Kalmia Records Blog

Have you ever wondered why you have to get up at the crack of dawn, get ready for work, drive across town your computer, and type and file all day long? Why can you not do all of that filing at your home, and save all that gas? I have often wondered this, and the simple fact is, you do not have to work only at an office building somewhere. You can do it, but you just have to do a little research. I used the keyword “work from home uk“, and it has made all the difference in my employment.

In England, it can be difficult to find part time work to augment income. It is even more difficult to find work that is easy to do without having to go from the home to the office daily. Since I had my second child, I have been less keen on leaving my home everyday. That is why it has been such a lifesaver that I was able to work from home uk style. It sounds cheesy, but the English have a specific group of companies that do this kind of work, and I was lucky enough to find a company that does it.

The solution to keeping kids amused and occupied on long car rides can seem as elusive as the perfectly placed pit stop.

Parents of even the smallest of infants will find the perfect travel toys to keep them amused and stimulated in between naps. The irresistible Whoozit Activity Spiral wraps around most stroller and car seat carrier handles for on-the-go fun. A baby safe mirror encourages self-discovery, a hidden rattle reinforces cause-and-effect play, and the pull-and-release ball under the Whoozit makes a delightful jiggling motion that stimulates developing motor skills.

Does your baby love to reach for little toys and give them a good shake - before throwing them under the front seat? Well, Lamaze Garden Bug Foot Finder and Wrist Rattle Set is your solution to keeping those toys and rattles off the car floor. These baby-soft wrist rattles and foot finders slip around wrists and onto feet. Let baby grab and shake to her hearts’ content - while developing hand-to-eye coordination skills! Bright patterns and faces encourage discovery while fun sounds reward exploration.

Now baby can “drive along” just like mom or dad with the Beep Beep Baby Soft Driver by IQ Baby. This colorful, soft activity toy features a steering wheel, key, gear shift - even a cell phone! The colors and contrasts stimulate baby’s visual development, while the baby safe mirror promotes self-recognition. And with all the squeakers, rattles and ratchet sounds, your baby will be kept amused no matter how long the car ride is!

For quiet moments, try keeping an assortment of CD’s to soothe your young ones to sleep on the road. For example, Dreams and Lullabies by Markus is a collection of old favorites like Brahms’ Lullaby and new favorites-in-the-making like the dreamy Angel on my Shoulder.

LeapFrog can make traveling with kids seem like a walk in the park. The Little Touch LeapPad allows your baby to interact with classic stories like Guess How Much I Love You, while the My First LeapPad is perfect for your pre-schooler to learn letters, numbers, shapes and other fundamentals while reading and interacting with engaging stories and familiar characters like Bob the Builder and the Wiggles. You can even coax the Game Boy out of your 4-8 year-old’s clutches when you hand him a Leapster! Boys and girls have a blast reinforcing essential math and language skills while playing games and reading stories with their favorite characters like Spiderman, Junie B.Jones, and Spongebob Squarepants.

Electronic games are sure to be a hit with your school-age travelers. Remember 20 Questions? The the hot new game, 20Q - a small, handheld electronic genius that can guess what you are thinking in 20 questions or less! Just think of any object and answer “yes” or “no” to each of its questions as they appear on its LCD screen. Will 20Q guess your answer? About 95% of the time it will - wow!

Another backseat favorite is MadLibs by Excalibur Electronics. Based on the wildly popular series of activity books, players create the craziest, funniest stories by choosing from a list of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs - or by writing their own. The wackier the better!

Perhaps you have a passenger who is an aspiring chess master. Travel chess sets are a great way to improve your chess game on the road, and the Excalibur Chess Station is the grand champion! This full featured travel unit has an LCD screen - no small pieces to lose - and boasts a 1750 tournament rating with 73 power levels from beginner to advanced. It even has a teaching mode and a series of opening play challenges to sharpen your traveler’s skills. Once you have arrived at your destination or returned home, Excalibur Chess includes a game board and chess pieces for traditional play as well.

So your teenager thinks he knows it all? Test his Quiz Quotient against the New York Times Quizmaster from the famous Noodle Nudger of the NY Times online quiz game. Featuring over 2200 questions in 280 topics, this multiple choice format travel game is perfect for either the solo player or a minivan full of kids (and adults!) to match wits against each other.

