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Kathy and Shannon at the Washington DC Travel Show, Feb 20-21

Kathy

Kathy

100+ Posts
Shannon and I wanted to let everyone know that our two travel companies, European Experiences and GrapeHops, will be exhibiting together at the Washington DC Travel & Adventure Show, February 20-21, at the Washington Convention Center. We'll also sharing information about the other members of the Slow Travel Tours group.

This is our first trade show and we're very excited to be there! I grew up in the Baltimore/ Washington area, and Shannon and I both have friends in the area. We're looking forward to talking travel with lots of people. I went to the travel show in New York City last year (not as an exhibitor) and had a great time.

This is the 12th year of the DC show, which features hundreds of destinations, travel experiences, and experts. In addition to the exhibitions, there are seminars, cultural performances, culinary demonstrations, and door prizes.

We have some free VIP passes to share with our friends and travelers, and we'd love to offer Slow Europe members who live in the area a pass for yourself as well as one for a travel-loving friend. The normal ticket price is $12-16 for a one-day admission. Please let me know by January 31 how many passes you would like... I'll need your email address to send you the info. We may have more passes available later.

We'll be at booth 928 (registered to European Experiences), along with my husband Charley and daughter Kelly. If you're in the DC area, we hope you'll stop by to say hello, share in the fun with us, and enter our drawings!
 
I am also really excited to be doing this show. I have never even been to a travel show before! But tomorrow, I will go to the San Diego Travel Show (as an attendee). Its run by the same folks that run the Washington DC show.

If anyone has ever attended one of these shows, we would certainly like to hear what you were looking for when you went, and what you thought about the show in general. And I do hope that someone in Slow Europe will be able to utilize some of the free passes, so you can come by our booth and have a sip or two of Spanish wine with us!
 
Hi Kathy & Shannon, this is wonderful. Wish I could attend and someday take one of your tours (maybe when I retire and have more freedom and flexibility with my time. :)

I think your wealth of knowledge and experience is your biggest and best draw. Other things that can help to draw an attendee . . .I've attended several shows here in Los Angeles. What draws me to the booth is definitely interest in the information (verbally with the people and the handouts), but I also love it when exhibitors have some kind of visual draw. For example, a laptop or screen which can play photos in the background. If you have a special video about your tours that also plays in the background that would also be nice. It makes me stick around and ask questions more. I'm embarrassed to say this, but I love picking up freebies (something with your company name and contact). But this can also draw people in and then they go home with your contact information along with your brochures.

Best regards.
 
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Steve and I used to do trade shows - not travel shows, but for his school admin software. I found that people loved the bowl of chocolate bars that I put out. But I had to be careful if we left the booth - because they would all vanish.

We did a sort of travel show with @Kathy and Gail Hecko at the end of my ST days - a Vacation Homes expo in Atlanta. The show was lame and not well attended, but Kathy put together a lovely slideshow of Europe photos on her laptop and projected them onto a screen.
 
As someone who has taken tours (and looking forward to the next one) with Kathy, I think you should emphasize your personal connections to people in the area of your tours. The chance to go 'behind the scenes' and do something you couldn't do on your own - cocktails in a locals home, exploring a Roman aqueduct that is not generally known to the public, etc. I think it's also important to note how small your groups are and that many people remain in contact after the tours.

Wish I could attend!
 
My wife, Liz, and I are planning to attend. Now I know why I couldn't find Grapehops among the exhibitors. Shannon: we're looking forward to the Spanish wine and, now I realize, a chance to meet Kathy too.
 
Shannon said:
Thank you Kathy - this is really helpful. Maybe we can bring our laptops and do slide shows on them. Everyone loves freebies including me :)
Click to expand...

That's awesome. I just went to Grapehops and see that you don't charge a single supplement. Music to a solo traveler's ears. I checked your Catalonia tour and am bummed to just be missing that. I'm finally going to walk the Camino de Santiago and after wanted to check out Barcelona, San Sebastian areas. Your tour would've been a great fit for me but I'll still be making my way to Santiago Sept and October. I think your Croatia tours and the tours offered by Kathy looks like so much fun. I would like a small group tour. I'm trying to convince my sister to do a Europe trip with me. I'll check on your 2017 tour dates when they come available.
 
Thanks everyone for the suggestions about our upcoming travel show. I'm just glad that the DC show wasn't THIS weekend with the blizzard! (Hopefully there won't be any weather issues for our weekend.)

