Kristy Bloomfield's Fuckup
"I was a junior burger and it was my first ever trade show, I was pulling together the project team to work on this with me and my Sales Manager wanted to be involved. I was going to commission an experiential agency to build the stand and bring the event to life, but my Sales Manager insisted that we use "his mate" who could build the stand to save the business some money.
So adolescent and inexperienced me, said sure thing. He suggested that he manages and runs the stand build and I would do everything else, he said he would manage everything with his mate and I have nothing to worry about.
Needless to say the time came for the event, myself and the team arrive early to dress the stand, only to find a big blank space where our stand was meant to be.
Yep you guessed it - no stand, no sign of my Sales Manager - or his mate.
This event had senior leaders attending from Taiwan, so needless to say I had gone well beyond panic mode.
I looked around (fighting back tears) and saw a range of other stands, all of which had tradesman finishing up the final touches. They all worked for different companies and were all commissioned to work for other brands, but after I explained the situation and begged for their support, they all rallied together and helped me.
On reflection it was quite incredible, they all had spare materials on them and quickly constructed a stand and presentation area for me, I even had other brands bringing over materials we could use to help with the aesthetic, it was nothing sort of a miracle.
The time came for the show to start and we had done it - we had a stand and we were back in action, just in time for our international guests.
So what is the moral to this story, don't assume anything, assumptions are the mother of all f#*k ups! In saying that remember that when you are in tough times, just ask for help, people are good, and at the heart of it they want to support, even if you are a 20 something jnr burger that was having to learn a very hard lesson..."