Pen and paper games are also essential activities for traveling with kids. Klutz has discovered a new use for your vehicle’s drink-holder - how about Klutz Books in a Cup in either Green or Orange `flavors’? For ages 8 - 10, this unique collection of puzzles and games comes in a reusable container, complete with a pencil and a lid, that fits neatly into a cup holder for easy access and storage. Combine this with the Klutz Kids Travel Book and you have the ultimate backseat survival kit. This super high quality book comes with a built-in clipboard, 100 page notepad, 47 page activity book, and a conveniently attached zipper pouch full of markers, yarn, dice, string and more! Mazes, Cat’s Cradle Loop and instructions, Hidden Pictures, Parcheesi Board, License Plate Bingo and Classic Song Lyrics are just a few of the activities included in this Parent’s Choice Gold Award-winning travel activity kit.

What’s a road trip without a great selection of tunes? Your traveling tots will enjoy Raffi or Disney. For songs in the car that even Mom and Dad will love, check out A Child’s Celebration of Rock and Roll featuring original artists like Bill Haley and the Comets, the Coasters, Bobby Darin, Johnny Otis, Shirley Ellis, and Richie Valens. Modern hit-makers, including Sarah McLaughlan. Billy Bragg, Tom Waits, and the Barenaked Ladies, provide new takes on old childhood classics (and some new ones!) on For the Kids. This alternative-rock CD is perfect for traveling with kids of all ages - even those too-cool tweens who think they have outgrown kids’ music!

You’ll be surprised at how easy your next road trip will be!

Lisa Bronart is freelance writer and homeschool mom and always on the look out for cool stuff for kids- neat travel toys can make a long trip shorter for everyone!

http://www.mastermindtoys.com

When shopping for a used car, it is important to select one that best fits your lifestyle. For example, if you live in an area that is prone to harsh winters with a lot of snow, a 4-wheel-drive will likely be a good choice. However, these automobiles use more gasoline than a compact car. So, if gasoline consumption is at the top of your list for concerns, a smaller automobile may be the best option.

When you purchase a used car, it’s also important to understand the varying cost of insurance. Automobile coverage for an SUV, for example, is more expensive than a smaller vehicle. The same is true of a sports car, which will likely garner an increased cost of insurance.

The next thing to consider is the style of the used car. If you have children, a van or SUV may be the best way to accommodate everyone comfortably and still have plenty of storage space. If you are single and just want to have a reliable mode of transportation, a smaller car will more than suffice.

If you plan to travel often or will be adding a lot of mileage, your best bet would be to find a used car with the lowest mileage possible. Another selection will include the choice of either an automatic or manual transmission. What about doors? Do you a prefer two or four door automobile? This is an option that most people don’t really think about right away, but it is an important one nonetheless. A four door used car is very convenient for loading luggage or groceries and it also makes it really convenient for passengers to climb in and out of.

When it comes to interior, car owners will have the option of selecting from cloth and leather. Each has their benefits and drawbacks, so which one is right for you? Leather is excellent when it comes to cleaning up spills, but fabric interior is more susceptible to stains. Leather is often very hot to the touch on sunny days whereas fabric interior is comfortable even on the warmest day. Both will show tears and require their own method of maintenance.

When searching for the perfect used car to fit your lifestyle, carefully consider the cost before deciding to purchase. Monthly payments can be high even on a used car, so think about the budget and what you can afford prior to signing on the dotted line.

Find more about used cars market and how to find the used cars value including tips on how to serach for certified pre-owned cars Vegas.

Craps is the casino game that everybody is curious about. It’s big and looks complicated, and when people are winning, it’s the loudest place in the casino. Like any casino game some luck is involved in winning, but the flexibility and choices that craps players have allows them to position themselves to play aggressively when the dice get hot.

One of the things that makes craps so interesting is that you can interact with the game according to your own strategy. You can set goals that might be completely different from the player next to you but you both can be winning. Once you understand the basics of play, you can become like a gymnast, who can move backward and forward on the balance beam. If you choose, you can put all your moves together and devise a routine.

