A couple of months ago, I came across this interesting article from the people at Skyline Exhibits about why not to exhibit on the left side of a trade show floor. The reason is simple: Most people being right-handed, they tend to follow a path from right to left. Through a process called “Left Side Fatigue,” most attendees will not make it all the way through a trade show floor.
I found this article interesting because Greg Lafferty, our Senior Account Manager, is left-handed. Also we had just found out where the Practical Software Solutions booth was going to be located at MANTS, the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show. You guessed it: We’re smack dab against the left-hand wall in the Baltimore Convention Center.
Mind you, this is not a complaint. First of all, we are incredibly grateful to be showing Grower Vertical for Sage ERP for the first time at MANTS, and glad we could get off the waiting list so quickly. But moreover, somebody has to be on the left-hand side of a trade show. Even if there were only two rows in an exhibit hall, there would still be a right and a left.
It’s not just us over here either. We’ve met some really good people exhibiting over on this side of the hall. When we first got here, the folks at the Native Roots Nursery (3104) booth came over to borrow our step ladder. It turns out this business that specializes in native trees and shrubs, are from Clinton, N.C., which is only three hours down the road from our home in Concord.
This morning, we had a chat with our neighbors in the Botanical Interests booth (3100). We ended up talking about the fire alarm going off during the trade show yesterday, but it gave us some common ground where a software company and an heirloom seed producer could come together for a conversation.
Yesterday, we struck up a conversation with Horticultural Marketing and Printers (409 & 411) over Twitter (mostly in Direct Messages) after they had a contest to take a picture of their booth to win a calendar. We both came to the conclusion that all of us exhibitors are in this together to put on a good show for the attendees. Even though we were are about as far away from each other as you can get in the exhibit hall, we made a connection and had some fun. We can’t thank them enough for Retweeting our message to ask people to join us in Booth 3101 this morning.
So I’ve got a challenge for the MANTS attendees for the rest of today and tomorrow. We (and our neighbors) are right near the Charles Street Lobby. Why not try something different and try looking at MANTS from left to right. Whether it’s Grower Vertical or Sage HRMS, heirloom seeds or native plants, we’ve got a lot to offer over here.