TNNA 2012 - the fallout
Wednesday, July 25, 2012 at 8:42AM Whenever I read reports about TNNA, it's always either about the yarns, the various angles of business (inc. how to be professional), the practicalities of exhibiting or the social side of the show. I haven't found yet a blog post or report about the down side of TNNA. Seeing as we like to keep things real around here, it seems only fitting to approach TNNA from this hidden angle.
Now, don't get me wrong - I did have a great time. I got to catch up with previous TNNA friends like Kate Oates of Tot Toppers and Heather Dixon of Army of Knitters. I got to spend more time with people I only met briefly last year, like Mercedes T Clark and Miriam Felton; folks that I hope I can call new friends. I also got to connect with some great yarn companies, including. Lornas Laces, The Wool Dispensary and Baah Yarns. I did have a brilliant time and I'd do it again without hesitation. But I can't lie and pretend that it was all smiles and happiness, and that there weren't any difficulties.
Finances
One of the biggest issues is cost. It's not cheap for anyone to go to the show, unless they happen to live around the corner. It's not cheap for anyone to exhibit, either. And all of these costs are multiplied when you have to come from the other side of the world.
Travel: the travel alone cost a small fortune. All in all, including everything from bus tickets to excess luggage and flights, my total travel expenses came to £995. That's roughly $1492. And we booked 6 months in advance to get it that cheap.
Accommodation/general living expenses was one the cheapest aspects of the show, running in at £340 or $510.
Exhibiting was costly. Not just the booth hire and the hire of all the equipment from the conference centre, but also the building of the display and all the other peripherals. Tom doesn't work for free for me; if he puts hours into making something unique then his time has a value too, and he quite rightly gets paid for that. So let's break the costs of exhibiting into two categories: hire and tangible costs.
Booth hire, including all the extras such as tables, drapes and so on came to £525 or $785. I did this carefully, too, so if you're thinking about exhibiting you might want to budget for more.
The display materials, everything that came home with me, from the printed banners to the custom built shelves, doubled that total and then some - a further £725 or $1090. Thankfully this is all stuff I can re-use so I don't feel like it's cash totally lost, but it's still cash spent none the less.
And then you have the marketing and promotional costs - business cards and the like. They came to roughly £150 or $225. That's a lot less than many spend, but you already know I'm cheap.
That brings the monetary value of my 7 day round trip to £2735 or $4102. That doesn't include the months of worrying, thinking and planning beforehand, or the cost of a week off afterwards due to jet lag.
Now, you'll always hear folks saying that in business you gotta spend money to make money. Which is all well and good when you have money in the first place. And that's where that flippancy starts to piss me off, as TNNA this year cost me more than we spent on the double decker bus that we call home. It cost the equivalent of keeping my family fed, watered and sheltered for 4 months. Put into perspective like that, you can see why the outlay of this year's show is still stinging. I remain optimistic that it'll have been worth it, even if I don't see an immediate return. But I think it's worth noting just how much of an investment it's been, even if to some the fiscal cost is on the slim side.
Emotions
This one is a much harder cost to quantify.
If you've ever exhibited before, you'll hopefully appreciate how difficult it can be to put yourself on show. As much as you're exhibiting your work, and that is what folks come to see, in essence it's you that you're exhibiting. Your creativity. Your planning. Your thoughts and ideas and skills. I both love it and hate it. I was taught well - with a good art college degree behind me I know how the game works yet I still loathe it. It's an emotional projection, and afterwards the come down can be pretty severe. Sure this is a business show - a trade show - and it should be treated like such, and I'm pretty sure many exhibitors may feel differently. But I wasn't exhibiting tangible goods or inanimate objects. And nor am I player in the wannabe corporate world. I'm a small time designer who put her ideas on show, even if the buyers were seeing something very different.
Last year was my first year at TNNA and I found the culture shock pretty hard to deal with. Mostly, I'm withdrawn, I rarely come out of my cave; we can thank the black dog for that. If I need to interact or be sociable I tend to adopt a more outgoing stance and alcohol is usually involved, as I've not yet found another way of coping. And it's exhausting. The life we lead couldn't be further from the world of business and trade - we hate waste, we recycle and reuse, we consider every action and reaction. We live simply and frugally. We're down to earth and take people as they come and expect folks to take us as they find us. We live pretty quietly, all told, and the idea of being at such a *huge* show, where everyone is there to sell something in the game known as big business, is pretty intimidating.
The one aspect that troubles me the most is the 'face' of business, for want of a better description. Everyone smiles and greets and is outwardly polite, which is all well and good when it's genuine, but when it's not it's a veneer. And I blogged before about how myself and veneers don't really get along. I can't trust people if I don't see a hint of human. If there isn't a sign of real life somehow, like a discreet cursing or an imperfection of some kind then I get paranoid. It wouldn't be an understatement to say that TNNA on the whole makes me paranoid, until I see a real, likeable side of someone, something you can connect with, and then I can let out a huge sigh of relief. I'm aware that a lot of this is down to being a Brit who's very European delving into the alien world of American business, because we really do do things very differently. But part of it is also my personality, I'm just not a business minded sort; I know how it works but it doesn't suit me very well.
Having braved it once I was better prepared, and the damage from the general meet and greet was limited, yet couple that with the exhibition fallout and you're left with a bit of a mess in this corner. The whole trip was a real whirlwind, so much going on and so far to travel in such a short space of time. And probably not surprisingly, given that I do live with the black dog, I'm still dealing with the emotional fallout from it all. My moods are all over the place; once a week I'm having to talk myself off the ledge, and I'm waking in the middle of the night with panic attacks.