An avid sect of players employs the power pressing craps system. Power pressing is the general term to describe playing craps in an aggressive manner that steadily increases the size of bets. House money (money generated by winning bets at the casino) is the preferred source of money for fattening the bets. It is classic reinvestment of profits.
The “power” in the term power pressing refers to the determination with which bets are increased. The player will rarely receive any change after a number has won because all the winnings are reinvested in the bet. Some power presses even require that the player chip in a few more bucks in order to achieve the next desired betting level. Power presses can be done to one number or multiple numbers at the same time.

To distinguish between regular old pressing and power pressing, think of pressing as speeding a bit on the highway when you are late for work. Power pressing is more like automobile racing. You want to draft behind the car in front of you and build as much momentum into your system as possible before swinging out ahead and making the big win.

In order to begin power pressing, you need to have one or more place bets. Place bets are the most suited to power pressing because they win the first time the number rolls, unlike come bets, and the player has the option to reclaim the entire bet.
Now that you have some place bets in action, you can begin power pressing. The following scenario will serve as an example of the power pressing technique.

Basic Six and Eight Power Press

The six and the eight are the most common numbers to attempt to power press. This is because, after the omnipresent seven, the six and eight are the most common rolls and therefore the numbers amenable to rolling repeatedly. Having your place bets win two or more times is key to successful power pressing and winning.

1. You start with $6 bets on the six and eight. Your initial goal is to achieve $12 bets on the six and eight after only one win on either the six or eight.
   
2. The six rolls while the bet is in action, and the $6 place bet wins $7.
   
3. You say “press the six and eight” and GIVE THE DEALER $5.
   
4. The dealer will take the new $5 injected into the system and put it with the $7 payoff, which equals $12. This will become the new $12 bet on the six. The original $6 on the six will be added to the $6 on the eight and thereby create a second $12 bet on the eight. If the eight rolled instead of the six in this scenario, the same things occur.
   
5. So far, you have invested $17 (original $12 bets plus the $5 for the power press) and have $24 in action. The next time the six or eight rolls, you will be paid $14. Now your investment has been recouped except for $3, and the next win will be pure profit of $11. Winning the $11 relies upon sixes or eights rolling three times without the seven rolling when the bets are active.
   

This scenario was taken from the book Get Dicey: Play Craps and Have Fun. The book, written by a former Las Vegas craps dealer, contains more power pressing descriptions as well just about every thing else about craps. Remember, the key to maximizing winnings is making bets bigger while you’re winning.

Tracy Falbe is the author of Get Dicey: Play Craps and Have Fun published in 2005 under the pen name Tracy Michigan. Falbe worked as a craps dealer in Las Vegas in the mid 1990s and based her how to play craps book on thousands of hours of live game experience. Get Dicey is available from Falbe Publishing and other booksellers. An excerpt from Get Dicey can also be read online.

If you’ve owned real estate for the last two or three years chances are you feel like a financial genius. In many areas real estate values have climbed to dizzying heights.

I hope you have resisted the temptation of easy money home equity loans. If so, you’re now sitting on a big, fat profit. It may have entered your mind that the big run up in real estate prices could be nearing a peak and those values could come barreling down. Oh no! That would mean your big, fat profit could become thin as a rail in a New York minute. That kind of financial weight loss you just don’t need.

This article is not meant to promote the idea that we’ve all experienced the effects of a real estate bubble and that inevitably that bubble must burst. That could be the case, but honestly, who really knows? But if a reversal is ahead, what can you do to avoid watching the value of your home plunge and your equity profit vanish?

Across the country, in the real estate markets that have been the hottest, some homeowners are selling and temporarily moving into apartments. They feel that they are selling at the peak of the real estate cycle and it could be years before they ever have a chance to sell for as much profit as they can get now. They just could not tolerate doing nothing and then watch a major decline in their net worth.

Their thinking is that over the next 24 months or so, interest rates will go up. If interest rates go up one or two percent many people will be priced out of the home buying market. That means less demand for homes and less demand means lower prices. That and other factors could result in falling home values. They want to pull their big profit out now, bank it and wait for prices to fall.

