For three hours in mid–May, local business owners made contacts and gained leads from more than 4,000 potential customers during the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce’s EXPO at the Expo.
The event, formerly known as the Mixer Showcase, presented local companies the opportunity to educate thousands of attendees as well as other local business leaders on their offerings.
“We’ve been doing these since day one and they just keep getting better and better and better, and this one by far has been the best one that we have been to,” said Grant Berkefeld, owner of Ultrex Business Products.
The revamped EXPO at the Expo built on the success of the 19-year-old event and provided new ways to help member businesses gain exposure that they would not traditionally get without a big marketing push. The 150 vendors and attendees enjoyed a new 2,400 square foot networking tent as the popular KVEC radio show hosted by Dave Congalton was broadcast live throughout the event and KSBY weatherman Dave Hovde was on hand as part of his live and local program.
The line of eager attendees began to form 30 minutes before the doors opened at 5 p.m. on May 15 to start the “Rocket to Success” themed event.
Sophie Boban-Doering, owner of Fromagerie Sophie, spent the entire three hours of her first Expo handing out samples of artisanal cheese from around the globe to a line of curious patrons.
“It was an amazing experience,” Boban-Doering said. “I met a lot of wonderful people. I loved the fact that everyone was so excited about what we were going to do.” Fromagerie Sophie is a specialty cheese shop scheduled to open in late June at 1129 B Garden St.
Throughout the evening Boban-Doering was approached by a number of representatives from local artisanal food companies who saw great potential in working together.
“I had no idea there was such a huge artisanal group here in town,” Boban-Doering said. “I look forward to meeting them and working with them and getting to know who they are.”
A few vendor rows over Tara Soles ventured away from The Tribune booth where she had been taking cards for their iPad Mini raffle to do some networking and share information about DealSaver.
“Today I was able to not only market my product with local businesses, but I was able to meet the business owners face-to-face,” Soles said. “It’s a great way to market and network at the same time.”
The event started almost 20 years ago as a way for smaller member businesses without the capacity and square footage to host their own Membership Mixer to network. It has grown to become the largest business-to-business tradeshow on the Central Coast and provides a great way to grow local business connections.
“The aim always has been to provide an avenue to help our members gain exposure and grow their business by connecting them with other local businesses that can either supply the services needed or find what they need locally,” said Jill LeMieux, who coordinated the Chamber project. “It’s intended to not just be productive, but also fun.”