Promotional products distributors are a busy group who like to have key information and answers at their fingertips. And the big question at every trade show booth is: What’s new? Attendees at this week’s Expo East got answers before they even had to ask. More than 100 Made In USA, Green Products, Express Ship and Top Sellers products were displayed in the Product Pavilions, a special section adjacent to the show floor.
Early birds got a sneak peek on Tuesday morning, including Jackie Sneyers, owner of Rare Forms, LLC, in Weehawken, New Jersey, who says she is happy the show moved this year from March to June. She was on the hunt for two types of products in particular. “I’m looking for safety things for some of my industrial clients who have oil and chemical plants. I also have a few CrossFit gyms [as clients] and they are into those racerback tanks,” she said, pointing to one of the products on display.
Judy Fenner, owner of Monogram Express, Etc., in Hampton, Virginia, who was also browsing the Product Pavilion aisles, says she came to work the show and to get training on SAGE software.
“I’ve been coming to the show for seven or eight years,” she says. “I enjoy it because I get new information and find out about great products, and have fun seeing all of it.” She adds that she also enjoys the education programming at Expo East. “I went to several education classes yesterday and am going to some today on apparel decorating and SAGE.
Fenner’s clients include schools and churches, and every summer she holds a barbecue in her backyard for prospects and clients where she displays the samples she collects at Expo East. “I have a gotten a lot of clients from doing that,” she says, adding that she learned the technique from speaker Rosalie Marcus at a previous Expo East session. “I picked up a new hotel client from that last year.”
Click through for a look at a few of the products on display through today at 3 pm in the Expo East Product Pavilions.