As real estate prices move to the lower end of the cycle, these sellers will then buy another home. In a way this will allow them to have their cake and eat it too. One of their choices will be to buy a home equivalent to the one they sold, but at a lower price. In this case they can allocate the remaining portion of their profit to other investments.

Another option will be to use all of the cash they received from the sale of their original home to buy a more expensive house.

Still another choice would be to sell and take their money to another area where real estate prices have not skyrocketed and buy a much nicer home. Family and employment obligations prevent most people from doing that.

What could go wrong with any of these plans? Home prices could just continue to climb. Then these sellers would be left sitting on the side lines, unable to even afford the house they just sold. Even if home prices just stayed flat without declining, they would still be stuck. The cost of an equivalent home, plus buying expenses would exceed the profit they earned from the sale of their original home.

The other challenge to their plan is what to do with that big, fat profit once they had it hand? Can they find a safe investment that could earn more than real estate? Due to the effect of inflation the buying power of the cash would diminish every day if they just sat on it.

Finally, you can do as most home owners certainly will. Nothing! That’s fine as long as you have not refinanced all of your equity out of the property. Then if values drop you will be “up side down”. That means you will owe more on your mortgage than the home is worth. That thought may scare some home owners into selling just to get out even.

Now that you’ve come to the end of part one of this article you are ready for the perfect solution to this potential situation, right? You certainly are an optimist. Sorry, not enough room here for solutions.

About the Author: To read more on this author Mark Walters invites you to Click Here for Part Two.

Weight loss has always been a hot topic issue but in the day and age we live in it’s become much more than just an “issue”, a necessity for the constantly rising number of overweight individuals in our society.

Some of you might be reading this and saying to yourself why is he stating the obvious and repeating what nearly every weight loss commercial has said for the past 5 to 10 years? Isn’t he going to help? Of course I am. But I’m not going to make bold claims of rapid weight loss or being able to eat all you want. You will need to alter your lifestyle but after reading this article you’ll be well on your way to a healthier, slimmer you and most importantly it will be so easy you’ll wonder why you weren’t doing this all along.

1. Get up and off of your couch and get active. I know it’s not what you wanted to hear but it is the single most important aspect of a weight loss plan. Get active doesn’t mean that you have to start running marathons or lifting ridiculous amounts of weights, it simply means that you must do an activity that will increase the speed of your metabolism in order for your body to create a caloric deficit. Did you know something as simple as a brisk walk can burn nearly 500 calories if done for an hour? See what I’m trying to show you is that you don’t have to be an elite athlete you just have to pick an activity that you like because then and only then will you continue to do it!

2. I touched on this in the first tip but now I will elaborate. Create a caloric deficit! I know some of you might be sitting there and asking yourself, what exactly does that mean? It simply means that you must burn more calories then you are putting into your body. I know many of you already know this but I bet most of our society doesn’t know how to achieve it. The simplest way is to use a proven mathematical formula. If you are looking for a moderate weight loss you would multiply your current bodyweight by 12 and that would give you your daily caloric requirements.

If your body is ultra resistant you can go as low as 10 times your bodyweight. The second method and the one I recommend is to find your daily caloric value by eating a certain amount of calories each week and finding the number where you don’t gain or lose any weight and deduct 500 calories from that number. Whether you use exercise, diet or both to create the deficit is up to you but it must be done in order for you to lose weight!

In addition to the two tips in this article you should try to drink as close to a gallon of water a day as you can and try to stop eating two to three hours before you go to sleep. If you adhere to the tips in this article, you will undoubtedly be on your way to your ideal weight.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Weight Loss

If you open that closet door, and things are falling to the floor, or if you open that closet door and can’t seem to find anything in there that you were looking for without having to move five other things, you need a closet organizer. A closet organizer is going to make your closet seem bigger, because you are then putting things away in a more organized manner. You are putting things away in a way that is in a manner of how you use them.

The organized closet
The closet that is organized will stay that way if you continually put things back where they belong. A closet with just a shelf is going to be able to hold just so many things, but if you add boxes, and more shelving, and you add racks and hangers, you are going to be able to put so much more in that space. The closet organizer is going to allow you to put more in the closet, but still be able to find all those things at the same time.

