Managing My First Client Tabling Event - Leading Ladies Summit 2025
March 25, 2025 |
| Agenda for Leading Ladies Summit at Eden Resorts & Suites, Lancaster - March 2025 |
Good evening beautiful people,
Hope your week got to as LOVELY a start as mine did.
Today marked a major milestone—I successfully managed my first tabling event for a client at a conference, connecting with over 40 people. If you know me, you know that means I won’t be leaving the house for the next two days because my social battery is in the negatives (and yes, I’m using text-to-speech before I run out completely).
While I’ve done tabling multiple times for my own business—most recently at the Ubuntu Storytelling Event at the Ware Center—this was my first time handling it in a conference setting and for a client. In other news, am I becoming a salesperson? Because the number of vending, tabling, and networking events I’m doing lately is so unlike me… maybe this is what the next phase of my life looks like.
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| My vendor name tag for Leading Ladies Summit Lancaster - March 2025 |
Prepping for the Event
I first presented this opportunity to my client in mid-February after attending a breakfast event. After clarifying a couple of things for the client with the organizers, the client gave the go ahead. We brainstormed ideas for the table and settled on a raffle (to collect contacts for future events) and mini gift bags, in addition to the usual marketing materials.
Last week, I did a mock setup virtually to give the client a look and feel for their table, and, after some feedback, I ordered all the materials we needed. Everything came through over the weekend. I finalized the layout, and prepared the gift bags (thankfully, I’ve done this many times for my own pop-ups), and sent photos to my client for final approval.
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| At my client’s space, putting together personalized notes and mini spa items for raffle winners 1,2,3 - March 2025 |
At 7 AM this morning, after my Bible Study and prayer - had to ask God to lead the way - I collected the items from my client’s spot and headed to the Eden Resort & Suites in Lancaster —a venue I hadn’t visited since pre-COVID, when I attended a Kenyans in Lancaster end-of-year party (clearly a lot of things have been coming full circle recently).
Setting Up & Connecting
At the venue, I set up the table and strategically dropped off my client’s business cards and flyers with other vendors, inviting them to our First Friday Open House next week. I also used this time to learn about other exhibitors’ businesses and identify potential collaboration opportunities.
One thing I loved about this summit was how well-organized it was.
First things first, vendors got access to attend the sessions, and the exhibit space was closed during workshops, allowing us to engage fully.
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| Opening Remarks - Leading Ladies Summit Lancaster, March 2025 |
Secondly, the structure was unique—the day started with workshops and ended with a keynote. Each session was rotated so that all attendees got to experience each workshop (though I imagine it was exhausting for the speakers to repeat their content multiple times).
I gained so many insights that I plan to implement in my own business including something I would like to try that would potentially fix my social media/digital marketing struggles.
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| Leading Ladies Summit Lancaster Swag Bags, March 2025 |
After the morning rush of setting up and connecting with other vendors, as attendees registered and got themselves situated, we all congregated in the main meeting area for breakfast and the welcome remarks.
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| My workshop rotation - Leading Ladies Summit Lancaster, March 2025 |
Engaging with Attendees & Building Visibility
After the second workshop, we had a lunch break followed by a two-hour expo/networking session—another smart feature of the event.
In those two hours, I:
- Spoke to 40+ people about the First Friday Open House, alongside other events and services.
- Collected contacts via raffle entries.
- Met two people interested in hosting events at my client’s space.
- Connected with several others I’d love to curate events with at my client’s space in the future.
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| All the gift bags went (including this one) - definitely a lovely day at Leading Ladies Summit Lancaster, March 2025 |
By the time the session ended, I was ready to go home after all that talking, laughing and meeting new people. It reminded me of my public speaking days—except this time, it was speed dating style. At one point, I even caught myself thinking, I like it here. I could actually build something from this.
Before I got ahead of myself, let me finish this report. I attended the afternoon keynote on having hard conversations —a much-needed topic since part of my role involves coordinating vendors and balancing compassion with deadlines. I randomly picked three raffle winners and texted them to pick their prizes after the closing remarks. Finally I packed everything up after giving the raffle winners their prizes, shared photos with my client and I was off to bed.
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| Key note speaker at Leading Ladies Summit Lancaster - March 2025 |
Looking Ahead: More Opportunities?
Next up is my client’s First Friday Open House next week, which is a joint event with other businesses in the building. I will be working on the final touches later tomorrow afternoon or on Thursday afternoon I am well rested.
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| Lunch - Leading Ladies Summit Lancaster, March 2025 |
The real sweetness is how God is letting things unfold, and since I started my morning with my Bible Study and prayer, I will end it by expressing my gratitude:
I’m deeply grateful for:
- Getting this client when I did
- The trust my client has in me and for letting my entrepreneurial spirit run freely.
- The two potential upcoming opportunities that could see me expand my services and step into new spaces.
- Today’s experience, which reaffirmed my love for event coordination - and my new found curiosity about brand visibility strategies.
- Life, laughter...and dreams.
I have the Open House next week, so let me rest...until the next post.
Sending love and light,
Sitawa
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