Pièce de Résistance…

Well, what do we have here??!! New day brings a new challenge. London again wasn’t ready for the amount of hustle that Smart Break was going to give! But first, breakfast!!

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Annnnndd, the breakfast hasn’t changed. Foolish of me to even imagine that there would be a slight change to the menu on such short notice. I blame myself for not giving constructive criticism. But I did have a lovely bowl of frosted flakes that contained just enough sugar to accompany the donuts and small cinnamon buns that I had with my coffee. Of course I didn’t just have sugar for breakfast! The juice machine was up and running with very sweet orange juice and apple juice that I’m almost positive was freshly squeezed from inside the machine 😁. I think it was one of those new machines that you just toss the apple or orange round the back of it and it does all the work for you! Pure class. Either way I had a delightful cup of french coffee that kick started my energy boosters in preparation for the expo.

The morning marathon walk wasn’t as bad as the morning before, only because all the equipment was left at the conference. Which did make it better seeing as I wasn’t sweating profusely when I arrived. On the walk to the event I noticed the Ferrari event was still going on across the hotel at the Design Museum. You see a couple of days before, I had to pick up my badge to the Healthcare Event and I mistakenly thought that the event was in the design museum (clueless american 🙌). As I walked in, there was electronic music pumping and lights flashing with models in Ferrari clothes, I knew this is not where I should be, while thinking this is exactly where I should be!!

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It is a bit strange walking around a small area of London and seeing enough super cars to make you rethink life choices. I should have played american football!! There was a small street across from my hotel that had Range Rovers, Ferraris, Bentleys, and TWO McLarens, TWO of them, lining the streets. So this is the type of area I would fit in with driving my Honda, I felt like I belonged. Also on the way to the event there were various pubs that were very appealing, and yeah it might have been 8 am but still, enticing. Great area in London, High Street Kensington.

When I arrived to the conference I noticed I was one of the first exhibitors there. That is ok, early bird gets the worm as they say, or in my case the left over pear and a coffee. The day started a little better because Olli and I were together promoting our products steadily for the first few hours. The event had several guest speaker areas that were all in close proximity of our stand, which was very good for us. The moment the speeches would end, the attendees would flood our booth. After lunch it was slowing up because of the amount of high quality guest presenters. But that was good for Olli and I as it freed up time for us to eat a proper lunch together. Today was different because we didn’t have pears to hand out. I know what you are thinking, “oh Lawrence, what did you and Olli do?” No worries, we got apples, they were slightly more expensive but worth it.

After lunch, Olli decided to have a walk about and try and make some contacts to hopefully collaborate with. While he was out I encountered a Japanese business man and his assistants. Now, I was very exhausted from saying the same pitch with slight variations to numerous people for hours. So this one I thought I will just be there and if they ask me questions then great. They looked very interested in Fibion and Smart Break. The assistant looked at me and I gave her some info on both products and told her to let me know if she wanted to know more. She asked if I had ever dealt with Japanese business culture before,( I could have said anything to make myself look worldly ) but sadly, I have not. She then told me that I did exactly the right thing, seeing as the man didn’t speak English so well and does not appreciate people coming to him speaking English directly to him, because then he would feel ashamed for not understanding. Phew 😅, my laziness was rewarded hahaha.

The day was long and we decided to stay til after the last panel talk ended to breakdown. Most of the exhibitors had left and we had nothing to do after this, as Olli was leaving that evening and my flight didn’t leave until the next day. This was a blessing in disguise seeing as the attendees just flocked to our booth. Fantastic! This event was nice because I did not have to go out and seek people to come to the booth and convince them I had what they needed. There was a constant stream of attendees visiting our booth over the two days. After packing up the equipment we decided to grab dinner and a celebratory pint, or two/three 😎. What an experience, tiring but at the same time challenging enough to keep me wanting more.

Recap of the trip and future plans will be on the next blog!!