My First Tradeshow

Percipia has been avidly attending HITEC conventions for over 7 years. HITEC is a trade-show that is put on by HFTP (Hospitality Financial Technology Professionals). Late this September in Dallas, Texas, 4 of my team members and I attended the first trade show since COVID-19 began leaving thousands of hospitality-based businesses at a low point or even worse, completely disintegrated. As this was my first tradeshow as a professional, I was lucky enough to have the wonderful opportunity to design the entire booth myself. It was a great learning experience. From the booth tower graphics to the printed pop-ups, I was involved in the entire design process. In the end, it was very rewarding to see my hard work pay off and to witness it being a produced product right before my own eyes.

From the moment we walked into the GES Convention Center, the whole building was buzzing with high energy and excitement! As many companies were in their beautifully set-up booth just like us, I felt positive energy throughout the entire first day. We attended our first event which was the opening reception, and it was lovely. Good company and great vibes!

After the first day of the convention, I was left feeling even more excited and prepared for the show. I knew what to expect, the types of questions I was going to be asked, and I had the chance to analyze the previous day. The second day was just as good as the first! I really enjoyed listening to my colleagues conversate with potential clients and partners. The passion and drive spoken into describing what Percipia is and what we create was really resonating with me and definitely shed some new light on to the company I didn't see before. Our team definitely ended the day strong!

The third day was a little slower but still good for our team! We wanted to end the trip strong and leave with a lot of leads and new potential partners and we did exactly that. On this specific day, I learned a valuable lesson. Learning how to conversate with over industry vendors. It was wonderful to hear how other providers contribute to the success and operations of the hospitality industry. There was a supportive and competitive edge to each partner, and I am looking forward to seeing them at future shows. 

Overall, I really enjoyed myself in Dallas at my first tradeshow. I loved networking and meeting other professionals in the same industry as me. I also really enjoyed being able to spend time with the Percipia team and getting know them better. I learned about our solutions more in-depth and how to talk about them to potential clients. My favorite part of all of this was being able to witness my hard work and design in person and to have it pay off by seeing the tradeshow attendee's being able to enjoy my work and learn about our solutions in a creative way. I can't wait for next year's HITEC 2022 in Orlando!