Debut at *Noted (part 1)
It’s the end of July practically & I haven’t updated anyone out there in the ether of the internet about my experience at *Noted in late April, my trade show debut!
First of all, Noted is sponsored by the all volunteer led GCA USA (The Greeting Card Association). *Noted was developed by other stationery makers in the GCA after the National Stationery Show was dissolved (luckily!). I was just starting my line in 2020 when I read that the Stationery Show was ending & I was very sad to hear that. I was looking forward to meeting others in the industry there, and buyers who focus on stationery, of course, too. *Noted had a rough start in 2020, was virtual only in 2021, and came out roaring in 2022 co-located with the new SFNOW in San Francisco in person again.
The venue was Fort Mason & I understand it’s going to be there for another year, if not permanent. We were in an old industrial fish packing warehouse right on the bay. There was a lot of natural light, tall ceilings, lots of room, bathrooms as you might expect from a fish packing warehouse (tbh!), and a view of Alcatraz! The *Noted side had uniform 6' wide booths, 3’ deep with the occasional 10’ wide or 10’ square booth, too. There were lounges sponsored by the likes of Hallmark & American Greetings, no less! Oh yes, the big players & the small indies all play together here!
This is probably worth two posts - I learned so much & have so much to share! Not to mention I attended (most of) the Louie awards - the Academy Awards for the greeting card industry, and one of my new designs for Mirthos Paper was selected as a finalist for the Noted@*Noted awards (the edgier award ceremony) - alas, we didn’t win, but it was quite the honor to be nominated.
I spent 7-1/2 hours setting up my small booth (OMG, hahaha!). I took precut vinyl wall decals to decorate and luckily I laid out the plan for the vinyl & the cards in Illustrator before I left. This is not the time to decide on the fly where things go! It turned out fantastic - then I changed in the (minimal jail house vibe) bathroom & headed for the now-fully-underway Louie’s. I was fashionably late, shall we say. The food was incredible, the drinks were refreshing, I met even more paper peeps that I had known already or new to me. I saw awards being presented on stage - big winners, big companies, and some small winners, too!
Let me back up just a bit…. by the time I’m at the show and have a line ready for wholesale, I’ve been part of the Proof to Product Labs (PtP) community for about a year after attending Paper Camp (paper product biz boot camp). These communities are founded & led by Katie Hunt who does a great job helping product based small businesses find community & resources. It’s a great place & I’ve met so many awesome makers. I think almost half of the *Noted attendees were PtP or Paper Camp peeps! I had a lot of people to meet in person finally! (and side bar, let me tell you, it’s taken me a LONG time to “get to know” people only via online platforms & zoom! I even put my foot in my mouth a few times when I didn’t recognize the person’s name, only their company name or vice versa! Meeting in person helped so much!) I had also emailed and developed a connection with no less than Sarah Schwartz, the founding editor of Stationery Trends magazine! I was looking forward to meeting her and other industry stars that I knew would be at the show. I was not disappointed!
Are you still with me? Proof that you are a full scale paper nerd, too! I love it! :)
I’ll have to come back for Part 2 of this tale. That was only the set up day! Noted is a brief but action packed 2 day show & I was also part of a “Meet New Makers” pitch program the next morning before the show started!! More on all that in my next post!
I plan to be here more often & share more of my process & why I do this. Please reach out if you have any questions or need help with an order!
xo, Hilary