I have uploaded some pictures from my trip to Las Vegas to a photo album: MemoryTrends 2006.
I'm pleased -- I took more photos this time than I usually do, and most actually have people in them! (I usually take booth photos to share on Scrapbooking Industry News.) I didn't take nearly as many booth photos this time -- so many people post them on other sites, I figure I can just link to them.
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I am back from MemoryTrends, and beginning my recovery. ;) What a week! (Well, what a couple of weeks, really, with all the prep work and details to remember.)
I had a great show, personally. My classes went very well, my Industry Forum discussion went well, I got to attend a couple of seminars, and made some great connections. Good stuff in the works.
I taught my first class, with my publisher Elaine (see left), on Monday morning, Marketing with News, which was basically about keeping in touch with customers. Elaine discussed "old school" techniques such as print newsletters, postcard mailings, and in-store signage. I discussed "new school" techniques such as blogs, websites, and e-newsletters. Lots of great questions from retailers.
Monday afternoon I taught an album class for Go West Studios, using product from their new "Being Me" line. People seemed to like the album project, and I heard from GWS co-owner Brett that quite a few of them stopped by the booth later to see and/or order the product.
Monday night I had dinner with Elaine and had a great discussion on future projects (no, no books in the works). She is so fabulous for feedback, and just as a general sounding board. I so completely lucked out in hooking up with her.
Tuesday morning I attended Kizer and Bender's Retailer Roundtable: Mardi Gras Marketing Madness. And that's exactly what it was -- madness. What a roller coaster! There were easily 100 retailers there. Basically K&B acted as facilitators, bringing the microphone around as retailers stood up and shared idea after idea -- promotions and marketing techniques that had produced real results for their stores. It was very cool. I was even able to share something -- I hadn't planned to, since I was in the seminar on a Press badge, and have no retail experience. But, the subject of blogs came up, and I just couldn't keep quiet. ;) So I stood up and mentioned that I share blog marketing ideas on my scrapbook marketing blog. (Hat tip to George for that opportunity!) I took pages of notes, and will be posting those on the aforementioned marketing blog as soon as I can get them typed in (permission already secured from George herself).
Everyone who shared an idea got some Mardi Gras beads. At the end of the Roundtable, K&B asked those people whose beads had grapes on them to stand up and come forward -- this was our Mardi Gras "court". Each of the 4 members of the court got a tiara and bright purple, green, and yellow feather boas. My beads had grapes, so I got "blinged out". The person whose beads had a sun on them was crowned "Mardi Gras Queen". Photo opp ensued - I was practically blind after about 15 minutes. And yes -- I did wear the tiara and the beads all day, along with my three name badges (Speaker, Exhibitor, and Media). After the photos, I wrapped the boa around my shoulder bag/cart. (It was itchy.) You can see some of the bling in the photo below.
After the Roundtable, I went to the Media Room and picked up press kits. I was surprised to see so few -- out of 300 exhibitors, only *33* put out press kits. You can bet I'll be posting a comment on that on my marketing blog.
Once on the show floor, I stopped by the Frances Meyer booth to meet Jen Newton (see right), founder of ScrapsAhoy.com, and now creator of a new scrapbooking curriculum and product line for
Frances Meyer called Scrapbook Travelers' Club. I've known Jen for at least five years, but this was the first time we'd met in person. Very cool person.
I also got to meet Susan White in person, from Triscape -- I helped her with some scrapbooking press kit materials for the show, but everything was done by phone and email. Always nice to put a face with an email. ;) With her was Mary Canavan, photographer and digi-scrapper. Mary was a total hoot, and actually reminded me quite a bit of Tera Leigh.
I met Molly Newman, who will be/is Associate Editor for the forthcoming Digital Scrapbooking magazine, as well as Lynda Angelastro, Managing Editor. Sounds like some way cool stuff will be coming out of that mag. Molly said the most fabulous thing when introducing me to Lynda: "This is Angie Pedersen. You can't sneeze in this industry without Angie knowing and blogging about it." Sweet.
I walked the show floor with a nice little group on Tuesday: Kim Guymon, Leigh Brown, and Alicia Bull. Man, did we laugh! I'm going to have to scan the picture we took at the Per Annum booth -- not at all glamorous, but definitely good stuff.
