Grand Designs Live London 2013 – Exhibitor’s diary

Friday, 10th May - Completing stand

Everything goes smoothly and IPC Team handles everything in time. Even a coffee break.

Saturday, 11th May - Beginning of the exhibition

Exhibition is from the morning very busy and we are starting to show CORSO. By each transfer of segments, crowd arrives to our stand and stares enthusiastically. They probably already imagine, how they could spend time on the terrace even in typical English weather.

After several hours of continuous opening and closing CORSO, my back start to ache. (Segments are being moved slightly, but when a petite blonde in heels makes this a hundred times per morning, it’s not that easy. Editor’s Note) The vocal cords are getting pretty tired and I’m talking like Darth Vader. My legs hurt too, but a strong cup of coffee poured new blood into my veins. God bless caffeine!

In stead of lunch straight dinner - for the whole day, I never sat down.

Sunday, 12th May – The second day

There is a beautiful weather outside - 25 degrees, blue sky… You can’t see that in London usually. Nevertheless, the exhibition is full and we are expecting another busy day.

Customers are surprised by the ease of the transfer of segments and excited about the product itself. Many of them already arrange measuring with us.

Making my first survey to the competition. On the exhibition, there are two companies focused on pool enclosures. Casually walking around - both stalls are empty and I enthusiastically return back to CORSO, where my colleague’s waiting for me with a handful of contacts to potential customers.

15:00 I’m starting losing my voice again and my mouth literally hurts from speaking. Strong coffee incites my aching back and legs to carry on.

18:00 The second day of the exhibition is over and I realize that I haven‘t had lunch yet - again. What is the lesser evil? Fish & chips, burger or saussage & mash?

0:00 About midnight it’s difficult to shut down my computer and fall asleep.

Monday, 13th May - Third Day (Bank Holiday)

National Day and sunny weather – do I still dream? These two things in England simply do not fit together. Despite to this, we welcome the first crowd of customers at 10:00 – they are admiring our stand. Like every day I grab the enclosure and get my eight hours weight training. While opening and closing the enclosures, I observe, if my muscles already increased.

Traditionally, we skip lunch, the stand is at the time full of people. Double latte must be enough.

15:00 The next time when I laugh at mutating voice of teenagers, I’ll remember this day. Customers don’t mind wear and tear of my vocal cords - on the contrary they still have more and more questions. They ask me, among other, where the enclosure is made. On my reply “in the Czech Republic” they generally respond only with a nod or a raised eyebrow. Then they add that they’ve been to Czechoslovakia and that Prague is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe (when the gentlemen are out of earshot their wives and girlfriends, they also comment on the beauty of Czech women and quality of Czech beer).

Me and my colleague barely stand on our feet, but the success that we celebrate with CORSO drives us ahead.

The exhibition was difficult, but I know it was only the beginning. Now comes contacting customers, arranging meetings, the visits itself and answering loads of e-mail.

Finally, I would like to thank Dries Lawres, who flew to London for the whole four days - without him we wouldn’t have made it! THANKS BOSS!

Alžběta Murray

manager for Great Britain, IPC Team