204: Inside Our Expo Strategy

Day one at the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas. I remember standing in the middle of the booth, barefoot on the warm wooden floor, surrounded by eucalyptus and handmade lampshades that my mom made and floral arrangements that we had placed just about an hour before. And I grabbed the broom for one final sweep. I tucked it into our little storage closet and I flipped the switch on to our sconces and our lamps up. Our booth literally glowed. And within moments, before the doors even officially opened, people began to gather. It was surreal. And it was exactly how we hoped it would feel. Intentional, welcoming, full of heart and story. We showed up to the world's largest licensing trade show without a flashy campaign, but with clarity and values. And a plan. So in this episode, I'll walk you through the entire strategy that we use to bring our vision to life, from preparation to follow up so that you can confidently do the same for your next opportunity. Now, whether that is a trade show or something like a craft market or a small shop experience, I think you'll find there are a lot of takeaways that will hopefully help you.

I'm Bonnie Christine, and this is where all things creativity, design, business and marketing unite. I'm a mama living in a tiny town tucked right inside the Smoky Mountains, running a multi seven figure business, doing the most creative and impactful work of my life.

But when I first set out to

become an entrepreneur, I was struggling to make ends meet and wrestling with how to accomplish my biggest dream of becoming a fabric designer.

Fast forward to today.

I'm not only licensing my artwork all over the world, but also teaching others how to design their creative life and

experience the same success.

I'm here to help you spend your life doing something that lights you up. I'll help you build a creative business that also creates an impact, changes people's lives, gives you all of the freedom you want, and is wildly profitable. Welcome to the Professional Creative Podcast.

This was our first time exhibiting at a licensing trade show and it, you know, it was a little overwhelming. We had never done anything like this before. The booth setup was long and it was delayed. We had no idea how our approach would be received. We, and we didn't even have that many appointments lined up. But what we did have was heart and a plan rooted in who we are. We had spent several days before the show in our hotel room surrounded by fabric swatches and vintage papers and photos from my sketchbook, building mood boards and stapling swatch cards together. And we wanted to mimic this feeling of being inside my studio. So when the show opened, something really beautiful happened. People flocked to our booth and conversations sparked. Appointments filled different ended up being exactly what we needed. Now I have compiled a full list of my top 20 takeaways from the Licensing Expo and it's something that I've already done, delivered inside our membership called Pattern Plus. I'm gonna share the link to that at the end of this episode. Walking into the Licensing Expo for the first time was a lot. Las Vegas is a lot just in general. Thousands of brands under one roof and it was all new for us. We had no idea what to expect from hiring and figuring out a booth builder to navigating convention regulations and figuring out what on earth union rules mean. There were plenty of moments where we felt completely out of our element. And here's the truth. We didn't have many appointments lined up ahead of time. In fact, we had only six, despite hundreds of outreaches that we had already done. I remember looking around at this polished booth, the big brands with back to back meetings that we had surrounding us and we couldn't help but just have this sinking moment of doubt. Do we even belong here? Is this going to be worth it? We were tired, we were so invested and also we were unsure. And quite frankly, we were very different than anything else we were seeing. But the second that the doors opened, everything shifted. In fact, we all looked around each other. So tired and sleep deprived because we had been still setting up the booth at 11pm the night before, back up at 6am to do some last minute things on the morning of. And as soon as the show opened we were like, who needs sleep? It was this wild ride of complete exhaustion and complete adrenaline just clashing together the entire time. People were drawn to our booth immediately, conversations began flowing and appointments filled and it became clear that different was exactly what people were drawn to and looking for. Our appointments filled so quickly that that night we went to Target and kind of grabbed what we needed to make a secondary meeting space just so that we could take two meetings at one time. That's when we realized that this was the moment that we had been preparing for. Not just the Expo, but all of the years leading up to it. The opportunity was so much more than visibility or deals. It was brand alignment and it was showing up with like so much intention. We felt ready because we had done all of the work. We had refined our brand and built our catalog and reimagined my portfolio, which is what our last episode was all about. We are launching Flowery our shop and showing up consistently in our Community. This wasn't just a one off effort. It was this natural step in our brand journey. And so we showed up with so much more than artwork. We showed up with story, with purpose, and a team that truly believe in what we are bringing to the table. Our booth became this living expression of our brand. It was warm and rooted and welcoming. And from that space, we were able to connect with people in a way that felt really real and lasting. And the real opportunity was not just about this event. It was this chance to show up fully as ourselves and to let that be enough and to just welcome people into this thing that we do. One of our goals was to make every single wall we had what you call an island booth. So four walls. All four were surrounded by walkways. And we wanted every different angle to pull someone into our booth. And we didn't realize this until we got there, but walking around the show, there were many, many booths that felt really intimidating. Like I would never walk into that booth unless I had an appointment on the books. Because it just felt very kind of laced up and intimidating. And so we wanted to draw people in from every single angle. There were a bunch of different ways that we did that. So I want to walk you through five actionable steps that you can take if you're considering something similar to this. The first one is to set really clear goals before you show up. We ask ourselves, what does success look like for us here? And there was a laundry list of reasons why we were going. And so we kind of had to prioritize our number one desired outcome and then all of these other things as well. Because I was there to, of course, license my artwork. But because of the education arm to our business, we had all of these other potential ways that we could work with people through Pattern plus and through licensing challenges and through advertising or sponsoring our conferences or our course. We also had Flowery, our new shop, represented there. So we had a laundry list of, you know, different goals for that as well. So our, our top three goals were, first and foremost, visibility. We wanted to let our work be known, be seen, be felt. The next one was relationship building. We wanted to connect genuinely. We were not there to just pitch. We wanted to begin building relationships. And then we wanted to very intentionally plant the seeds for long term partnerships, whether that be through art licensing or through brand collaboration, or through the opportunity of sponsoring. We wanted to plant these seeds that could serve both ends of that relationship for years and years and years to come. We also were launching Pattern Magazine. So Tessie had an armful of magazines at the, at the top of our booth. And this was such a great conversation starter, handing them out all over the place. And it was so beautiful and such a great place to debut our inaugural issue of Pattern Magazine. Number two was to prepare every detail with intention. We designed a booth that felt like an experience, like our brand in physical form. It was complete with natural florals that smelled so good they drew people in left, right and center. We had all of these handmade expressions from these birds that I made hanging from the roof of this incredible open greenhouse to Pattern Magazine in full display. We prepped contracts in advance, so we worked with a lawyer to develop exclusive, non exclusive and buyout contracts so that we could really intelligently have business conversations at this expo. Our outreach plan included personalized meeting scripts and calendar invites and follow up. We developed this kind of behind the scenes Google form that were being used by us at what we called the back desk, which is where we were taking meetings. And another one for the front desk where, where Nikita and Tessie and Rebecca were speaking to people as they passed by. And every time someone gave us their business card or we had a conversation, we went and filled out this Google form that way. At the end of the show we had a spreadsheet full of notes and contacts and follow up instructions. We also really brought our products to life. I printed my entire pattern portfolio, so over 200 patterns on fabric swatches, large swatches, they were like 20 by 20 inches. We brought them to life on wrapping paper, so gift wrap sheets. We also brought them to life in a full library of wallpaper. We also brought all of our flower items. In our spring launch, we had beautiful linen bags that we handed out to our kind of top contacts. We had 250 printed and inside they had samples from Flowery, some beautiful postcards, and our press kit, which really became the star of the show.

