Top 5 Tricks for Sweet Success at Fancy Food Show

There’s nothing quite like a trade show. And I know because I’ve been to a few in my time. I earned my trade show stripes amongst the ultra-geeky, high-tech, software junkies who love to ask complex technical questions. Basically, it’s a slow death for a marketing gal. So, when I was asked to go to New York for a trade show I panicked—for like two seconds. I work at Sweet Leaf Tea now. Woo-hoo! Sign me up.

The other trade shows of the world could learn a little something from the Fancy Food Show in New York. Or, at least the way we do it. When it comes to surviving a trade show, here’s how to do it the Sweet Leaf Tea way.

1. Design a Sweet Booth
Our shipping crate is our main display. The crate shows up, we pop the latches, swing open the lid and wha-lah. It’s pure genius I tell ya. To top it all off, everything else we needed to spruce up our space was packed inside. Including our plot of faux-grass which makes life a bit easier on the footsies after wearing heels all night.

2. Quench Thirst
This one is a no brainer for us. Imagine walking around two gigantic halls nibbling on 250,000 worldly products for 7 hours. Some attendees looked like they had just crossed the Sahara when they stepped up to our booth. They came to us tongues hanging out and throats dry, but they left us refreshed and ready to complete their journey.

3. Make Foodie Friends
They have food and we have ice, cold tea. The trade opportunities were definitely in our favor. We made great friends with the crews from StonyField Farm (love that blueberry Greek Yogurt, FunniBonz BBQ (pulled pork with spicy sauce), Immaculate Baking Company (orange cranberry scones), and many more. Can’t imagine the pounds I would have gained working at one of their booths!

4. Take a Siesta
Not at the booth! But in order to survive the night, you better catch a few zees post show. If you can nap and wake-up to hit the city, you are a trade show pro. The Tea’m explored restaurants and lounges from Chelsea to SoHo and Meat Packing to Brooklyn! Check out the Buddha Bar and Diner next time you visit. (PS-The REAL test is getting up the next morning!)

5. The Wake-up Call
It never hurts to take precautionary measures, especially in New York. Your best bet is to schedule a wake-up call before and set your alarm before you leave for your evening activities. You may hate it when it goes off, but somewhere deep, deep inside you’ll be thankful that it did.

All and all, it was a great show. We met lots of good, thirsty people and even some of our fellow Tweetpeeps (@BevNETCraven, @BevNETcom, @newyorkhotel). It was fun NYC, but it sure feels good to be back in Austin. For the full play-by-play of the event check out my twitter stream at: http://twitter.com/SweetLeafCharla

Do you  have your plans nailed down for any July 4th festivities yet?

Well, if you are anything like me, you tend to wait to see what comes at you that appears really fun and hassle-free. Well, you are in luck! If you live in the Austin-area check out the list below of super-duper fun things. So, grab a cold bottle of your favorite Sweet Leaf Tea and head on down.

THE Austin-area July 4th Celebration List

1. The H-E-B Austin Symphony July 4th Concert and Fireworks

2. 4th of July Bash @ Trophy’s

3. Summer Fest San Marcos

4. Volente Beach

5. Cedar Park

6. Lakeway

7. City of Leander

8. Round Rock and at the Dell Diamond

9. Kingsland, TX Aqua Boom (One of my faves since I grew up going almost annually!)

10.  Rothbury Festival Not anywhere near Austin, TX, but will be an awesome event!

Don’t live in or around Austin, TX? That’s cool, we’d love for you the cool stuff going on in your area under the comments section. Sharing the love is always more fun, don’t you think?

Whatever you choose to do for the 4th, remember to be have fun and stay safe. Enjoy the colored lights in the sky!

By Justin Goldstein; Summer Marketing Intern Extraordinaire

Let me start off by saying that the weather in Texas never ceases to amaze me. Going to school in Indiana makes me forget how one day it can literally be 106 and sunny and the next day it’s in the 70s and pouring down rain.

Over the course of the past year at school, I was nervous at the idea of finding an internship. It was looking bleak until I found out that I would be interning with Sweet Leaf Tea. Although I had tried Sweet Leaf a few times, I was really unaware of the product and the culture that it encompasses. While some of my friends set off for different parts of the country for their internships, I returned home to Austin and reported to my first day of work unsure of what I was getting myself into.

As a 21 year old, I have held my fair share of jobs. While some were good, most just taught me to suck it up and work hard at school. These experiences didn’t exactly help me prepare for the awkwardness that is the first day at a new job.

My first day on the job was the first time I had been to 515 S Congress. As I sat on the couch waiting for Adi to appear I had the chance to read over the company mission statement which is conveniently painted in huge letters on the front wall. It really struck me how powerful such a simple statement could be. Lines like “We create our own opportunities” and “The journey is just as important as the destination” really stood out to me. I thought to myself, “Maybe this internship won’t be so bad after all.” What I would soon find out is that not only is Sweet Leaf Tea a great product, but it’s a great company with an even better following.

The life of an intern is a life of uncertainty. Each day is something new. I found myself waking up each morning ready to go to work. Whether my day included doing menial office tasks or researching colleges for our planned expansion, I felt like I was contributing to the team and making a difference. However, my first demo really changed my perspective on the company.

I was scheduled to go to HEB Central Market and sample product. When told I would be sampling product, I wasn’t very thrilled and I sure didn’t think I met the stereotype for the grocery store sample giver. I sucked it up and woke up early that Sunday morning not knowing what to expect and not very excited. What I found over the next few hours was that Sweet Leaf has amazing customers. There was a nonstop flow of people. Those who have had our products in the past fled to our table. We scrambled to keep the samples coming while listening to people rave about the product. We went through our entire load of product with an hour to spare. Being able to hear and see the reaction from our customers about our product was very enlightening. I was able to really experience the relationship our customers have with our product first-hand.

There have been more demos since that first one and have attended other events as a Sweet Leaf representative. The one thing I love more than anything is having people come up and tell us how much they love the product.

I still have another month left in my internship. However, I am more excited than ever to come to work each day. I know that the work I do is for our customers. Whether it is someone who has been drinking Sweet Leaf Tea for years or someone who is trying it for the first time, I raise my bottle of Mango Green Tea to you and say, “Thank you for making this internship a great experience.” I am pumped to see what the next month will bring and hope that it will be as good as this first month.

We are looking for a cool new design for our Sweet Leaf Tea Lollapalooza 2009 tea-shirts and thought we’d reach into our pool of fans for inspiration.

What does this mean for YOU?

Great question, I’m so stoked that you asked!

Send in your best TEA-shirt idea for a chance to win 2 General Admission Tickets to Lollapalooza August 7-9. The Top 25 design entries will also win 1 of the final TEA-shirts. Don’t forget, you also get the feeling of accomplishment knowing that Sweet Leaf Tea employees will be proudly sporting your design. Does it get any cooler than that?

Start coming up with ideas and make us proud! Now, what are you waiting for?

Thanks Twitter for breaking my heart seconds ago, or should i thank TMZ?

Michael Jackson dead today at 50 years old. As I sit here listening to Michael on Pandora, I cry and dance. He was my whole world when I was in the 3rd grade, 1983. Getting Thriller on both album and cassette was one of the most exciting things on the planet, until that next Christmas when I got my MJ Doll! WOW!

I never got to see him live and as I sit here typing I am feeling a little bit of regret mixed with a lot of sadness.

Thank you Michael for bringing us awesome jams, great dancing, and some great memories.

keep looking »