Trade Show Day 0: I Left Early
Sep. 12th, 2023 06:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerAmong my many work tasks this week is staffing a small trade show nearby. The main part of the show is tomorrow and it's just 1 day. Today was "Partner Day" with presentations and workshops for companies that pair with them. I went to learn more about their offerings, their ecosystem, and how we can work better together. I also went to finish our booth setup so that it'd be ready for an early start (7:30am!) tomorrow.
Long story short, although things got off to a good start they started going south not long after. The good part was the first ~30 minutes I was there. I met partner coordinators I'd only email with up to that point, reconnected f2f with other partners I haven't seen f2f in a long time, and even recorded an upbeat partner interview for the trade show host.
The downside came when I checked with colleagues when they'd be arriving. Two had found last-minute reasons to bow out. A third was likely to no-show, as well. (It's his MO.) And the booth setup— which is normally not my responsibility but I volunteered for, because I step up to support the company's broader mission— took way longer than planned. The show ran until 6pm, including a social hour at the end, but by 3pm I was just done and left.
Why did I skeeve off? Well, as I decided at the trade show I staffed two weeks ago, Why should I take it seriously when nobody else does? And today was just partnership stuff— which our partnership manager already ditched doing (one of the last-minute no-shows I mentioned above). Why should I bust my butt when everyone else is phoning it in or, worse, opting out entirely.
Could I have stayed at the show? Sure. But it was no longer clear what the value would be, as the whole rest of my team had abandoned the mission for the day. And while I skeeved off the trade show for the rest of the day I did not skeeve off work for the day. I worked from my desk at home the rest of the afternoon.
Long story short, although things got off to a good start they started going south not long after. The good part was the first ~30 minutes I was there. I met partner coordinators I'd only email with up to that point, reconnected f2f with other partners I haven't seen f2f in a long time, and even recorded an upbeat partner interview for the trade show host.
The downside came when I checked with colleagues when they'd be arriving. Two had found last-minute reasons to bow out. A third was likely to no-show, as well. (It's his MO.) And the booth setup— which is normally not my responsibility but I volunteered for, because I step up to support the company's broader mission— took way longer than planned. The show ran until 6pm, including a social hour at the end, but by 3pm I was just done and left.
Why did I skeeve off? Well, as I decided at the trade show I staffed two weeks ago, Why should I take it seriously when nobody else does? And today was just partnership stuff— which our partnership manager already ditched doing (one of the last-minute no-shows I mentioned above). Why should I bust my butt when everyone else is phoning it in or, worse, opting out entirely.
Could I have stayed at the show? Sure. But it was no longer clear what the value would be, as the whole rest of my team had abandoned the mission for the day. And while I skeeved off the trade show for the rest of the day I did not skeeve off work for the day. I worked from my desk at home the rest of the afternoon.
