My sister created a product called MasterKitz under her company Kidzaw with her business partner Jane. They have been working the toy conventions across the country for a couple years now. And they are in stores all across the United States.
Yesterday, I drove to Nashville to pick her and Emily, one of her employees, up at the airport and cart them over to the convention center downtown, and to help set up her booth at the Astra Marketplace and Academy Convention.
She was a little nervous since they are launching a brand new product called MasterSculptz. It is very cool and I know it will be a hit. Who doesn’t like bright colorful pieces that when put together, create a random sculpture – in any shape or configuration your child can imagine!
There was a slight challenge in that the booth at this convention was a lot smaller than what she’s used to. So we had to do some strategic space planning and product placement. (that’s my sister on the left, sitting on the floor figuring out her “space plan” and that’s me on the right, assembling one of their displays. When we were all done, I think it turned out great.
Of course it wasn’t all work. After the booth was set up, we headed down the hill to lower Broadway, a.k.a. Nashville’s “strip” to grab some dinner and enjoy a nice bottle of wine.
It was great to do a little exploring of Nashville, especially since I moved to Tennessee a few weeks ago and have not left our little town. I also got a good laugh from my sister and Emily’s reaction to the “strip”. Lower broadway is a major attraction with lots of tourists, so it’s probably not an exact representation of the Nashville inhabitants and lifestyle, but they acted like they just fell onto another planet! There’s lots of bars, saloons and restaurants with almost all of them spilling live country music onto the sidewalk at every entrance. And cowboy boots were everywhere, mainly on the women with their little shorts or skirts.
Eric and I are looking forward to spending a few days in Nashville together and checking out the city. Hopefully with our upcoming schedule we can do it before the end of the year!
