First Susan Harte makes us a Squirrel for our mascot. I love the Squirrel! Although I discover at the show, It's all about the MONKEY.
Friday night the studio is a-buzz with activity. My parents help pack me up. Husband Bill (his back in the picture)and neighbor Annie make hooks and badges for the booth.
Saturday afternoon we arrive in NYC where we met Susan Novich who helps us set up the booth. We unload (picture of us triple parked in front of the Javits Center) then bring our car back to the hotel to park. When we are finally back at the Center we have an hour and a half to set up. we make it...easy peasy as Ruth's daughter Lily would say.
Ruth and I have made aprons with the Ms. Moffatt logo on the front. Friends that come in to visit or help, wear the spare apron and walk the show. We are using our advertising skills here!
Back at the booth the show has opened, buyers start to trickle in...it is exciting!
Ruth, Susan and myself take turns at the booth. Rather than sit around, when traffic is slow we make our button badges (picture of Susan and Ruth making the badges).
This activity keeps us awake as the day goes along and and we get a bit sleepy. Could it be the long hours of getting ready along with a full day of driving and setting up? Fortunately we have brought 760 tootsie roll snack bites to give out to buyers and revive us!
Day one is long, day two is longer, and day three is the longest. This selling yourself is HARD WORK! We are in bed by about 9:30 every night.
We meet old and new friends. Here are two pictures of their booths. One picture is of Rose Berlin's booth (with her animated husband Rick). The other is of Joy Allen & Ruth Sanderson's booth.
Ruth's friend Phylis comes at the end of the show to help us pack up at 4:00. (picture of the booth all packed).
The trip back to the hotel for the car takes forever because it's now rush hour. But the ride home goes smoothly.
We learned a lot and are ready to do it again with our new knowledge. Now we follow up on our leads and see what we can sell.
It's a whole new world, so different from Children's books!