The March 2016 Gem Expo, Setting Up Part 1: Thursday Night...

Lots of notes, lots of observations. More notes will be at the end of this post.

What I had no way of knowing was how crazy the table setup was going become this time. I almost didn't bring my tablecloths and I almost forgot my big wooden type tray full of fetishes because there was no bin big enough to pack it in so it was sitting wrapped in Saran wrap on a table right by my front door where I couldn't possibly help but see it and grab it... right? Hah, hah and hah.

Check and double check your list. Make your list by mentally setting up your table and double-checking to make sure each and every item is indeed in a bin and in your vehicle before you leave home; also mentally walk through a couple of sales in order to make sure everything you need is in your office box. Do NOT rely on other people's word that something has been stowed in the vehicle. Trust me on this. Make sure the power cord to your phone is with your phone and you can see both of them on the front seat of your car.

Try to plan for help at the show, even if it's a friend who can only come for an hour with coffee or food or just to sit for a few minutes while you get some air or a bathroom break. Failing that, make friends with your new pals on either side of you.

I've been very fortunate doing these three-day shows in Toronto as Ruth was originally a customer at my first Gem Expo back in July 2013 and subsequently has became a wonderful friend. She helps me stay organised, reminds me to eat and drink water because once the doors open it can get completely crazy and hours will go by with no break.

The best thing is we're both food fanatics, and contemplating which new restaurants to try and emailing suggestions back and forth is a big and fun part of every show run-up.

I packed most of my van Wednesday night. But I did learn the hard way years before that if it's going below zero to not leave glass, metal or organic beads and findings in the vehicle overnight as, respectively, they will crack, sweat and rust/corrode or go mouldy. Same thing in the summer: the heat will cause plastic bags and bins to sweat and the mess is indescribable. Good way, though, to find out who's been telling little lies about the composition of their metal findings.

I finally got away around 9:30 Thursday morning, taking the back roads as far as I could before dropping down onto the QEW at Guelph Line, and drove at speed into Toronto. Encountered only one instance of braking for hallucinations and saw just one or two people playing dodgem, starring in their own personal video game.

First things first when I get to Toronto where I can't park at the show venue right away: find cheap and reasonably secure centrally-located indoor parking in a crazy expensive city primarily because all vehicles have to be off the main streets by 3:30 or 4:00 p.m. For me, it's Winners' underground parking on Queen West near Bathurst, $12 all day, which is also near to most of the bead stores I want to go to. From there, it's a short streetcar trip to the restaurant where Ruth and I are meeting for lunch at, a tiny but so delicious buffet at Little India, Queen West, just west of University.

We stayed here for several hours hanging out and making a couple of trips to the buffet, then we walked over to the Strath so I could check in, then we headed back to Queen West where I stocked up on gauze bags and goodies for my Saturday market customers.

We got to the Hyatt Regency shortly after 7:00 p.m. to start setting up only to discover that there was another event going on in the second ballroom and they had commandeered almost all of the tables. I do have my own tables, which could save me money instead of renting, but they are heavy, awkward, and kill my back to heave them around, so I usually elect to pay a few extra dollars and save my energy for things that matter more.

I was assigned two 8-foot tables (not the 6 footers I was expecting), and while an extra four feet of table space is to be welcomed, it meant that it threw the show floor plan alignment out the window, plus my own mental map of where everything was going to go -- not to mention these were not normal tables, they were long skinny tables that pushed together would make a normal-width 8-foot table.  Zukekha told me, "You'll love this layout, trust me," but all I could think of is I now needed 16 bed risers and I only had 12.

Okey dokie, let's see what kind of alternate reality we're dealing with here. First order of business is to get the truck emptied. Umpteen trips up and down the elevator later...

Thursday night, 7:30-8:30 p.m.
Normal setup is two or more vendors around a pillar with larger vendors and single-table artisan vendors lining the walls.

