With a heavy heart and deep respect, I reflect on my 18-year journey with Bob’s Red Mill, a trailblazing healthy food producer based in Portland. The recent passing of its venerable founder, Bob Moore, at the age of 94 marks the end of an era. This piece is a tribute to Bob and to a […] Read more
Coming off a busy and successful week in Anaheim for the Natural Products Expo West, it’s the perfect time to get back into the podcast/vlog game. Former TradeshowGuy Monday Morning Coffee guest Dave Brown is now with Tive, a company that tracks shipments in real-time. That technology is now being applied to tradeshow shipments, which […] Read more
In all the years I’ve been attending Natural Products Expo West (and Expo East a few times), one of the things that I see time and time again is the number of small unknown brands looking to get a toehold in the crowded natural foods industry, and then to see them a year or two […] Read more
What happens when you, as a company, take a stand on an issue important to you on the tradeshow floor? As with pretty much everything, the answer is: it depends. I don’t see it all the time, but there are a few examples where supporting a cause is a big part of a company’s tradeshow […] Read more
It was March 2, 2020, when things began to fall apart. When things really started to hit home. I was getting ready to head out to Portland to catch a flight to Southern California to assist a number of exhibiting clients at Natural Products Expo West. It was a Monday, and I’d already heard from […] Read more
It’s pouring as I write this in my home office in Salem, Oregon. A guy just rode by my window on a bicycle, bundled up against the rain and wind. I took the dog for a walk this morning in the thankfully much lighter rain. Ah, Oregon! I love it here! In 65 years, I […] Read more
This past week I’ve reached out to a couple of dozen former clients and prospects that have all exhibited for years at Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim. The show is usually in early March. You may recall that it was canceled on March 2nd this year, just a couple of days before it was […] Read more
In March and April of this year, when tradeshow organizers realized the gravity of the pandemic and how it would be affecting upcoming shows, many of them “postponed” the shows. I say “postponed” in quotes because many believed that whatever issues the COVID-19 pandemic caused; things would be back to normal in a few months. […] Read more
I connected with Micheal and Gail a decade ago when they made their first appearance at Natural Products Expo West. They’ve been back every year, using the national show as a way to connect with more and more buyers, distributors, colleagues and fans. We finally caught up for a conversation about their company, Lively Up […] Read more
The tradeshow industry looks to be imploding, at least for the short term. Natural Products Expo West cancelled. NAB Show cancelled. HIMSS Show cancelled. SXSW cancelled. Even March Madness games will be played without an audience, if they’re played at all. I think it’ll get worse before it gets better. You built an event calendar […] Read more
