me that she is not gonna be star-struck, but the jury is out on this! Every year we stroll the aisles and we see all the "scrap-lebrities" like Becky Higgins, Donna Downy, Heidi Swapp and Sandy Genovise (spelling?). Sometimes we see other popular crafters like Christopher Lowell, Vanna White or Martha Stewart! You should see how ga-ga some people get for these folks! I have been know to stand in line for a photo-op, so I am really not one to talk! 
One year I saw a BIG frenzy in the floral area over this uber-cute, teenage Asian girl. Lots of people were gathered around her, posing for photos and getting autographs. I had no clue who she was, but I am sure the floral folks had no idea who Tim Holtz was either! It is very cool (I don't care what Kristen says!) to rub elbows with some of the scrapbook world's gurus!
There is tons and tons of product to see. Fantastic new stuff that we want to get for the store. Sometimes it is a total overload so we take lots of photos of new product, what fun we are having and what sites we are seeing so that we can bring them back with us and share it all! It helps if we bring a "shopping list" with us so that we know some of the things y'all have been looking for too!
Kristen and I leave on Feb.8th so wish Bon Voyage and Bon Faire du Shopping!
Jen