You can see the split tables I'm talking about and the green tape marker, and just how far off the mark we were going to have to go in order to allow room for the other tables to line up. In fact, we should have come out even further, but the other vendors didn't show up until the next morning and it was too late to do anything about it. I heard that at some shows people are spitting nails and throwing snit fits if tables are out of alignment by even a centimetre. I was more concerned because I was seriously impinging on aisle space by this point.

Once we're finally happy with where the tables have been placed, the bed risers go under the inner tables...

...giving us two levels of display space with that doinky bit of top table sticking out.

Thursday night, 9:05 p.m.
It's a little difficult to see, but the grids are in a T-formation (I use zip ties to keep the grids together, but only because I forgot the reusable green "Gumby" ties I use, aka garden plant ties), and since beads will go on the "outside" of my table, I need a little extra space between my neighbour's table and myself so people can come into the aisle between two tables to choose beads. You'll see what I mean in a few minutes.

The grids are up, but we have a little problem. We need the tablecloths to reach the floor but they were made to fit each of the long narrow tables.

Thursday night, 9:25 p.m.
White tablecloths come off, we put my black cloths on the lower tables, and the white cloths go back on. FYI, for reference, this table is the fetish table, the other is the bead bin table.

Just wanted to point something out here: see how the black cloth in the front corner is puddling on the ground? That's a serious tripping hazard, especially when you have a lot of people crowding around and shuffling along close to the table.

This is where bulldog clips or even safety pins, work great. Bulldog clips are very useful for all kinds of things (including clipping table covers onto lights and shelving at night -- mine are always slipping off at one end while I'm down at the other end) and make a very clean, square professional edge for your table.

Small shelves go up on the fetish table utilising recycled glass breeze blocks (thanks Door Store, aka Re-Store). Note the diagonal placement of the shelf in the sticky-outy doinky corner -- very awkward placement. This is where my turquoise will go, and I ended up turning the shelf 180 degrees the next morning, which opened up the whole corner, making the doink almost invisible.

Thursday night, 9:52 p.m.

Lights are up, brackets go onto the grids, the beads, which are stored in bins on curtain rods between shows, go up on the grids still on their curtain rods and we're done (this is done in reverse when we pack up). I can set this part up in five minutes, takedown ditto. It used to take at least an hour when I used to hang each bunch of beads on the grid individually (they're gathered up with metal shower curtain hooks, 12 for a buck at dollar stores).

A selection of the brackets I use. I also have large ones that I use to project beads and sometimes necklaces out over the table where you can see that rainbow of glass bead strings. (My grids and brackets come from Lovers AtWork, London, Ontario, but you can get them at any retail store furnishings suppliers.)

Thursday night, 11:00 p.m.
Everything comes out of the bins that will be going onto the table: the "furniture" (T-bars, racks, boxes, risers, trays and beads still in their bins are all roughly set in place and the lights have all been checked (always bring extra bulbs and different lengths of extension cords and power bars).

I've talked before on other sites and forums about using something from show to show that becomes your signature and an easily visible landmark, making you easy to find by people who may have forgotten your name. Some people use a tall banner, but I'm too often strapped for space behind my table (and a banner going across the front of the table can't be seen from any distance once there are more than a few people in the aisles, let alone if you're on a corner -- in which case you'd need two banners).

I bought the woven blanket in the San Giovanni Market in Rome in 1996 and have been hauling it around ever since -- and now that I sell turquoise, it works thematically. It drapes across the outside corner if I have two tables, or diagonally across the front when I only have one table. The turquoise beads always go up in whichever is the most visible corner of the grid with a light on them -- and can be seen across the ballroom.

I'm now a big fan of clear plastic boxes to use as risers and to hold items and clear T-bars these days (Jacob brand from Winners). Ambient light becomes magnified and any items on them appear to float without blocking what's behind them. I also like a certain look of towel rack which I find at thrift stores and garage sales. Trays are a little different matter, as sometimes I need something to provide contrast against whatever is in them, or to provide a visible partitioning from other items. I have plain dark wood, a lighter relief-carved wooden tray and a glass "lake" tray which is lovely for sparkly anything. This also reflects light back up onto whatever is on it.

