Shows

Thought I’d show you who my customers are here. At the last place I supported several hundred telephone operators, presenting them with information on people and placing phone calls. Here I mainly support the show floor – with web sites that let exhibitioners book services and items for their booths at shows. So I guess you could say that my main customer is the show floor.


Upstairs (above) the ceilings are 32 feet high, downstairs only 14 feet.


Last week we had a show about floor coverings.


There were lots of booths with hardwood floors, carpets, marble tile, and booths with support stuff – installation tools, removal tools, kneepads, carpet cleaner, and all other sundries. Some of the big manufacturers had huge booths upstairs:


Don’t know if you can see it, but there is a second floor on this one, with people up there at tables getting the sales pitch.

And downstairs are the smaller booths, for companies with not quite as much money.


Lots of Chinese companies – I guess with recent trade agreements they are starting to cut down their forests and make hardwood strips for floors. With cheaper labor, and container shipping costs really low, they are cost competitive with American manufacturers.

This week is fashion show week. The Convention Center down the street is filled with MAGIC (whatever that stands for), and we have a lot of associated things as well. Some high end shoes up in the fancy rooms, accessories in a smaller hall, fancy men’s clothes down in the big hall and upstairs are hip fashions.

Walking around looking at booths downstairs I see lots of fancy men’s suits, cashmere, silk ties, shiny Italian shoes, and dress shirts galore. Upstairs are people in denim and leather, loud rock music, beads and crystals and sparkly stuff. I feel too underdressed for downstairs, overdressed and under-tattooed for the group upstairs. But it's nice to be able to wander around and look at all this stuff.