Okay, picture this. Have you ever spent hours scouring through your video or maybe your podcast content trying to find that, that one place that you said that one thing? Or if you've forgotten or never found it and you had to re record everything. I've been there and it's so frustrating and honestly a huge waste of time. But it has happened to me ever since I started using Searchie. Searchie is the software that I use for all of my videos and all of my podcast content because it not only transcribes it, but it makes it searchable by keywords, word. And so for you to see this in action, I have an example set up for you over on BonnieCristine.com resources again, that's BonnieCristine.com resources and you can actually play with Searchie and see how it looks on one of our videos because once you understand what it does, it's a game changer. I also host all of my workshop and my class, my membership and course material through Searchie as well can search for any question that they have and go to the exact time and place where I talked about that one thing. And just imagine this. If I ever do a Q and A and they want to know if I answered their question, all they have to do is search for their name and see if I did or not. It's literally like having your very own personal search engine for your content. So no more wasting time scrubbing through your video or audio to find that one golden nugget with sear. You can easily find what you're looking for in seconds. Just type in a keyword or phrase and Searchie will pull up all the relevant content. It's a game changer for anyone who creates audio or video content. But honestly, that's not all. Searchie's new AI powered transcription and captioning tool makes it easy to create accessible content that everyone can get access to. And with their customizable player you can embed your videos and your podcasts on your website or social media channels in a way that looks and feels so professional. So if you are ready to take your video or your podcast content to the next level, head on over to BonnieCristine.com resources and just give Searchie a try. It's incredible. I think you're going to love it and I can't wait to see how it revolutionizes the way you create content.