Gross and messy, but this is what my table/booth usually looks like from behind (the blue Winners bag and red bag will come out and I haul a chair over and sit there:

Bringing along a small folding table is extremely useful for doing your cash or wrapping things. I do a surprising amount of stringing for my customers while at shows and sometimes other vendors will often send their customers to me.

I've seen people with two 3-drawer bins on wheels that had contained all their beads, and once they've finished their table they put a board across the two bins and make themselves a table. Mine sits neatly just under the table when it's on risers, I'm close enough to say hello to people, but still do work and keep an eye on things. Obviously, I stand up when talking to people.

Believe it or not, THIS is me being tidy. I'm a less is more and more is always better kind of person, so I bring far more than I could ever put on the table. I hate it when someone asks for something and, "Yeah, I have that -- at home."

Okay, 11:00 p.m., it's time to find food and go sleeeeeep because I'll have to be back here around 7:00 a.m. to finish setting up. I have long plastic tablecloths from Dollarama that I use to cover my tables at the end of the day.

Food. Moan. What really happened: we walked down to the Elephant & Castle and -- whoopeee!!! (we thought) -- scored the last table. It was St. Patrick's Day, which I had forgotten about, and the streets, bars and restos were jam-packed with crazy-happy and very noisy drunks. The reason we got that last table? It was situated directly underneath blasting speakers. We got up and left. Sigh. No food. No ice-cold beer. Bummer. Ruth hit the subway and I continued over to the Strath and bed too exhausted to search further.

On to Part 2... 

The Gem Expo...

I got back last night from doing the three-day Gem Expo in Toronto put on by Blue Sapphire Beads. This was my first time doing a show in Toronto. To be honest, I was more than a little nervous. Even though I've done the Grand River Bead Society fall show for the past four years, that started out as a one-day event, and then moved to two days, and is held in a much smaller city -- Toronto is a completely different market.

I talked with many people at the show who told me they were beginners at jewellery-making so this is kinda sorta directed towards them. Not only do I sell turquoise, I also make jewellery, and believe me, I'm still learning, too. The great surprise to me when doing any show is seeing it all laid out -- shows are the only time I ever see my turquoise as between shows it all lives in bins.

Since it's physically gruelling to do any type of trade show -- you would not believe how much stuff you have to haul with you -- oftentimes including all your tables and chairs -- I made the very smart decision to go to Toronto on Thursday to hit the wholesalers early in the day, park at the Hyatt by 3:30 p.m. to get off the street during rush hour, then offload and set up on Thursday evening, rather than get up Friday morning early-early, leave by 5:00 a.m., do battle with rush hour traffic and getting to the Hyatt by 7:00 a.m. if I was lucky to start setting up, then do the show from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and then stagger back to my hotel. That would be brutal. Long story short, I booked a hotel for three nights instead of two, choosing not to drive home each night which is what I normally do when I'm doing the Grand River Bead Society show in Guelph. That's a much easier 45-minute drive on back country roads. Makes a big difference.

Choice of a Hotel
I spent considerable time looking at -- aka dithering over -- hotels and rates. The Hyatt on King, where the show was, was way too expensive for me. I had no idea how well or poorly I would do at the show, so I had to keep my out-of-pocket expenses as low as possible, while at the same time trying to remain within a short walk of the show venue. I found several hotels within my price range in the area, but either they were booked up for the time I wanted or only had large and expensive rooms available. Party of one? You betcha. I even looked at youth hostels. I had no idea you can rent private rooms! But they were booked up and I imagine the noise would be something else. I remembered staying in a hotel about 20 years ago very close to Union Station, so I did a search, rebooted the ol' memory cells and finally recalled the Strathcona. I also remembered in my innocence running up a $75 local phone tab chatting with friends I couldn't meet with during the two days I was in Toronto that time because in those days switchboard-assisted calls were billed at about $1 per minute.

I got my parking spot at the Hyatt, was able to unload my truck early but still had to wait until 7 to set up. I walked over to the Strathcona on York Street and checked in. Yes, the room was a little small. In fact, it was smaller than the freight elevator I had just used at the Hyatt to bring my boxes and bins up to the ballroom floor.

