The End of the Road...

What's at the end of the road, you ask?

A stop sign.

After working with Western Exhibitors to provide design services and seminars at the Seattle, San Francisco, and Portland Gift Shows for five years, and providing the same for new owner GLM for 2008, it appears my term of duty is over. GLM just called to let me know that the sweeping changes they are making to the shows for winter 2009 and beyond do not include me speaking or designing the exhibitor showcase displays. And my friend, seminar presenter Sue Kirby got the same schpiel: New speakers, new programs, new format for product promotion. It will be interesting for us to attend the show in January and see what those changes are like - and what the response to them is. I wish them well, because I want the exhibitors and buyers to succeed. Sue and I pitched a killer new concept to GLM a year ago.... yet nothing has been said, no discussions or communication have come back from them, so I am guessing that wasn't the kind of sweeping change they were looking for. (It's OK, she and I can still develop this concept on our own...we do 'own' it, after all!)

If you are an exhibitor whose products I have displayed, if you are a seminar attendee whom I have spoken with or met, please know that I have enjoyed being of service to you in those venues. It has been my honor to meet so many worthy and dedicated small business owners over the six years that I have been involved with the West coast gift shows. It's been an educational experience for me, to be sure.

Meanwhile, I am on to new things. Other clients, other projects, other Gift Shows. I love it when a door slams in my face, I really do. It means another one is about to swing wide open!