June is Pride Month!

It has been a busy month for me! June is Pride month and KIC had an exhibitor booth this year for the first time at Pride in San Francisco. It was my idea to give it a try and see what happens. I know pride is more of a party, but to attend the biggest second pride celebration in the world (behind Brazil) I thought why not give it a try.

I arrived in San Francisco on Friday late afternoon and was planning on taking it easy until later that evening when I met with potential clients. Unfortunately that is not the way things worked out. Being in such a rush to get to grab my bag, catch the train and get to my hotel I accidentally left my banners behind at the airport for the booth over the weekend. It wasn't until I was well along my train ride that I realized this. Once off the train I called the airport and airline lost and found with no luck. I was so upset as I literally had just gotten one of these banners made that morning in Seattle. I called the local office of the company used, but they were not able to help me. I was frantic, so I rushed to a Kinko's location. Luckily they were able to assist in getting me a temporary banner made until my nicer ones showed up. What was supposed to be a relaxing evening with a few clients then turned into me running around getting my temporoary banners made. By the time the end of the evening rolled around I was exhausted.

After the banner craziness I was able to meet up with my two client appointments for dinner. There was one couple and one single who had previously inquired about our services and lived in the area, so I invited them out. We went to dinner in my hotel and were able to talk about our program and all the services we provide. It was a great for me to get the opportunity to meet potential clients in person as I don't get to do that all the time. Most of the time I am only able to Skype or talk on the phone with clients, so I always jump at the opportunity to meet them in person. We talked about everything from the surrogates and their screening process to donors and what each is looking for. It was good to know that these potential clients had also spoken to some of our current and past clients. I think overall the meet and greet was a great success and I look forward to working with those clients in the future.

Saturday had arrived and I was up early doing last minute preparations for the start of the Pride festivities. I still had no word on my banners from the airport so I had to roll with the temporary ones. I get down to the event area around 9:30 as they wanted us set up by 10 AM. I have my booth #, but looking at the map provided was not helping. I asked about 4 different people who all just kept pointing me in the general area, but not really assisting me which was becoming very frustrating. Finally I make my way to the exhibitor volunteer booth where they were able to assist me (Jennie was my lifesaver)! I got set up to start the day not  really knowing what to expect. It was a gorgeous day out and we had a great location, but I still wasn't sure what to expect and how people would react to our booth and what specific services we offered. A lot of people just read the sign and walked by while others asked what type of business we were specifically. Overall the day went well and I had about 4 genuinely interested people come and talk to me. Sunday was a  little busier (the news said they expected 750k people to attend Pride). The best part was that I rec'd a phone call from the airlines on Saturday late afternoon that they had found my banners and were able to courier them over to my hotel. Sunday was warmer and busier in terms of the Pride festivities. By days end I had another handful of people who were interested in learning more about our clinic.

I saw overall it was a good move for KIC to attend Pride in San Francisco. We had recently just been featured in Advocate Magazine for our surrogacy program, so to get back in front of the people was great. Some people had read the article, so we were already some what familiar to them. I think if we decide to attend next year I would like to get something to hand out. People love free stuff whether it be pens or Pride necklaces or whatever. It is a great way to get the name of the clinic out there and have people walking about to your booth, even if it is for the free stuff (at least we would be getting them in our booth). I have a few pictured of the booth that I wanted to share.

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