Tuesday night I went to the Craftrends VIP Reception, where they announced they are launching Memorytrends trade magazine next year. Sounds like they will be using more freelance help, and I just happen to know an excellent scrapbooking freelance writer.... That could be cool.
After the VIP Reception, I took my stuff back to the hotel, and hopped a cab to Treasure Island for the dotScrap Alliance launch event. Walked in just as the presentation ended, so I don't really have anything to share about it, other than the chocolate fountain was quite nice. ;) It will be interesting to hear any comments from those who did actually hear the presentation at the event.
After the launch event, it was finally time for dinner! Like 9pm something, I think. I ate with Susan and Mary (the Triscape ladies), who were joined by digi-designer Christine Borgfeld. Ashley and Ben Smith, of Polka Dot Potato, were also going to join us, but bailed before we ordered. It was late! None of us were from the Eastern time zone, so we were all fading fast. We ate, and that was it. No gambling, no late-night shows or dancing. To bed! Another early morning on Wednesday, but that is another post...
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In case others might find it helpful.... I put together an Excel file of all the exhibitors for MemoryTrends, and their booth numbers. That way I could sort however I wanted, make my "hit list", and print it out.
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You may not have noticed over in the left sidebar, amongst all the other widgets and links and such -- I recently added a couple of links to my Class/Appearance/Travel calendar. I've added all the relevant dates to a Google calendar for upcoming classes and appearances (yeesh, "appearances" always sounds so hoity-toity, but oh well).
There's a link to a static webpage that is always kept updated with my class schedule. There's also a link to an RSS feed, which will list each event/class individually. (Ain't technology grand??)
Current online classes:
Essentials of Scrapbook Journaling: 7/13/06-8/11/06
Get Started Quickly in Scrapbook Journaling online class: 7/27/06-8/25/06
Upcoming classes:
8/7/06-9/11/06
Scrapbooking Basics online class [FREE!!]
9/7/06-10/5/06
Essentials of Scrapbook Journaling online class
10/9/06-10/13/06
MemoryTrends trade show; Las Vegas, baby!
2 classes on Monday, October 9th
S21 Marketing With News: Keep In Touch With Your Customers, In Print And Online
W46 "Being Me" Etched Chipboard Album/Go West Studios
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I'm very happy to announce that I'm teaching at least one class at MemoryTrends in October in Las Vegas, probably two.
One class has been confirmed -- I'm co-teaching a marketing class with my publisher, Elaine Floyd, sponsored by Craftrends. The tentative title is "Marketing With News: Keep in touch with your customers, in print and online". Elaine will talk about traditional ways to communicate with a mailing list, such as print newsletters and postcards, and I will discuss "new media", such as blogs, e-newsletters, and podcasts. I'm completely jazzed about the topic -- it's VERY me (well, and Elaine, too!) And I'm really excited to be doing a marketing class, breaking away from my "usual" subject matter for trade show classes.
The other class has been proposed, but not officially confirmed, so I can't give specifics yet, but it will be a class project kind of class, with outline for retailers/instructors to go back and teach on their own, sponsored by a manufacturer with a cool new product line in the works. How's that for vague? ;) Obviously I'll post more details as they become available.
I just wanted to post that I will definitely be at MemoryTrends in Vegas this fall, and I look forward to seeing some of you there! Who will I see?
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I finally pulled this photo off my camera, so I thought I'd share.
I did a book signing for The Book of Us at The Paperie Place in Liberty, MO on January 28th. The signing was done in conjunction with a Book of Us class taught by Andrea Sampson, owner of Scrap Outside the Box. And here we are! (Andrea on the left, me on the right)
She did a great job with the class -- the project has a very lumpy-bumpy mini-album. It was super to meet her -- we've emailed on and off for a couple of years now, I think, and don't live that far away, really, but this was our first time meeting up.
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I'm back from MemoryTrends, the most recent trade show! I was there for just a short time, Saturday to Monday (originally) and caught a cold while I was there! Man, it SUCKS flying home with a bad cold! Bleh! It also sucked that I was *supposed* to fly home Monday evening, but since I had to switch planes in Denver, my flight was cancelled due to weather, so I had a "surprise" extra night in Vegas before catching a flight out Tuesday morning. Long day traveling on Tuesday -- about 10 hours to get from Vegas to KC.