On the top of the closet
On the very top of the closet is where the items will go that you don’t use that often. The items for winter, or the items for summer, the items you use only when you go out on vacation perhaps.

The clothes you wear the most
The jackets and clothes you wear often will be kept in the center of the closet where you can see them easily. The clothes you wear only occasionally, such as when you go skiing or roller blading or to the horseback riding trails will go in the back of the closet. You know you have them, you can find them easily but they are out of your way. You can find what you need and when you need it.

Hooks and racks. Additional hooks and racks are used to put special things in the closet such as ties, belts, kites, skates and so much more can be hung from pegs like those. You can create hanging hooks or you can leave them out of your organized space.

An organized closet is well prepared
To start organizing any closet space you need to sit down with a paper and pencil. You will draw out what you have in the closet now, and then erase and change as you see what you have in the closet already needs to be changed to fit. For example, if you need to store a few chairs in that closet, you should make a space on the one side for folding chairs to hide nicely in the closet.

If you need four racks for shoes, you can put all the shoes going up the wall, or you can have them all stacked at the bottom of the closet. The choices are yours, but be sure to plan out your needs, and the rest will flow easily as you head off to the store to purchase what you need.

For more info visit: http://www.internetorganizer.org/

The author work with SEO and Adsense and delivers info on different kind of products. To find the best closet organizer for you, the author provides a detailed website with info and resources on closet organizers.

mom. mOM. MOM! The echo rings in your head. The voices carry you to a not so distant time and place. The time: early morning, May 14th. The place: your cozy bed. The delicious aroma of baking muffins wafts through the air. You wonder if you are in the wrong house. But wait. What if your lessons about high fiber foods have finally been taken to heart by your kids this Mother’s Day? Could they really be in the kitchen baking your favorite high-fiber carrot bran muffin?

You think about all of the moms in the world at this very moment awaiting the special treats in store for them this day. Many of them will be served a refined flour, sugar-laden breakfast in bed. Many will wish they were at the spa, alone. How many will find their family showering them with love by serving a high fiber menu with lots of veggies, fruits, and whole grains?

Throughout the years, as the learning curve widens about the benefits of high fiber foods, smart moms have chosen foods high in fiber for their family’s daily diet. There is an alarming number of today’s children that are overweight. The new Food Guide Pyramid recommends that children consume 1 to 3 servings of whole grains daily. The wise mom serves (but certainly not on Mother’s Day) a variety of healthy fiber-rich foods to keep her kids trim and their digestive tracts running smoothly. Fiber helps regulate blood sugar which is vital to your children’s energy and digestive health. If your little ones are exposed to a diet of foods high in fiber, their instinct will naturally lean towards choosing whole foods throughout their lives.

Fibrous foods tone up your intestines which helps prevent diverticulitis. Cancer-causing toxins speed out of the digestive system more quickly when a high fiber diet is followed. By maintaining proper colon health, the risk of irritable bowel syndrome is dramatically decreased.

Researchers have found that a high-fiber diet significantly reduces blood pressure levels among people with high blood pressure or hypertension. High fiber foods offer vital phytochemicals that we need for a healthy immune system. Fiber-rich foods tend to be higher in vitamins and minerals.

After eating fiber-rich foods, there is a feeling of fullness which helps to control overeating. A fiber-rich meal is processed more slowly. Losing weight is a natural result of eating high fiber foods such as whole grain breads and cereals; fruits such as raspberries, strawberries, unpeeled apples and pears; beans and legumes like kidney beans, lima beans, and lentils; nuts and seeds; vegetables such as broccoli, spinach, swiss chard and peas.

Whatever you do, Mom, don’t go near the kitchen. You know what it looks like. Dads and kids have a different approach to kitchen duty and baking is a messy business. Trust in their high fiber wisdom. (You taught them, after all.) So what if the muffins don’t come out light and moist? With every bite, let them know how much you appreciate their efforts. Enjoy the pampering and the acknowledgment of your family’s adoration of you. Happy Mother’s Day!

