Oregon Wine Symposium
2023 Oregon Wine Symposium Trade Show in a nutshell:
Last week we loaded the boys into the backseat of the truck (harnessed & tethered for safety) and headed to Portland for our first in person trade show. We’ve been looking forward to this experience literally for years. COVID closed everything down before we got off the ground in 2020 and it has been an uphill battle from the start. We really wanted an opportunity to get the dogs in front of people to show what it is they do. And what a great experience it turned out to be.
Bobby and Luca were a constant draw. We didn’t have to try to wrangle people to our booth. In a steady stream they stopped by to say hello, see a demo, ask questions and give out belly rubs with little to no effort on our part.
What we knew coming in to this:
TCA contamination continues to be a nagging problem in the wine industry.
Our dogs are an efficient (time & cost wise) way to prevent the contamination of wine.
I don’t quite have the business end of KismetK9 dialed in.
What we learned:
The majority of attendees had no idea a service like KismetK9 is available to them.
There is not only a need for our service, but a market for it.
People in the wine industry want to see others (specifically us) succeed. Collaboration FTW.
In general, large gatherings of people aren’t my cup of tea. The connections we made and target audience we were able to reach is priceless. But it did mentally and physically exhaust me. However I wasn’t alone. By afternoon of day two we had several people stopping by for some puppy love stress relief. Bobby and Luca did double duty as scent detection and emotional support dogs. And they loved every minute of it, but they were also worn out by the time we loaded back in the truck for the ride home. I don’t think we were even out of the parking garage before I heard Labrador snores from the back seat.
Highlights:
Meeting the TN Coopers team from Sonoma and Chile. Their Natinga Project was the inspiration for KismetK9.
Getting (much needed) business advice from TN Coopers and the Fly With Wine guys.
The absolute excitement of people with regard to what we are doing.
Nobody (at least in our booth) peed on the floor.
We left this experience feeling more confident than ever. I’ve always believed there was a need for what we do, but have been challenged by the marketing of a service that the target audience didn’t know existed nor did they understand how it could help them. Top that off with a global pandemic hobbling us before we could get off the ground. It was downright discouraging for a minute there. Now we are re-invigorated and looking forward to connecting with all the great contacts we made in Portland.