Number three was that we had very clearly defined roles for the team that played to everyone's strengths. So the expo team was there and we all couldn't be doing the same exact thing. Plus we all don't enjoy the same exact things anyways. So Kylie was my head of representation and licensing and she really came alongside me to work in our licensing meetings and conversations. Nikita was at the top front desk. She was handling logistics and note taking and making appointments. Erin is my shop lead so she really lived under the greenhouse showcasing flowery and leading all of those conversations. Tessie with her warm welcoming smile greeted visitors with an armload of magazines and really pulled people into the conversation. Rebecca was there to discuss design and help with the front of the expo as well. Lissy we brought there to document the entire thing. So Lissy was there on video and we are making a documentary about this entire process from beginning to end. We are so excited to announce this, but it's not quite ready yet. So hopefully in the next month we'll be able to show you this documentary that we're working on. Number four is to build momentum with follow up. I think we all know this follow up is everything. It is once you have shown them your work, your opportunity to show them how you work. So we began reaching back out to contacts immediately as soon as we got home. We're sorting leads by alignment and following up with next steps with calendly booking links, requested follow up information, thank you notes and reminders and prescots. All of this made all the difference. And now number five is to use the before, during and after framework. This is what it looked like for us before. We had to get really clear about our brand, prepping all of our materials, designing the entire experience and knowing why we were there and what our mission was during. Our number one goal was to be present. We wanted to prioritize connection and take really solid notes so that our follow up was made more easily and truly just build relationships. After follow up is everything fast and thoughtfully. This is where everything comes together and the work actually begins. So I want to address some of the myths that we really had going into it. One of them is that we needed to fit in, or I was worried that we were not going to fit in. And the truth is we didn't need to. In fact, the way that we stood out was everything. We didn't look at a single booth in order to consider what ours needed to be. We really just stayed in our own lane. We showed up and did our thing. Like we don't really know how to do anything other than what we did. And it completely stood out. The next one is that I was really feeling like I needed a physical portfolio to go along with my digital portfolio again. Episode number 203 is all about my digital portfolio. So head back and listen to that if you're curious. But I also developed a new handmade physical. Well, not really handmade, but physical portfolio. And while it was beautiful to have on the table, it really didn't get looked at. It got thumbed through once or twice, but it was big and a bit clunky and really just not anything that anybody really wanted to sit and look at. The digital portfolio was where it all came together. The next one was that we just had this creeping kind of fear in the back of our minds of like do we belong here? And the answer was yes. The second the doors open, we realized that authenticity and story is what people are craving and it made all the difference. A couple of key insights here for us are that story wins over strategy. Sharing our process, my origin, our inspiration. It was more effective than any kind of strategy that we could have ever come in with. So. So my huge takeaway is just to weave your story into every aspect, every part of everything that you do. The next is that details really, really matter. We did details overboard. We had custom lanyards made. We went and bought beautiful glasses to drink our water out of so that we didn't have plastic sitting all over the booth. We had custom name tags made. We coordinated our outfits. We all wore wore black and then had matching bandanas every day. And it just stood out. Details are everything. And we considered details all the way down to the size of our staples. My friends, they were really cute and small and they made our swatch cards just like look extra special. Details, from the big details to the tiny details, made all the difference. Number three is that you can prepare contracts in advance, but honestly, we didn't sign any at the Expo. We were prepared to and we had everything we needed in order to. However, we really didn't have time to be that thoughtful in the moment. A contract really requires us to sit and think about all the different moving aspects from exclusivity to territory to, to royalty percentages and all of this. And so rather than actually signing things at the show, we booked follow up appointments so that we would have time to exchange them, you know, via email and really sit and be thoughtful about it. Number four is that the press kit was the winner. My goodness. This press kit that I built, I'll do probably another standalone show on this alone was everything that we needed. It was about five pages. It was gorgeous. Custom printed in this way that really invited you to interact with it. And it was by far and away the number one takeaway that people took and loved. They all commented on just how beautiful it was. The next one is that you don't have to have a ton of appointments ahead of time. I told you that we started with six and we were a little bit concerned about that and we ended up with over a hundred. So focus on your, your presence and alignment and know that the rest will fall into place. The next real huge takeaway that I had was that AI Art did not enter the conversation, not one time. Art, as we know it, is not currently threatened by AI presence. Everything that brands and companies wanted were story driven, handmade, human made, authentic artwork. And it was really just this lovely experience to not even have that fear. Enter the conversation. It is not in demand in any aspect. Licensing is beyond living and thriving and it's doing well. So before I let you go, here's what I want you to do. Take 30 minutes to outline your strategy for your next event, pitch or launch, and these are the prompts I want you to consider. What is your why for doing this? For being there, for doing it? Why are you doing it? Who do you want to connect with? What would you consider to be your biggest win or contacts? If you could make a list, what preparation needs to happen? This is going to be a long one. What do you need to do ahead of the event? The pitch, the launch, the trade show, the craft fair? What prep needs to go into it? And how can you bring your story to life? How can you make it not just a exhibit of your work, but an entire experience? How can you involve all of the senses? We wanted people to touch, to feel, to smell, to see and to speak with us. Remember that you can get my full list of 20 takeaways from the Licensing Expo right inside pattern plus our membership for Surface pattern designers. You can head over to bonniecristine.com forward/patternplus that's P A T T E R N P L U S this list is gold if you are planning to pitch your work in any setting. And it's going to help you really also avoid the myths that we were struggling with as well. Thank you so much for being here. Now in our next episode, we're going to be talking about the creative vision behind our booth and how we brought so much of that experience level into it. Until then, my friends, create the beauty that you want to see. Come alive in the world and remember, there's room for you.