I don't really have much to report, since I was there such a short time. I didn't get to a majority of the booths since I was there mostly before the show started. I taught a class on Sunday that went REALLY well, and had a great meeting with Debbie Mock of Memory Makers on Monday that also went well. I took only a handful of pictures (some of the live penguins at the Flamingo hotel), but shipped home a big box of press kits, so I'll be posting that info on my SB Industry News blog as soon as I can.
I got to meet Jan Mollet-Evans briefly while we were both hanging around the Karen Foster booth. Jan said PC Smart was stuck in Phoenix at the time, so I missed meeting her in person.
I ran into Stephanie Barnard -- she was chatting to the gals at the Moments Defined booth when I saw her. She says her position at PaperKuts is going well.
I also got to meet Crafty Girl Kelly Angard while she was demo'ing at the Memory Makers booth. She even recognized my name, and said she sort of "knew" me through Michelle at Scrapability. It's a small scrapping world! Made a totally cute bracelet with some fun techniques -- that girl is FAST! I had to scoot to my appt with Debbie Mock, so Kelly even finished up my bracelet for me! She is too sweet! I would have loved to hang out with her more. Kelly was there promoting her new Creative Collage for Scrapbooks, which looks totally amazing.
Chatted a bit with Sara Naumann at the Hot Off the Press booth -- I've emailed with her several times, and she wrote the foreword for my third book, The Book of Us, but we had never really met in person, so it was nice to do so, even briefly. HOTP was debuting the new sarabinders, which were well-received.
That's all my NyQuil-fuzzed brain can produce right now -- I'll post more on my blog later probably.
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10. It's exciting and new.
9. You remember Julie, Doc, Gopher Isaac, and Captain Stubing.
8. You haven't had a vacation since who knows when.
7. The closest you've gotten to a cruise was when you saw the movie Titanic.
6. You've finally finished your son's 4 year book and he just received his medical degree.
5. You'll be able to use those cool cruise ship stickers.
4. The hardest decision you'll have to make is how much supplies to bring.
3. Prizes, giveaways and more prizes.
2. Eight Days away from the kids or with your kids enjoying Norwegian's Kid's Crew activities while you scrap
1. You don't have to cook or clean, ...all you gotta do is crop.
And might I add...perhaps the best reason you need THIS scrapbooking cruise...is because you LOVE me, and I'LL BE THERE!
That's right! I'm cruising to the Mexican Riviera for EIGHT days next April, and you should join me!
Here's the promotional copy:
NOW ACCEPTING RESERVATIONS FOR OUR SCRAPPING TO MEXICO CRUISE
Brown Travel Services is happy to present FIRST scrapbooking cruise featuring Best Selling author Angie Pedersen and exclusive Top Line Creations products from Scrapping In Pittsburg.
April 18 - 26, 2006
Spend EIGHT exciting days freestyle cruising the Mexican Riviera with us onboard Norwegian Cruise Line’s NORWEGIAN STAR. This cruise will take us from Los Angeles, California to ACAPULCO, Mexico round trip.
Cruise round-trip from Los Angeles to the Mexican Riviera for eight days and visit enchanting ports including Acapulco, Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa, Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas. NCL's innovative Norwegian Star offers the only weekly itinerary with an overnight stay in Acapulco.
On all our Scrapping at Sea Cruises, you get workshops and classes, goodies, opportunities to create lifetime memories. You'll have plenty of time to enjoy the ship and port cities.
Picture yourself surrounded by beautiful works of art, sampling gourmet dining, being pampered as you deserve to be. Imagine yourself sunning on a tropical beach, visiting exotic destinations, and shopping in duty free shops. Entertained nightly by Broadway and Las Vegas styled shows, productions, musicians and performers.
Learn! Win Prizes!
You'll learn the newest scrapbooking techniques. Win prizes for page layouts. Take home new products. [I'll be teaching *8* classes on the cruise!]
Exclusive CROP room
Time to get your books caught up or start new ones. On select cruises, a private room will be available for 24 HOUR NON-STOP CROPPING . Go home with finished pages, filled with wonderful memories.