Carrot Bran Muffins/Blender Method
yield: 12 Large Muffins

1. Spray muffin pan with no-stick cooking spray

2. In a large mixing bowl thoroughly stir water into bran; stir in raisins, nuts, and carrots; let stand at least 5 minutes:

1 1/2 cups wheat bran (not boxed cereal flakes; just plain bran)
1/2 cup boiling hot water
1/2 cup raisins (soaked in water 5 minutes to soften; drained)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup grated fresh carrot

3. Place in blender; blend at high speed 4 minutes until smooth:

1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1/2 cup honey
1 cup whole wheat pastry grain (not flour)

4. Combine and add all at once to liquid ingredients in blender and blend in briefly, but thoroughly:

1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon

5. Pour batter into softened bran mixture; blend all thoroughly, but briefly with rubber spatula or mixing spoon. Do not overmix!

6. Fill muffin cups evenly, each almost full; bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool 5-10 minutes until muffins can easily be removed from the pan with a gentle tug on one side of muffins.

Per Muffin (using whole medium eggs, 1% fat buttermilk)

Calories: 189; Total Fat: 5 grams
Fiber: 5 grams

Stephanie Shank aka Fiberlady has studied nutrition for many healthy years which prompted her commitment to a high fiber lifestyle and the development of her informative website High Fiber Health.

http://www.high-fiber-health.com

The season for planting is in the air and many of us will be toiling the soil and planting gardens during the next few months. With this in mind, there are many similarities to gardening and sales. Here are a few strategies to apply.

Proper Selection Makes a Happy Gardener
Normally, we select our garden plants based on what we love to eat. If we love tomatoes we should plant them. There is nothing like picking a ripe tomato off the vine and eating it. The same holds true for customers. If we prefer accounts that require frequent production of blue widgets in large quantities we should select and pursue accounts that require them. The same joy of eating a fresh ripe tomato will be felt when a blue widget account is landed. It is up to sales management to help sales people plant the right seeds for our needs, wants and profits. Otherwise, it will be a painful growing season for everyone. Imagine what it would be like if we hated beets and all that was planted in our garden was beets. Now that would be an ugly and long season.

Training and Development Improves Performance
As tomatoes grow they need support or they will flop to the ground and our fruit will spoil. A trellis needs to be constructed to keep the vine growing the way we want it to grow. Constant attention to the plant and working the vines through the trellis will keep our tomato vine healthy for a long growing season. The same is true with our sales team. They require training and a system of learning new skills to keep them abreast of opportunities for sales. If we have areas we want to grow the business towards, we must train our salespeople to understand the best ways to sell the services we offer. Keeping a sales team trained requires constant interaction and tools for development. Access to a resource library with audio and video sales training tools for this purpose will aid in development.

Sales Territory Plot Planning
We should plan our garden plot and select the best environment for growth. We shouldn’t plant tomatoes in poor soil such as hard clay because it inhibits growth. Tomatoes are acid loving plants and require rich soil with good drainage. An extreme example would be to plant flowers in the desert sand of Mohave. Certainly they wouldn’t get the water they require and the desert sun would burn them to a crisp. The same holds true for business accounts. We wouldn’t go into residential areas to find prime accounts for business. Using a target account system for growth such as SIC codes is a more efficient method of account planning. You don’t have to look far in your own business. One of the best places to look is in your account files to establish target customer profiles you prefer. This method allows you to duplicate your existing success.

Drip Marketing and Watering Improves Growth
Watering a garden too much or too little will inhibit growth. For example if we water a tomato plant too often, yellow leaves will form and the fruit won’t develop properly. Too little water and the plant will wither and dry. It is the proper balance of water timed appropriately that will yield the best fruit. In outside sales our similarity would be to manage our contacts appropriately. ACT or any contact system will help manage this. We must handle our follow-up according to the best practices of sales. Business accounts can be contacted in different ways and we should use as many as we can. Our tools for a follow-up schedule should include personal visits, e-mail, telephone, fax and personalized notes or letters. Using only one method is not as constructive. Additionally, high profile or our high profit accounts should receive better attention because they yield the most fruit for us. This is where a key customer account program can help.

Remember, gardens and sales both take time. You can’t expect to eat salad or enjoy sales tomorrow, if you don’t plant and nurture your garden today.

Steve Martinez is the Founder of Selling Magic, Teaching business how to out smart and out wit the competition by automating and customizing the best practices of sales using Contact Management Solutions. You can reach Steve at http://www.sellingmagic.com.

