work

This week I'm at a conference for one of our largest customers. About 120 medical records directors from hospitals all across the nation gather together for a few days for workshops and to meet with vendors like me.

We look forward to this meeting every year because we know most of those directors and deal with them on a daily basis. It helps to keep a face with the voice over the phone.

Watching the other vendors is very interesting to me. Some come, throw a few brochures on a table and sit in a chair behind the table all day. Those are also the first people to leave when it's over. Given that it's not cheap to attend this event, it seems a huge waste of money to me.

Others come with huge pop-up backdrops and have very polished people staffing the booth. You can tell those people don't actually do any of the things they are there to sell. They are just hired booth bait. They are also normally one of the first to break down their booth and leave.