The conference was drawing to a close, and like every 'last day' of a conference the morning was a slow burn out of the previous few days and next to no one came to the exhibitor booths. So, I sat around, phone in hand, checking email and doing a lazy reply to the team at the office. A few other vendors seemed to be doing the same, and a couple of us decided to play cards.
Poker, but of the worst (or best) variety. We always have a stack of business cards from people who we know aren't going to close a deal. Or bring a useful discussion to the table. That means having a bunch of cards we don't even bring back to the office. To make it fun we play poker.
Not just normal poker. We put a value on each business card for $500, 2000, 5000, and 10,000. Why? To make it feel like we are playing for something of value. The reality is the "winner" who ends up with the cards must make the trip to the recycle bin and ditch them. It's not really a game worth winning. Or losing. Just a way to pass the time. Aside from what happened before this, and what happened after, the game doesn't even matter.
Within 15 minutes of playing, I had managed to "win" and sat on a small fortune. Almost a quarter million dollars. Two people were already out of cards and had left to go pack up their booths. Me, and two others remained when SHE walked into the expo hall. I had seen her on the first day and she had made an impression. More on that in a moment. She was here though, I was sure, to collect a booth prize.
Conference vendors want to collect contact information. To that end we ask for business cards, names, contact information. And we offer up prizes. Some places have a cheap pen, or a lousy USB drive. We had some nice bottles of wine. The ones that are $50, 60, or even 100. Then we claim we'll draw at random. Once we announce, we also tweet, post on LinkedIn, and put something on our site with a first name and initial and send a direct message to the person by email or send a text message. She had won a bottle. She was clearly late to collect, but she was here to collect. I had the bottle, but it was already secured off the conference floor as we were getting ready to shut down. But seeing her come in was a treat. Heck, meeting her on Day 1 was a treat.
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Day 1. Like any conference, the setup was done the night before. Then the doors opened for the staff to get to booths, settle in, ensure everything was ready. Then the general doors open, and everyone works their way in, spreads out, and starts to visit one booth after the other. If you've ever worked on the floor either as a vendor or an attendee, you know what it's like. This one was just like all those others.
She had shown up pretty early on and her name badge had flipped over itself and was backwards. If you've worn a name badge at a conference you know that as well. It's like they are designed to flip over. So her badge showed no name or company, but she said "I was looking for you" as she walked up to the booth.
We're a fun group, so I replied with a joke saying, "appreciate it, but I'm not ready to be handed a summons just yet" and she laughed. A nice laugh, and genuine. First event post-covid and I have to say, it was nice to have someone to talk to, and laugh with.
She smiled and added "maybe later then" and walked right past the booth. Well played! I waited for her to turn around, but she kept walking. I figured I'd just keep looking.
From behind she looked as good going as she had coming. Great outfit, purse that matched the belt and shoes. From the front the expressive nature of her face showed a great smile, and it paired nicely with her laugh. Eyes that were expressive and very legitimate and intense. She seemed to be right at home and confident in herself. That alone was sexy. And now she was "leaving" I was able to look at her shape. Great figure, well proportioned, hair halfway down her back, a bit of a wiggle.
Very nice.
In any case, it was Day 1 and she was walking away and looking good. I was a bit enchanted and just looked at her with a touch of dreamy goofiness. Then she stopped and turned to look back. 20 feet away from me and I was caught looking. She smiled a bit more broadly, waved a bit, and called out "maybe tomorrow then".
At that point I held up my hand with a stop gesture and walked towards her. She turned completely and waited for a moment and I said, "hang on a second".
She saluted and threw a casual "yes sir" at me and we both laughed.
Got within about 2 or 3 feet and said to her "hope this isn't too forward, but I have to turn you around."
She looked at me oddly for a moment, and I continued "sorry, talking to the name badge" and flipped it. Held it up for a moment, maybe a moment too long, and read the name and company. A good company, and her name tag simply said Em on it (and her last name).
So Em. I had that much. Then said, "I'll see you around tomorrow then Em, but didn't want to miss out on your name" and turned and returned to the booth.
I heard her say "looking forward to it mister Your Name Here". Odd, but sure. Got to the booth, realized she didn't name me at all, and then looked at my badge. Backward. Of course it was. So flipped it around, turned back to see where she was, but she was already around the corner and down the next aisle.
Day 1 continued as it normally does. A lot of discussions, good booth traffic, and some decent potential. Cards did as cards do and got collected and handed around. We would take the cards, enter the information into our database, and set them aside for the draw. Always into a few stacks. One for a definite *need to pick a winner* pile, and a few into *good lead, let's talk post event* and then *pass these to the rest of the team and let them deal with it*.
I had one speaker slot and got the afternoon and had a good-sized crowd. I think I saw Em in the mix, but the room lights were down, I entered from the 'back' of the room, was right on time and when I was done, I had a few people hang back to talk. She wasn't one of them, but you can't win them all. At least, not at the time.
Day 1 in the hall ended with everyone invited to the expo hall for a drink (or two, or three) with the vendors. A chance to mingle, talk to the exhibitors, get to know each other a bit, meet the speakers from the day, and broadly socialize and make plans for dinner.
