Botanical PaperWorks Reflects On PSI

Posted On January 13, 2019

What was it like for a Canadian supplier to exhibit at PSI in Germany? Botanical PaperWorks CEO, Heidi Reimer-Epp recaps our visit to PSI in Dusseldorf:

“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.”

The above words of Gustav Flaubert felt very true when Kayla (Corporate Accounts Representative) and I traveled to Dusseldorf, Germany for the PSI Show. With approximately 925 exhibitors from 38 countries spread over three enormous halls, we felt like a small fish in a very big pond.

However small we Canadian fish were, it was amazing how our customers old and new found their way over to our booth for a visit. And customers became friends as we clasped arms, gave hugs and talked with people that we only ever speak with by phone or correspond with by email. In those moments of “Hi! It’s great to finally meet you!!”, the world shrank, and we felt at home at PSI.

Our journey to PSI had begun many months earlier when we decided to take Botanical PaperWorks’ seed paper promotional products to Europe. For many years, we’ve been selling our promotional products around the world, to 35 countries last year, and 2019 seemed like the year to put names to faces.

The PSI team was a great help in navigating the many exhibiting and marketing options. The pre-show appointment booking app was excellent. I’d say the hardest part about preparing to come to PSI was the time difference – Germany is seven hours ahead of where we are in Canada, and the PSI offices closed early, around 4:30 pm, so our overlap time was very short. However, I found that the PSI team was mostly very responsive, the only exception being the PSI Product Finder team that usually took a week+ to answer questions.

We arrived at the trade show hall, called the Messe Dusseldorf, to find our booth beautifully set-up and ready for final touches. We added our tables, dirt, and seed paper samples and were ready to go.

Traffic to our booth was steady all three days, and the lead app worked great. We loved how the app let us send notes back to our Canadian sales team for immediate follow-up. We added notes and special requests, and the Botanical PaperWorks team responded in real-time.

As chairperson of the PPPC, I enjoyed meeting with the chairs of the European association boards. Thank you to everyone who connected with me, it was excellent to hear about your association successes and challenges.

Thank you to everyone who made us feel so welcome, and to PSI for putting on a quality show!

Learn more about how you can incorporate eco-friendly seed paper into your next corporate promotion by subscribing to our newsletter and downloading our full Seed Paper Promotions Catalog.