Whilst at a networking event in Aberdeen, Scotland in late
October and I happened to get speaking to a women who ran a company called
Aberdeen Entrepreneurs. She was
interested to hear all about Scuba Duba Dive and what I had to offer. For some reason the subject changed onto
school career fairs. They were very keen for me to attend their first event in
less than a week’s time. I said I would
have a think about it and be in touch.
My main worry was I didn't really have much to build a good stand. Nevertheless I agreed to attend and have a
Scuba Duba Dive stand at the school show in the North East of Scotland.
What would make a good, interesting stand for the children
coming to visit? I put together all my dive gear and had some good diving
movies which I’d play. People always
like to take away something from a show so leaflets were the answer. Recently getting the grips of Adobe Photoshop
I designed some last minute leaflets detailing all the courses offered in the
different locations. The problem was
printing them but with help from my local printers I managed to get 200 copies
run off at 5pm when I was due to leave the next morning at 6am.
After that show the next one is January - plenty of time to
go about improving my stand. So the hunt
for a decent mannequin began. Asking
around department stores and various friends who I knew worked in or had
contacts in department stores proved fruitless.
Every time I asked the member of staff they just looked at me very oddly
and said sorry no. It was then I turned
to that great website GumTree. Posting an
advert ‘wanted full sized mannequin with arms, legs and a head’ and within two
hours I’d received two phone calls, one saying she had two in her shed and
another saying they had four. After
receiving pictures of these mannequins the women who had four had the better
mannequin. I traveled up to “meet” the new
member of the team and it was exactly what I was after and fits my dive gear
perfectly. He even has a great story
behind his past. Scuba Steve: used to be a guardsman on a ship to deter
pirates! 
All I had to do now was design my roller banner to have the
perfect stand. I set about making a
basic design to get reviews from other people.
Keeping the pictures and information short and to the point would catch people’s
attention. Designing a two meter tall
banner on a 24 inch monitor really didn't give you much feel as to how it was
going to look in the print. I finally
sent it off to the printers and when it arrived it was perfect. My stand looks
more professional for the four shows I've got coming up this spring. It really goes to show what networking can
do.
Who would have thought a random
conversation in Aberdeen would have resulted in all these shows. My advice never be shy to speak to someone or
ask the question, as you never know who they know or what they do!
