Just wanted to dedicate a quick moment to following up on my trip to the recent nails-only tradeshow in Sacramento.

I know I went into it with very low expectations after several years of watching this particular show get smaller and more pitiful and depressing. So I think it’s definitely worth revisiting after the fact this time.

WOW! What a huge difference. I have no idea what happened. Did the show’s organizers drop the price for exhibitor booths? Did they get a new sales manager (I guess that’s who would be in charge of these things, right?) who is really on-the-ball about filling the show floor with vendors?

I don’t know. But seriously, this may have been the best I have ever seen this show in its entire history. The show floor was filled with vendors, the vendor booths were swarming with customers clamoring to hand over their money, and the demonstrators/educators were skilled, knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. There were no empty spaces where vendors should have been but weren’t, and the show floor actually extended pretty much the whole convention center floor, all the way back to the competition area.

What a huge difference from previous years.

I saw lots of familiar faces and put faces to some familiar names. I spent way more money than I’d planned on, because there was way more stuff to buy than I’d expected.

So that’s how the show went. It’s been years since I’ve been so excited to be at a tradeshow. The energy was up, the vendors were in good moods, the attendees were having a good time... and the whole thing was nothing but nails.

Absolutely a good time.

I still didn’t find a class that I was genuinely interested in sitting in on, but the only thing I can really complain about was that the ink the doorman used for our re-entry hand stamps was not really meant for stamping on skin. Everyone’s hand stamps were nothing but an amorphous blob of faded black within seconds of being stamped. I saw one girl walk by who had inadvertently transferred her black blob to her face, probably leaning on her hand during a demo. And this stuff is not washing off.

But if you think I’m seriously griping about the ink, you are definitely reading my blogs with the wrong voice in your head.