We’re back, and SHRM 2009 has officially come to a close! The entire team feels the show was a complete success. We could not have received more positive feedback from attendees about our new products and marketing. Here are a few highlights:

Our delicious hook on Sunday night drew attendees to our booth with the sweet smell of chocolate, white almond and butter cream. The gourmet cupcakes were a huge hit among the attendees! In fact, they were so popular that no one on the Baudville team had a chance to sample them! All 500 cupcakes were devoured in a mere 40 minutes. Those HR professionals are hungry people!

We’ve always known our customers to be Stupendous people, and now they have the tote bag to prove it! Our “I’m with Stupendous” bags generated quite a buzz around the tradeshow floor for their high quality material and witty line. The bag is one of 25 brand new products in our Exclamations theme. If you like the bag, you’ll love our Pocket Praise cards and other themed gifts.

Our sassy t-shirts were popular among attendees. Which saying is your favorite? Write us a comment with your pick. Any new ideas? Let us know!

1. My boss thinks I’m kind of a big deal.
2. File me under fantastic.
3. Does my positive mojo go with these shoes?
4. Awesome is my favorite accessory.
5. Medium t-shirt, x-large super star.
6. I’ve got a serious case of the positives.

Our favorite part of the conference was the positive feedback from attendees about our new products. Throughout the development process, our excitement for the new products has grown. It was thrilling to hear attendees began to echo our sentiments of praise for the new designs, sentiments and products. Attendees found the new products to be cute, clever affordable and easy to use. We hope they’ll soon start using the new products and put day-to-day recognition to work for their organizations.

A big thank you to everyone who visited the Baudville booth and experienced the place for daily recognition. We hope you’re as excited about the new Baudville and our new products as we are! Remember our launch has only just begun – the first batch of new catalogs hit mailboxes July 13th!

That seems to be the favorite t-shirt saying of Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Annual Conference attendees. We wrap up our exhibiting at SHRM today, and everyone on the Baudville team is excited about the feedback we’ve received from attendees. It seems SHRM can’t get enough of our new branding and products!

Our witty t-shirts and Stupendous bags have caught the attention of bloggers, attendees and even other exhibitors. It seems like recognition with humor is a welcome addition to today’s workplace. Using the witty sayings from our Exclamations line is a great way to encourage reluctant managers to recognize; giving recognition that’s funny makes it easier and more accessible for those who may be uncomfortable with it.

We’ve been proclaiming our new message loud and proud on social media throughout the conference. This year, SHRM has been dominated by active Twitter accounts and live bloggers. This group of experienced HR professionals is writing about their experience at the conference, the trends in the industry, and reporting on sessions and speakers. We even got a shout out on our friend Michael VanDervort’s blog! You can see what else the talk of the conference is by following our Twitter account.

We finish up the conference today at 2pm. We hope to talk to many more interested attendees and hopefully reunite with some of our new friends for one last time!

 See pictures of our booth, staff and popular t-shirts on our Facebook page.

A lot is involved in planning a tradeshow, especially when your company is unveiling a new brand, releasing 250 new products, and expecting 8,000 attendees. Inevitably, with so many different elements required for a tradeshow to be successful, something is likely to go wrong. Thankfully, when you work with individuals who believe in your company mission, challenges are opportunities for teamwork to truly shine.

While setting up for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Annual Conference and Exposition on Saturday, I grew increasingly concerned by the fact that my UPS 2-day Saturday shipment had not yet arrived.

My co-worker and I called numerous Baudville employees at home on Saturday evening. They all were willing to wreck their brains for an account number and even sacrifice grilled chicken to access an email account. Together, we discovered an error had been made in the shipping, and the boxes were not scheduled to arrive until Tuesday – the last day of the conference.

Several phone calls later, two more Baudville employees volunteered to make an extra trip to Baudville, pick up products needed for our display, check them on the plane, and hand deliver them to me in New Orleans.

Thanks to several different Baudville employees – each willing to sacrifice a small piece of their weekend – our tradeshow display was complete for Sunday night, the opening of the SHRM Exposition Hall.

And thank goodness it was.

As soon as the doors opened, our booth was overrun by attendees who could smell our gourmet cupcakes from down the aisle. Our carefully thought-out booth plan quickly went out the window. Instead, all Baudville employees on hand jumped in to help distribute bags and cupcakes fast enough to keep the crowd moving.

For the second time in the short weekend, I witnessed the teamwork of Baudville spring into action. Together, we gave out the 500 cupcakes from the Kupcake factory and over 600 "I’m with Stupendous" tote bags like experienced champs.

Many SHRM attendees will look back fondly on this year’s conference, and maybe they will remember the memorable General Session by Jack Welch, the career assistance they received, or the valuable networking with other HR professionals. I know I will remember SHRM09 for the teamwork that made Baudville’s presence a success.

The Society for Human Resource Management Annual Conference and Exposition begins Sunday, June 28, and Baudville will be there with bells on. We’ve been regular exhibitors for a few years now, and we thought that SHRM would be the ideal time to launch our new identity and products. What’s better than celebrating with 10,000 of our closest friends?

Sunday night, join us in booth #339 for gourmet cupcakes from the local New Orleans Bakery the Kupcake Factory  and stop by their place later in the week to try more delicious treats! We’ve also got some sweet swag, including THE BAG for SHRM09. Yeah, it’s pretty cool.

Can’t get to New Orleans this year? Don’t sweat it (literally, it’s going to be HOT there!). Sign up for our Conference Daily emails, and we’ll let you know what’s happening with three e-newsletters direct from the Baudville tradeshow booth. And follow us on Twitter for more instant updates. The whole Baudville team is armed with their Blackberries and phones and is ready to Tweet up a storm!

See us at SHRM and get this bag!