"What do you do when you realize all your dreams have come true?" "Pay back old sleep debts!"**
...Well, that's the response you'd get from me, anyway. I'm back home and back to work after a fabulous, grueling, exhausting, productive, fascinating, and altogether too short trip to Jewelry Week in Las Vegas. Many who know me are aware that attending this show has been a dream -- a serious goal -- for some time, and it's easy to say that the entire trip did not disappoint.
I briefly considered writing some kind of day-by-day recap post, detailing the hours spent in supplier meetings, lunch offerings by category, and what time we went to bed each night. While I'm sure that would make for some riveting entertainment, I've decided to withhold that kind of information to maintain the mystery. I wouldn't want to spoil the surprises for any future show-goers out there.
Instead, I can offer my impressions of an industry that is so vast, it spans multiple convention spaces in multiple hotels across a week of 10+ -hour days (this would be where the "exhausting" part comes in). It's far more than glittering jewels, dazzling trays of diamonds, and ropes of precious pearls. It's an international community, a unifying purpose, a parade of fashion from ultra-conservative to runway couture, a lifestyle and modus operandi that creates its own rhythm for everyone to move and dance to.
Many things surprised me: the variation in personality types from one rep to the next; differences in approach and business model that are totally opposite but equally effective; the integration of modern technology into an ancient craft. I received an almost daily shock each time I checked my watch, thinking it some sometime before noon, then realizing it was rather closer to 6pm. Also, it turns out that walking all day in heels is something I can do, but probably not something I should do (my feet haven't looked so mangled since my time as a ballet dancer).
In essence, this show reinforced the idea that business and beauty are not mutually exclusive. We accomplished so much for the store in looking at both the short and longer-term goals, but did so in a way that felt refreshingly true to the highest standards of ethics, quality, and service. I'm fortunate to have the opportunity to stand amidst the madness and quietly learn at the elbows of industry professionals, and in that regard it's a privilege to be counted as a member of such a dynamic group.
In the process of making my way from one end of the show to the other and back again more times than I can count, I discovered that it takes a very particular brand of dedication to really achieve success here. In fact, I'll throw in the good old p-word: passion. Yawningly overused it may be, but the word is apropos for the type of energy I felt. Frankly, I'm not sure how anyone could sustain the kind of hyper-fast pace and intensive focus that is required to just make it through the day, let alone a lifetime of business, without feeling a true emotional connection to the work.
**Bonus points for Name That Film. No cheating!