Putting on the Home and Garden Show with Ellen Viehmann

A Everyday Green Home Podcast – Recorded Live at the St. Louis Home & Garden Showhome and garden show st louis green gab podcast

This episode starts a series of podcasts which were all recorded LIVE on the Gabbing today at the St. Louis Home & Garden show. We kick off the series gabbing with Ellen Viehmann from the St.Louis Home Builders Association about producing the St. Louis Home and Garden Show.

It all starts more than a year out with planning, especially to book the speakers for the stages since some of them are hard to get. With so many Home and Garden shows across the country during the “Home and Garden season,” many shows are competing with the other shows. Planning ahead and booking well in advance is key to lining up great speakers for a great draw with the show audience. By the time one year’s show is done, the show team will have already started on next year’s show to line up all the great new things in plan.

This year, 2017, is extra special because it’s the 40th year anniversary St. Louis Home & Garden Show continuously here at America’s Center since it opened in 1978.

home and garden show

The Goal of the Home and Garden Show

The Home and Garden show aims to bring together experts from around the country to present the products and services that people are looking for in their homes. This includes the newest, the best, the most innovative products and services out there and expert advice which people need for all types of home projects. It is a great place to come and find that one right item to start your next project. Rather than spending your next 4 Saturday’s going to show rooms all over town, people can find experts in one place, side by side, ready to provide advice and information. Even for those not yet planning a home project, there are so many ideas at the show to help get started.

Behinds the Scenes with the Home and Garden Show

Collaboration between hundreds of companies, many of them local, means coming together to put their collective best foot forward to give St. Louis consumers expert advice and information about needs and wants in their homes. With 400+ companies moving into a building in less than a week, it’s a work of art in logistics and coordination. The St. Louis Home Builders Association staff makes it look easy, although there are months of preparation and planning that we don’t see. “It’s just a really big collaboration between a lot of great people who come to do this.”

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Many people have been doing Home & Garden Shows for years and they know what they are doing. Their booths look great, they train their people and they have a really great experience. It’s rewarding when you see seasoned exhibitors share their knowledge of the show and how it’s done with exhibitors who are brand new. The show team works with exhibitors, especially new exhibitors on how to put up a booth, how to work a booth and how to put their best foot forward, yet the experienced exhibitors helping out the new ones reinforces the collaboration of the show. Selling at a home show is very different from selling in a show room and many don’t really understand that until they actually work the show and see for themselves. A booth is like a billboard and a company has 5-10 seconds to grab people’s attention as they’re walking by because there’s a lot to see here!

Tips for Homeowners and Consumers to Have a Great Show

1) Wear comfortable shoes!

2) All your questions, speak them out in advance bring your tablet, photos, and designs so they readily available. The more you bring to the show the more the experts can help you with right then instead of after the show.

The 2017 St. Louis Home & Garden Show is over with now, but look for a Home and Garden show in your area. Home & Garden Shows are all over the country and some are run by Home Building Associations and some are not. Wherever you are, home & garden shows are a great way to learn about your home, find really cool stuff for your home and think outside the box. It’s about the experience.

2018 St. Louis Home & Garden Show is March 8-11, 2018 at America’s Center, St. Louis, MO. See you there!

This podcast was recorded on March 9, 2017 and photos are on the Green Gab Facebook page.

Resources

Facebook Live recording with Ellen Viehmann

St. Louis Home & Garden Show

10 Tips for Maximizing your Experience at the STL Home & Garden Show

STL Home & Garden Show Articles of Interest

Home Builders Association St. Louis

Every week on iTunes and on the Everyday Green Home Podcast, get the gab with us as we share what we’ve done, as well as tips for greening up your home, your job, your family and your life! Get in on the gab for why green matters – to you, your family and friends and your community.
Get Marla’s book Living Green Effortlessly: Simple Choices to a Better HomeFor more information about the show, Marla at marla@greenhomecoach.com or Tony at tpratte@thesoundroom.comI’d love to speak at your next event – for ideas check out my speaking information. Thank you and have a blessed day.