FREE STUFF
All Scrapbook Cruises feature goodie bags and complimentary amenities such as: our private
cocktail party, BeautiControl spa products, shipboard credit, and included shore excursions activities and challenges. Amenities vary depending on cruise and destination.
EXCLUSIVE EVENTS
Because of the exclusive nature of our Scrapbook Cruises, you need to book your Scrapbooking Cruise with us, Brown Travel Services and Scrapping In Pittsburg, to participate. All scrapbook workshops/classes and Scrapping at Sea Events are developed and organized by Brown Travel Services and Scrapping In Pittsburg. This is not just a cruise organized by some big travel agent who has never scrapbooked! Our events support local East Bay businesses and are hosted and planned by experienced scrapbookers. Come join one of our scrapbook cruises. Don't be left out!
All our scrapbook cruises are family friendly. Please feel free to bring the hubby and/or kids. All cruises will offer special events and activities just for hubby and/or kids so they can have fun while you have fun.
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MemoryTrends has posted the workshop/seminar lineup for their October 2005 show. My class can be found under the "D" section, taking place on Sunday, October 9, 3-4:30pm. Here's the description:
Scrapbooks that Sing with Soul
Presented by Angie Pedersen
Sponsored by Boxer Scrapbooks
Learn tips and ideas to coach reluctant writers to journal and add meaning to their projects. Learn about new products and how to upsell them by teaching Book of Me and Book of Us classes. Learn quick and easy journaling ideas that writers of all skill levels can do and feel good about. Receive a signed copy of Angie's Pedersen's The Book of Us and product samples. All attendees will receive a follow-up email report compiled from the interactive ideas generated in class. All receive "From Crickets to 'Class-Full'", a report providing ideas for planning and promoting profitable classes.
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I'm really looking forward to this class, because it will be quite a bit different from my usual lecture-with-project-if-we-have-enough-time format. It's going to be interactive, drawing input from attendees for what has (and hasn't) worked for them in their stores. Something I always notice about teaching classes at trade shows is that store owners don't get time to specifically focus on networking with other store owners, getting feedback on "Best Practices" kinds of techniques. The best people to provide this kind of information is the people who already do what you do -- a "been there, done that" kind of expertise. This is what I want to capitalize on in my class. I'll ask "leading questions" to get at the expertise the students already have, while expanding on that content from my own deep well of experience.
My publisher and I are playing around with classroom logistics, but we're looking at putting up large pieces of paper on the walls with topics/questions, and students can wander around writing down their comments. We'll come back together in a group and discuss the ideas/information. Then after MemoryTrends, I'll compile everything along with some class ideas and email it out to all participants. Haven't there been some classes you've taken where you wish someone had taken detailed notes FOR you?? Here's your chance!
This is basically the format I want(ed) to do for my Book of Me Certification Workshop -- I've toyed around with the idea of offering a workshop where I "train the trainer" to teach Book of Me classes on her own. For a variety of reasons, this workshop hasn't come together yet. This class at MT is the closest yet, and I'm really excited about it.
Hope to meet some of you in my class at MemoryTrends in Vegas in October!
WIKI: Best Practices Train the trainer
Technorati: Best Practices MemoryTrends train the trainer
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As a result of my recent post (RE: class at Scrapbooker's Dream), a number of people emailed me privately to ask if I'm planning to come to their area in the near future.
Two comments on these questions:
How does it all work? A local store owner (or event planner) emails me, and asks what she has to do to get me to teach a class at her store. I usually respond with something pithy, like, "Just ask! ;)", then I also attach a PDF of details outlining my fees, travel arrangements, supplies for the classes, and links to my class descriptions and travel calendar. If the rates work for her budget, we decide on a date, and start making arrangements. Quite a few emails fly back and forth -- deciding which classes to offer, supply lists for the classes, discussion of supply substitutions, travel preferences, etc. The weekend arrives, I fly out, teach my classes, everyone has a kick-butt time, and the store owner sells out of my books. Win-win-win all around! ;)
It may seem like some mystical thing, getting a "celebrity" to come out and teach, but really, it's as simple as an email. I'd be willing to bet that'd be true for other "celebrities" too. And since I put my email on so many things, it's particularly easy to get a hold of me! ;)
Let me know if you have any questions!
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