Roundup - The Barre at Perform - Ireland

Roundup - The Barre at Perform - Ireland

After landing back from Dublin on Sunday night last weekend and taking a bit of time to rest and recover, we are back to it this week. Our weekend in Dublin at Perform Ireland was a real blast. We have put a few pictures together for you to see but really nothing ever compares to actually attending these big dance events either as an exhibitor, dancer or spectator! If you ever get the opportunity, you must come along and see for yourself!

It actually takes a lot of organising and planning to attend an event such as this. There are a lot of administrative and logistical challenges that we must face before even getting there on set up day. Esepcially as our products are large to ship and transport in the numbers that we need for an event. We just wanted to let you in on a few of the things that we need to plan for:

1. Our own travel and accommodation to and from the events (which can sometimes be tricky as the cities get really full up very quickly, so if you don't book in advance, you can find yourself without a bed for the night!)
2. Deciding which of our products to showcase. It isn't possible to take everything with us so we need to select our items whilst trying to ensure we offer a full range of our products to see at the same time.
3. Transportation of our products - we tend to build our own transprtation boxes so that we know they will fit exactly our needs, will survive the journey and keep all of the contents safe from damage.
4. Setting up - This is the one you get most anxious about - once you are there, if you have forgotten anything, theres precious little anyone can do about it. Setting up is a physically and emotionally difficult part but so rewarding once it is done and you step back to look at your stand, which by that point, feels like a masterpiece.
5. Eating! - Working out when you can get some lunch during an event is super tricky, especially as we are only 2 people on our stand and it is always sods law that the stand will get super busy as soon as one person steps away!

There are lots of other things that need to be considered too when you exhibit at an event but none of these things are at all an issue for us as we love to showcase our products to you, giving you the opportunity to try before you buy, which for many people isn't always possible when buying ballet barres and dance accessories. So we love that we can do that at these events.

One of our main take aways from Perform Ireland was just the amount of fun we had. From the organisers and staff to the visitors, everyone was in such lovely spirits. We have come away feeling very welcomed and fairly relaxed (although exhausted) so we want to say a massive thank you to everyone who we have come into contact with at this event. 

The hustle and bustle at our stand was really motivating and we even got to meet some of our existing customers that are based in Ireland which was great. It is always nice to put a face to a name or an email address, likewise it is nice for our customers to meet us face-to-face too. We are very proud of our relationships with all of our customers and these events do help bring us closer to many of you as well as allowing us to build new relationships with new customers.

Hearing the classes and performances in the background kept the whole place really buzzing and it was clear to see that everyone was having such a great time. Dancers young and not so young, parents, professionals and other exhibitors all chatting, working and dancing hard. A really uplifting environment to be a part of.

We were also super excited to be able to showcase for the first time, the latest addition to our range: our reusable water bottles. We just LOVE them. They are happy and vibrant and are contributing, most importantly, to our continued efforts to reduce further the single use plastics, not only in our own office but also in the industry through our customers. You can get your hands on your own through our website for just £5.99!

Due to our flight times, we ended up arriving in Dublin really early before we could get acess to begin setting up so when in Dublin...you might have seen from our social media streams over the weekend, we did also manage to squeeze a cheeky trip to the Guinness Factory in the day before the event. Of course we didn't get the 'full' experience as we had lots of work to do, but it was still good fun for us to be able to visit such an iconic place in Dublin and make the most of our time there across the leap year weekend.

Finally, no event would be complete wihout a little cheeky celebrity spotting. Unfortunately, we don't get the change to see any of the celebrity classes or performances but we do sometimes get a visit or two...We were very privelaged this weekend to meet dancer and actor @LaytonWilliams who came and gave our barres a go. Such a lovely and genuinely nice person, he even posed (much better than us!) for a photo. Actress, dancer and singer Jennifer Ellison @Jelliofficial also came by our stand to see us too. Another super nice person that we would also like to extend our thanks to for taking time out to come and see us.