by Dale Mouscos, Stahls’ Canada Marketing Coordinator

	Attendees gather to learn more about the Epson® SureColor® F2000 DTG printer.

Gearing up for the big show at our own facility this year, our entire team took part in the preparation. We had various team members decorate the souvenir T-shirts days before the event, as registration quickly filled to over capacity. We had our Custom department prepare the Custom Embroidered Patches specifically for the show, and prepare extras due to the registration being over capacity. We had arranged to have two separate days for the event with an identical schedule for those customers who couldn’t make it on one specific day.   I think this worked well and customers appreciated having the option.

For those of you who have been to our showroom in Concord, ON  you know that it is great for showing off all of our equipment, but not quite large enough to host an event for more than about 50 people. Well, we rented some extra chairs, set up the projector and screen for our two presentations (“Heat Printing 101” with General Manager Rob Gardiner and “VersaCAMM^® How-To” with Steven Jackson of Stahls’ Equipment) and we made it work. We were ready to go and looking forward to opening our doors.

	General Manager Rob Gardiner holds forth on heat printing during his presentation.

Our pleasant customer service reps, Sherry, Jessica, and Sabrina greeted customers as they arrived and signed them in, providing them with their goodies and a chance to win a Mini-Tee Sample Ring (valued at $75). From there, we began with our first presentation – “Heat Printing 101.” Some of our customers were fairly new, so the insight about our heat presses was very beneficial for them. Rob addressed questions for issues they encountered and I believe that many appreciated knowing about how useful our accessories were and how their lives would be made much easier because of it. We are here to help in any way we can, and if that means giving suggestions about new ways of protecting garments and proper use of accessories, we are happy to share. Most of our customers had purchased at least one heat printing accessory by the end of the day, so Rob’s educational seminar was evidently effective in showing how useful these items can be.

We introduced our sales team, led by our National Sales Manager, Spencer Ritchie, CAS and brought the team to the front of the room so that our customers knew whom to approach with questions. Needless to say, our entire sales team was quite busy for the remainder of the day and set up individual appointments to assist further at our customers’ places of business.

Following the presentation, we picked up the chairs and opened up the room for product demonstrations on our newest equipment, including the Epson^® SureColor^® F2000 Direct-to-Garment Printer, the new Graphtec CE6000 Vinyl Cutter, the GCC X252 Laser Engraver and the Roland^® VS-300i printer/cutter. Our demonstrations were well-received as customers had the opportunity to see the equipment in action.

We broke for refreshments and light snacks while Steven Jackson prepared for his presentation to begin after lunch. Steven went over the basics of creating decals from start to finish. He demonstrated artwork and explained incorporating cut lines and perforated cuts with handouts for what we all witnessed him creating. He addressed common issues that many encounter, as well as various solutions to overcoming them. Customers were intrigued with this newfound information and stayed afterwards to speak with Steven and obtain even more information specific to their operations. We were grateful to have Steven as a guest speaker at the National Tour Toronto events and will definitely consider bringing him along for future events.

The remainder of the day was effective with a casual and open concept setting which worked well for interacting with our customers. We trust that everyone enjoyed themselves and took away more than what they expected to get out of the show. We will be doing a drawing on Monday, July 21 for the winner of the Mini-Tee Sample Ring. The winner will be contacted and will receive their ring in the mail.

Thank you to everyone who helped to plan and execute this show and of course to all of our customers who made this possible! We’ll see you again next year!

	The Stahls’ Canada team thanks everyone who attended the 2014 National Tour and looks forward to seeing you next year.

 

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