You might be wondering why I bother with it if this is what it really costs, and to that I would say that it's something I need to do if I want to grow my business and continue supporting my family. It's as simple as that. I'm the breadwinner in our bushold and I gotta keep the pennies coming in. Or at least, for now I feel the benefits outweight the costs. That, and that I love to catch up with friends and stay in touch with the industry. As I said before, it's far from being all bad. It's a bittersweet thing, and this is a side which rarely gets acknowledged yet is so important to bear in mind.
Reader Comments (10)
It is good to find someone writing about the other side of shows. While I enjoy doing them, the fallout can be huge. Like you we live pretty solitary lives, so suddenly being thrown into the crowded and busy world of business can be a shock to the system. I always look forward to returning to the solitude of my dye shed.
So well put! When this is your living you have to be out there and being seen - even when it's against your nature. If J wasn't so outgoing we'd do nothing like the number of shows we do! Normal life to us is locked away in our courtyard in our workshops or getting ready for the next event, with me running orund in a panic most of the time!
The costs of all the markets etc has to be weighed up very carefully - you won't see us at the London ones as we really can't afford to go to them, our van is our accommodation when everything is unloaded and set up.........!
I also love the being with my friends and greeting familiar customers - who usually become friends, but the stress and strain of being there never gets a mention really!
Thanks for expressing this so well!
That's a very honest post and very interesting to read. I was thinking recently if it was worth it financially to exhibit at a show like TNNA. I've not done any trade shows but I've done some retail shows like Woolfest and Wonderwool and this year especially those 2 shows plus too many workshops between, too many magazine deadlines and an op in March have left me feeling exhausted and I've really struggled to cope. I'm starting to recover physically and emotionally now and looking forward to 2 weeks of holiday and doing no work (well apart from some knitting but I don't like to call that work although I should).
It is hard to be 'on show' at a show. I find it exhausting. And the whole idea of 'my brand' includes me and how i act and dress etc is just too much at times.
I appreciate your honesty and it's interesting ot hear about the real cost of a show like TNNA.
Thank you for an honest and frank assessment of the show. I was only able to go because I could do it on the cheap. I'll admit I'm no where near being able to afford the winter show, nevermind if I had to travel to another continent! And while I didn't have the emotional costs of setting up a booth and being on display I still felt spread too thin by the end of the weekend. And you're exactly right, it's because of how much of ourselves designers put into our work.
That being said you and your booth looked amazing at TNNA. I loved getting to hang out with you and learn from all your experience. It was an honor to be temporarily part of the european contingent!
When I read this blog I was touched by how honest you are. From previous blogs, I've read that your life has not been a bed of roses(I don't mean to be flippant here). However, you are still going out there, where it is difficult, and putting yourself on show.
Remember that there are some REAL people out there, who believe in the same things you and your lovely family do. You have had to overcome so much more and remember that it is exhausting just being alive and keeping going! You create beautiful things and have strong and valid beliefs. Be gentle on yourself.
Your lifestyle is a wonderful example to all of us, I admire the effort and thought you put into everything that touches your life. What a wonderful world we would live in if everyone was so conscious of their impact on the earth and its people.
Your display/booth looked great! I was quite impressed when you told me how you built it and what materials you used. And the fact that you brought it all with you in your suitcase! :-)
This was my second show and I felt really out of it even though I was not exhibiting. I agree with you about the veneers. This year I felt the freedom of not having to deal with those kind of people. I don't want to waste my time with people that insists on being mean and unfriendly to me. There are plenty of great people to talk to.
Lovely post Woolly :-) I am in awe of you guys who come from overseas to do the show- if I didn't live close enough to drive (a long no-fun drive, but still) I don't think I'd be able to make it, and certainly not to exhibit, between shipping samples and renting furniture at the center's crazy prices. Even with my lower costs, and even with sharing a booth and hotel room, I'm still waiting to see if it panned out financially. I hope so, because I'd really like to exhibit again, but I might just have to downgrade to awkward designer-spectator if not. I am really glad you guys make the trip though :-)
I'm a grade-A introvert who spends 90% of her waking time alone, so I'm with you on the "taxing" part (one more reason I'd hate to fly- if anything wears me out more than socializing and business, it's air travel.) I'm very lucky to know a good handful of designers who've showed their "human" side and who I'm pretty comfortable around, but that was definitely not the case last year (my first year) and that was ROUGH. Even this year there were some uncomfortable chats with people I don't particularly trust for one reason or another- I'm bad at faux polite, I just go dumbstruck. (Actually I'm sort of bad at real-polite too. I just go straight from dumbstruck to casual profanity. My poor friends.)
In any case, I hope you feel better soon! It was great to meet you, even though I was a little awkward and tongue-tied. I get that way around folks I admire ;-)
Wow this is totally inspirational. Your determination to go to the show and to describe so eloquently what it is like for you is really powerful. My mum lives with a black dog - I feel he has been a family friend of mine throughout my life - and what you describe in terms of the fallout and emotional strain of being "up" is just what I see in her and feel a little of in myself. Thank you for sharing this part of yourself on your blog. And for all those great patterns!
Ruth, I appreciate this post. I bet, if you decide to do this again, your followers would help raise money for you to come- we could knit hats and auction them or something... or just send you money. There are many of us who don't live so close to the edge but who are so thankful there are inspiring people making our addictions and crafts and art possible that we would support it. Just an idea People in America aren't afraid to ask for money... That's another corporate lesson from this side.