KLIGP 2010

After the meeting, we decided to attend the KLIGP 2010 Exhibition. The same exhibition my company wanted to participate but its another story. I wanted to go there because I want to see for myself, the different diary designs produced and also, more importantly, how the competitor stands. Most of the participants actually import stuff or OEM them. And if they were manufacturing, the cost is still a bit too high. Makes me wonder the part about "International" although I only saw a handful of foreign companies. OK, make that two; one for machine stitching and one for tourism. Still, its a great event but personally, I think it was marred by the fact that you need to 'dispose' your badges (but keep the paper) at the exit. It would be nice if they could inform you during registration and that it needs to be recycled for, well, environmental purposes (lie a bit, la) and it would be nice. Now, the show reminds me of it being cheapskate, a laughing joke for visiting guests. And while I am being cynical, I would also like to think why it was set at this date until I realised, its school holidays. i.e. cheap labour.

Weeks ago, when I called up the organiser, the tulan
Lady who picked it up sounded uninterested until I
had to sternly remind her that I am calling as a
customer and not some idiot asking about a last
minute information (actually, I was)

One good thing was that at the entrance, there was
a big shelf which showcases a few 'big' companies
with their attractive products, something which I
have not seen from China websites. Either that or
did not surf the Net more. heh. Note the USB device
on the left. Its selling for RM30 which when they
plugged to the Nokia 5800, it allows the PC to read
the microSD card without having to take out the
card itself. And then I though, wait a minute. I can
just set my Nokia 5800 to Mass Storage mode and
its the same thing except i cannot plug in like a USB
without my Noka cable. Nah, I'll pass on that or if
and when the price comes down to RM10 or so.

There there are some attractive USB drives.
Apart from the cute orange guy, its a little bit
boring. I mean, you can have Pandan Po or the
Ice-cream stick but they're so big, you might
have problems inserting to a USB port on a
Laptop or where there are other USB devices
connected together. So I passed on this one too.

Now, a transparent namecard, something I wanted
to design long ago but never got to more than a few
due to costs and their durability. But look on the
right, a credit card USB drive. Its starting to come
from China.

Finally, a torchlight umbrella. Yes, finally. The
foldable umbrella was invented long ago and it
was only in the late 90's were the LED torch
concept began to shine.

Well, i can think of one or two companies who might
appreciate this design. Its cute. Cuter than those
wooden pallates.

The annoying name cards.
At the fair, you do get a lot of free gifts from pens to bags. But what is not nice is that most of them would gladly give them or their catalogues to you in exchange for your namecard. Probably one booth started this years ago and now, everyone does it. It would be more fun if they could
let you 'insert' your card into a machine or something and then you get some free stuff in return. I know they need this as a way to get more contacts but this makes the visitor feels like a beggar. So, when I happened to me, I just told them that its too bad you booked your booth this far as the ones near to the entrance all got my namecards. And no, I don't care if your booth sends you out and you give me your cute bambi eyes. only have less than four namecards and its all gone.

Because they're young kids, I managed to get an additional
KLGIP bag. (Later on, I realised each bag has some further
'free gifts' apart from the precious Guidebook) Its a good
thing too because the bag I had tore easily.

Back home, after a few hours there, I had a lot of flyers
and catalogues to go through. Which is fun. But i will be
giving all of them to my Boss. I know he would be asking
me to go to these fairs but because I was starting to be
always out, he might not get the chance to see me. So, I
am doing this on hindsight.

These are the stuff that came from the KLIGP
bags. You have a notepad, cough sweets, a very
nice bookmark and what the.......

...cigarette filters! Why cig filters? I know you might
need the sweets when you talk too much at the show
but everyone I saw or bumped into, did not smoke.

Ok, this is a magnetic bookmark but I am
more interested in the rubber "MapInfo"
thing. They told me there is no MOQ but
in this industry, I don't think so.

Then there is the thermal transfer which caught
my interest. So, I talked to them for quite some
time and funny thing is, they gave me their card
instead of asking for mine because they had so
much people calling them, they won't remember
who I am. Yeah, I asked for a lot of samples too.

And they did demo to me a few times and I love
this one because you can feel it 'pop' out from
the cloth. Imagine wearing a Punisher T-Shirt

Another item I was interested in was the mini light
box. It was so beautiful to look at and I was about
to get one/enquire, my wallet stopped me. I mean,
I did one with PVC pipes before and so, if I want to
have the same setup, I would just need to invest a
bit more on lighting and a white background.

To be honest, the first and last tradeshow for premiums I have ever been to was in 2001. And so, to me, nothing much has changed except for the products, the namecard requirement and yes, credit card agents at the exit.

There are no shows to give each participant a 15-minutes of fame, no walking free-gifts or mascots, no talks and unfortunately, not enough places for seats and discussion. OK, so I did not look at the guidebook but there were no "You are here" maps at strategic junctions. I won't complain about the planning or floor layout because most booths are selling multiple items. For example, booth A sells, diary covers, calendars, USB drives and bags. Then you have booth B selling USB related calculators. The on Booth C, you have Bags again, clocks, etc.