There's a lot to do to get ready for a big show like this... a big display, handouts, and our door prizes and specials. It will be fun to team up with Shannon, and we're looking forward to seeing @KeithfromVA, @Jim Zurer, and @Anne and Kirk Woodyard. Our daughter Kelly is coming down from New York to help us at our booth. We'll report back to share more about the show and post some photos.

(@Kathy (Trekcapri), I'll be interested to hear more about your experience son the Camino. We are big walkers too and still have dreams to do a Camino walk-- the route from Arles-- one of these days.)
 
Kathy said:
Thanks everyone for the suggestions about our upcoming travel show. I'm just glad that the DC show wasn't THIS weekend with the blizzard! (Hopefully there won't be any weather issues for our weekend.)

There's a lot to do to get ready for a big show like this... a big display, handouts, and our door prizes and specials. It will be fun to team up with Shannon, and we're looking forward to seeing @KeithfromVA, @Jim Zurer, and @Anne and Kirk Woodyard. Our daughter Kelly is coming down from New York to help us at our booth. We'll report back to share more about the show and post some photos.

(@Kathy (Trekcapri), I'll be interested to hear more about your experience son the Camino. We are big walkers too and still have dreams to do a Camino walk-- the route from Arles-- one of these days.)
Click to expand...

Hi Kathy, I'm really looking forward to the start of the Camino and being in France and walking over the Pyrenees into Roncevalles. I hope I can do one of your and Shannon's tours soon. I'm really trying to convince my sister and family to join me. She loves going on walks too and we have never done a sister trip.

I forgot to mention earlier. I once visited a company once who had a QR Code on their booth. You can create a QR code with your Websites, then visibily hang it up on your booth. For those of us with smart phones and a scanner app, we can scan it and connect immediately to your websites. It's a cool feature and convenient for people to read information on their phones. I'm not sure if there are a lot of travelers attending the show who would know about this feature. It's been around for awhile now. I'm working on a project for work to incorporate this feature in our outreach campaigns to connect to our website, so it is fresh on my mind.

I'm very happy that the show wasn't this weekend too. Wishing warmer weather for the east coast and a big turnout.
 
Shannon said:
hi Kathy - I know a couple of good places to stay on the Camino in Cacabelos and then in Santiago de Compostela too. When do you think you will be done with the walk? Maybe our paths will cross..
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It would be so awesome if our paths could meet. This is the first trip I'm planning where plans are so up in the air. I'll leave maybe 3rd week in Sept with a return flight 90 days later. I don't know when I'll finish my walk but after I want to go to Barcelona and explore the nearby towns and decompress. Depending on when I actually leave and how long I'll take to reach Santiago (ending in Finisterre) I could be in the Barcelona area anywhere from end of Oct to early to mid December.

Cacabelos sounds familiar. I'll have to look it up on my map. I can't wait to visit the villages along the Camino.
 
Kathy said:
There's a lot to do to get ready for a big show like this... a big display, handouts, and our door prizes and specials. It will be fun to team up with Shannon, and we're looking forward to seeing @KeithfromVA, @Jim Zurer, and @Anne and Kirk Woodyard. Our daughter Kelly is coming down from New York to help us at our booth. We'll report back to share more about the show and post some photos.
Click to expand...

I think I was tagged in error, but I wish I could come by and share a sip of Spanish wine with you. I've never been to a travel show, but I agree with Kathy(Trekcapri) that visuals would draw me in. Some candid shots of past tour groups having a good time, interspersed with images of the actual places, might evoke a 'you too could be in this scene' feeling and encourage people to linger and learn more about your tour experience.

If you ever get up to a trade show in Nova Scotia, I'll be first in line!
 
@Anne I'm the one who tagged you in error... I was trying to tag Anne Woodyard (another member of Slow Travel Tours who lives in the DC area), but maybe she's not registered on this forum or has a different name.

Thanks for your great suggestions. Our booth will definitely be visual! (I will post photos from the show.) And hopefully I'll have time over the next week to make some photo books from our trips that we can share with people at the show.
 
Kathy and Shannon, I was getting excited about attending the travel show, but then realized we will be visiting family then, and can't make it. We do hope to take one of your trips in the future. Slow traveling and small groups are always our choices, too!
You have lots of good suggestions from previous posters, and I'm sure it will be a great success.
 
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