COM 0281.001 2012-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Lessons Learned Fulfilling the activities of this project has led to a lot of lessons learned. The incentive of free booth space at the Philadelphia International flower Show allowed vendors to attend, sell and promote their products and their online availability. Attending vendors have reported continued sales and contact from East Coast areas. As well the partnering and collaboration of Hawaii Brand industries (Ag, Tourism, and Music) allowed for market penetration and recognition for the Brand. It also allowed for a bolder more prominent presence at the event. These Brand partnerships also helped to attract participants to the Market Booths. In an effort to evaluate and plan for future large scale and collaborative events such as the PFS, HTFC held a debriefing meeting. All vendors and booth participants were invited to attend. They were also invited to provide feedback, concerns, and ideas for improvement and also examples of the difficulties and successes they experienced for inclusion in the evaluation process and this report. On the positive side the following impacts were identified by the participants: • National and International exposure for the State, Businesses, Products, Floriculture was unprecedented from a single show • Collaborative efforts and statewide representation • Master Designer was excellent, supportive and attentive to our needs and products • Response from attendees was overwhelmingly positive and a desire to come to Hawaii or return to Hawaii was expressed by from Designers and Attendees • Use of flowers in Design Studio drew customers to the Market Booths • Attendees could connect a "face" with Hawaii products through the producers who were working in the booths • Sharing Aloha demonstrated through the giveaways as well as the booth staff • Branding through the reusable logo tote bag • Sense of Place through lei making, booth decor, music and products • Potential for future business from distributed fliers, information, and products • A lot of experience was gained from going to the show and from the scope of the show. The PFS is one of the largest and longest shows in the world. • Direct sales of products from Hawaii booths totaled over$70,000 • Representation of a variety of mostly agriculture related products benefiting several businesses for the state of Hawaii. • County and State DOA support made it possible for businesses to participate and reduced the risk of such an extensive event. • Contacts, future business prospects and partnering opportunities resulted for the participating businesses. Some have already received sales and contact from attendees to repurchase or to purchase wholesale products • Working as a group helped off set costs of FedEx shipping, Airfares, and other costs that would make it prohibitive for a small business to participate