That's the Pub entrance there on the right. I'm not particularly a fan of what I call Streamliner architecture, but I've always liked this place. For some reason my editing software made a moire of the graphics on the face of the building. 

I'm actually standing in the bathroom to take this photo.

TV, coffee... 

Bathroom is clean and functional, comes with a hair dryer mounted on the wall, the shower is equipped with good shampoo and conditioner (except for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to get the shampoo out of the bottle, so I ended up using my own). 

On the website, we're warned that these tiny rooms are located right next to the elevator shaft. But all I ever heard was the very occasional ding when an elevator would arrive on my floor. I slept fine. I also discovered after I had booked that there is a senior discount -- not that I am in any way, shape or form a senior just yet... but sometimes seniorhood is extended backward -- downward? -- to 50, 55, 60... I asked -- and received -- a discount.

Setting up 
Meanwhile, back at the Hyatt, since I would be manning (personing?) the tables by myself the whole time, I elected to not use all three tables. This was also a new setup for me -- I'd always had either a single table or two in a line, not a corner setup. In the end, it worked out beautifully for a couple of reasons.

This was the first iteration, using the three tables in an open C. The problem was figuring out how to use the grids without blocking the view of people in the aisles because I needed them wrap around corners, rather than go in a line along the wall. 

I ended up using two tables slightly offset so that people could kind of stand in the V a bit.  I ended up sitting in the inside of the V and that was where I did my cash. The next time I will allow more space there, as well as have my "office box" underneath or behind me with bags and wrapping paper, rather than having to get up all the time to get to my junk table. 

Another view. The table on the left became the junk table in the end because I didn't use it as my wrapping station. But I did use it to teach an impromptu wire-wrapping class. For next time I have to figure out a better use for that space.

Everything set up ready for the morning when I will lay out all the large strings of turquoise on either side of the display case. 

Pub Grub
I've lived in Toronto for years and know the city well, but you know what? I decided to stick to the Strath Pub, walk there, grab a beer and something to eat after setting up and then go to bed. I know, I know. I'm boring. Tough. I get there and find out the kitchen has just closed. The waitress told me there were many restaurants still open in the vicinity, but I know those types of places -- food's fine, but ginormous portions and long waits. Uh uh, no thanks. Do you have anything at all to eat? Chips maybe? No, sorry. I guess I looked pretty sad. The wonderful waitress grabbed some crackers from the kitchen which kept me going with my beer.

Thursday night:

Alexander Keith's is my favourite beer in the whole world. The problem I've had before with getting it on tap is that it's never cold enough -- but this was icy. Yummers. In keeping with this weekend's theme, you'll notice the labradorite-like refraction on the glass.

Friday night:

Now we're getting somewhere. I got to the Pub just before the kitchen closed, but by now I was so hungry I wasn't. I knew I had to eat, so I picked vegetable samosas with an orange-ginger dipping sauce. They were so good. I have to say I was really surprised. I mean, they may have been frozen for all I know, but they were crispy, hot and flavourful, and the green cress gave a clean little burst of pepperishness -- as well as deluding me into thinking that I really was eating something healthy. Worked for me.  

Saturday night:

Now, this... this is what I had been eyeing on Friday night. I love quesadillas. The Strath Pub's version was loaded with lobster and vegetables and cheese and while sweet potato fries may not be an entirely traditional accompaniment (is lobster traditional to quesadillas?) they were all good. The lemon aioli was yummy too. Vitamin C in lemon. Health food city. Sweet potatoes, hey, more healthy vitamins and they're a member of the vegetable kingdom. Fish. Fish is good. Ice water to wash it all down. 

The show
Friday morning I got to the show early to lay out the beads on the table, tweak my display and finish pricing new items.