Routine is comfortable. We like knowing what we’re going to do, when we’re going to do it, and what we’ll be wearing while we do it. It’s nice, safe and predictable. There are no surprises, no unforeseen contingencies, no upsets.

There is also no growth, no excitement, and no spontaniety. Routines can easily become ruts, especially at a trade show. It’s very easy to do, especially if you always go to the same shows, display in the same location, use the same graphics and literature, and go through the same sales spiel. It might seem effective. It’ll definitely be comfortable.

It’s also one of the biggest mistakes you can make. Exhibiting is, by its very nature, is a constantly evolving art. To be successful, you need to embrace what is new and exciting. It requires pushing boundaries.

If you’re comfortable, you’re not trying hard enough. Worse, you’re running a very real risk: The risk of boring trade show attendees with your booth.

People have a split second attention span. If you’re not presenting something new, exciting, and engaging, to draw them in, most attendees are going to assume they already know what you have to offer and pass you by. When attendees walk right by your booth without giving it a second look, that’s the same as having sales dollars flying right out the window.

There are five easy steps to break out of a rut.

1) Realize the difference between branding and routine.

Doing the same exact thing the same exact way time after time after time is NOT branding. Careful and intelligent placement of logos, consistent use of color, and overall design are all elements of branding. Look at McDonalds - they have one of the strongest brands on the planet, yet have changed looks, catch phrases, uniforms and menus over the years.

Take a close look at your branding efforts. Are they serving your marketing message, or are you simply repeating yourself?

2) Step outside your industry

Great ideas come from unexpected sources. I’ve gotten some of my best exhibit ideas from the retail world, where they carefully study the impact of color, music, and even temperature upon shoppers. Examine what motivates people to buy products that are very different from your own. What makes someone buy a motorcycle? Yogurt? Sleeping bags? Each of these items requires a different strategy, with many complex elements. Perhaps some of these elements would work well in your exhibit.

Remember, it’s never a good idea to simply ‘cut and paste’ elements from one advertising campaign onto your own. Catchphrases, graphics, and imagery may be copyrighted or proprietary. You want to expand your business, not enter litigation! Instead, analyze what makes a particular element work for you, and see how you can adapt it to meet your own business needs.

3) Get a fresh set of eyes

Have someone who is in no way related to the trade show industry or your company look at your exhibit. What do they notice first? What impression do they get of your company? What emotions do your graphics evoke? Record their impressions and compare how they measure up to your marketing objectives.

Many times we have looked at our own exhibits so many times that we don’t ’see’ them anymore. This fresh set of eyes will be viewing your booth the same way the attendees do - with no foreknowledge or preconcieved notions of how the exhibit is ’supposed’ to look.

4) Change up your teams

Just because Fred, Ethel, Murray and Zane have ALWAYS been your trade show team does not mean they always have to be. Take a careful look at your staff. Who is personable and professional, with excellent product knowledge, strong sales skills, and enthusiasm? Send that person to the trade show. Sending one new person to a show can create a new dynamic, sending a whole new team guarantees you’ll get anything but a routine performance.

No matter who you send, make sure that all staff members are trained. Old-hands need to refresh their skills and rookies need to acquire them!

5) Call in wardrobe

Something as simple as changing clothes can totally alter a booth staff’s performance. If they’ve been wearing business attire, consider switching to a more casual yet coordinated look. Have the booth staff break out the suits and ties. You’ll be amazed how differently they carry themselves and interact with attendees.

Uniforms and logo clothing are particularly appropriate for some industries. For example, shippers world wide know UPS by their distinctive brown attire. If this is the case with your company, make sure that the uniform shows up at the trade show. In addition to your booth staff, make sure the uniform makes an appearance in graphics and literature to reinforce the image association in attendee’s minds.

Written by Susan A. Friedmann,CSP, The Tradeshow Coach, Lake Placid, NY, author: “Meeting & Event Planning for Dummies,” working with companies to improve their meeting and event success through coaching, consulting and training. For a free copy of “10 Common Mistakes Exhibitors Make”, e-mail: article4@thetradeshowcoach.com; website: http://www.thetradeshowcoach.com