Friday, March 13, 2015

Natural products expo west, Anaheim, CA

This last weekend was the Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim! My sister and I decided to attend with my dad, who was already planning to check it out. The tickets was a bit expensive, but luckily they have educational passes for less.

Of course, I went to the expo more so to get business experience and to complete one of my business class assignments than to conduct business deals. Overall, it was a great opportunity for me to see how people market their products/brands to others. I had a lot of fun learning about different foods, supplements, and beauty products! I think the only downside was that people are there to conduct business and not to talk to students, so sometimes, it was quite obvious when they didn't want to talk to me...



Expo West is definitely one of the largest expo's around! There were 71,000+ attendees and 2,700+ exhibitors! That's a lot of people! While I was there, I also noticed many countries represented--there were many people speaking different languages!

 

Of course, there were lots of good foods to try out. One company was celebrating its 20th year, so it was giving out free alcohol and cupcakes! I decided to try some alcoholic drinks this time--I never drink--and my face became so red! I was so embarrassed~~ (Disclaimer: I'm over 21, so no worries!) :)

 

Some of the exhibits were simple, while others were more extravagant. Has anyone had ThinkThin bars? They're actually pretty good--thick and chewy! Unfortunately the bars contain fake sugar, which doesn't always make me feel good. Nonetheless, they're a good on-the-go snack! The exhibit on the right was for a body & skincare products. Their display was so pretty--and smelled great! They had dried flowers on the ground! There's actually a lot more flowers on the ground than you can see in the photos; I guess the photo didn't capture it too well! 

 
 

The photo on the top right was marketing essential oils. Their marketing technique was brilliant, because they got people to interact with them by offering people the chance to DIY their own foot scrubs! Isn't the display so cute?  The top right photo was some of the samples I got to try at the expo! I love the chia pods--great for breakfast and snacks! The bottom two was offered by Chobani. Did you know they have their own cafe in New York City? Well, they came over to LA and made pancakes, granola + yogurt, muffins, cookies, and much more for their audience! The snacks were so delicious! 

I had a great time at the expo, trying different foods and meeting different people. It was also a great opportunity to see how my dad interacts with other business people! I'm so grateful that my professor had us to go see a trade show/expo, and this is a fun and exciting experience for anyone in studying business! Expo tickets can be pretty pricey, but often times, they have discounts for educational purposes! Take advantage of being a student~ :)

Has any of you ever attended an expo before? What was it about? I'm excited to know~

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