I can't even begin to talk about the show. It was so much fun. I met so many, many interesting people I've lost track. I barely got a chance to talk to any of the vendors, and only had time to buy a few things. Although every time I sold something and there was a lull, I'd dash down the aisle and add something to my stash at Najib. There were people there from all over the world, both vendors and attendees. Zulekha and Salim did such a great job organising the event. I'm so happy they convinced me to do this show.

Guess who I saw?
I can't resist including this picture. I saw him only on Saturday morning because it took me that long to realise that the escalators went straight to the ballroom floor and I didn't need to hang around waiting for the elevator.

Prints of the photo are for sale if anyone wants to buy me a present... 

Walking to the venue on Sunday morning
This red brick and copper-roofed building is representative of what much of downtown Toronto used to look like up until the '80s. That darker grey building on the extreme right of the photo is the Strath.

Restaurant Row begins here, extending a few blocks west and primarily on the south side of King Street. It reminded me of Saint-Michel in Paris, criss-crossed with streets where every little building holds a different restaurant, sometimes two or three different ones up and downstairs and barkers stand outside on the street waving a menu in your face guaranteeing you a discount meal. Here, though, polite people stand and wait for you to approach and express an interest. But it's so pretty at night with coloured lights strung everywhere and just about every resto has a terrace with tables.

Halfway down the block and across the street is the Hyatt. On the right across the intersection, which I cropped out of the photo, is where TIFF hangs its hat -- that's the Toronto International Film Festival (also somewhere along here the picture of Johnny Depp was taken). For those of you who know this area well, note that I cleverly angled this picture to eliminate the solid mass of condos choking the view of the sky to the east, the south and the west.

In the '70s, I used to live on the third floor of a building at the corner of Howard and Bleeker Streets at the top of St. James Town. It was exactly the same style of architecture as the building here housing Second Cup. I seem to recall these were built in the 1850s. Gorgeous old brick buildings.

North of TIFF headquarters is typical infill style, middish-19th century buildings at sidewalk level (mostly razed but occasionally cleverly incorporated), but then behind them...

...see what I mean by choking the sky?

Last day of the show and the Sunday morning breakfast of champions... I was given this extra bacon. I love bacon. No, I did not eat it all.

Show recap
Friday and Saturday were both pretty slow sales days for me and kind of sparse attendance (and yeah, I was a little worried about making my expenses but I thought I did okay), but it left plenty of time to talk at length with the people who did come. I met many who were just starting out making jewellery and, because it was so slow Friday and wire work is close to my heart, I gave an impromptu wire-wrapping lesson to one of my customers. Ruth asked if there was anything she could do to repay me, that she had bought a 3-day pass and was coming back Sunday. I didn't want to take anything, but she insisted, so I asked if she could bring me some food, as it's really, really difficult to get away from the table. Sure enough, Sunday afternoon at the height of the crowds and crazy busy, she showed up with a fat turkey sub, a coconut drink and tube of Pringles.

Then, to top it off, she stayed on and helped me pack up and load up the truck. Thank you, Ruth! I owe you big time.

On the way home from Toronto, after driving through the northern edge of a monsoon that soaked Paris, I just missed photographing the fattest double rainbow I have ever seen. Had to drive a bit further on before I could safely pull over and only one rainbow remained. I'm choosing to interpret this as a harbinger of great things to come.

It was a great, great weekend, and in the next couple of days I'll post pictures of the goodies I bought for my table and to make jewellery -- as well as the Tibetan turquoise that arrived in the mail shortly after I pulled out of here. Oh, yeah -- in addition to all the turquoise people bought, I sold a couple of the new necklace and bracelet designs I've posted in the last two weeks and several pairs of earrings! If you are looking for anything in particular, either via email/online sales or upcoming shows (GRBS Show & Sale in Guelph in October or The Gem Expo in November), please let me know as I will be acquiring turquoise, fetishes, recycled glass and chevron beads over the next few months.

If you have any questions about the mechanics of doing a show, please ask. Oh -- I must add here -- my Square credit card-taking gizmo which I've now had for three weeks worked perfectly. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It's perfect for small "itinerant/intermittent" businesses like mine.

Thanks for looking!