On Wednesday 18th January 2017, Emily Cross, our newest Graduate Marketing Assistant, travelled to London to attend her first trade exhibition as an ITL employee. Read about her first show experience here.

As Marketing Assistant I will be heavily involved in exhibition organisation. Having only just joined ITL in November, I’ve hit the ground running with exhibition season well underway. Earlier this month I was able to travel to the EAG Expo in London to see our stand and get a better idea of how the marketing team’s plans ultimately come together.

The trip to ExCel London meant an early start travelled from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston on the train. Being unfamiliar to London the underground was a worry but I was soon across London, arriving at the EAG Expo.

I was surprised by how large the ExCel exhibition centre is. Having never visited any major exhibitions I wasn’t sure what to expect. The venue seemed really busy with stands in every corner of the hall. The ITL stand was in the second row and looked great. It was nice to see the finished stand having been involved with the plans and drawings for weeks. ITL staff were talking to customers, demonstrating our products and explaining their various functions. I gained firsthand knowledge of how to approach different customers and also learnt more product knowledge at the same time.

The EAG expo has quite a friendly, relaxed atmosphere. I had time to look around the exhibition, spotted lots of our validators within machines and even got to test out some of the games. It was good to meet some of the Trade Press contacts who I have been emailing over the past few months, and be able to put a face to the name.

It seemed like no sooner had I arrived I was heading back across London for my train back North. The event gave me an insight into the industry and I look forward to attending exhibitions in the future as I get more involved in ITL’s annual event schedule.