Saturday morning began bright and early with the Plumb Club breakfast at the ungodly hour of 7:15 a.m. The Plumb Club is an organization of suppliers whose purpose is to connect its members and their customers and help shape the future of the jewelry industry. The keynote speaker, Shep Hyken, gave a speech on how a great customer service experience can –must!– set any business apart.
Two main points stuck with me. The first was that customers no longer compare you to your competition, they compare you to the best service they have ever had, anywhere. Fair? No. But it is what it is. The second was that you don’t need to provide 5 star service 100% of the time to be excellent. You just need to provide above-average service consistently, with no hiccups or off days. That’s the real key.
And that’s about all I got out of the breakfast, because at this point in the trip, I was dragging. I mean really, truly, dragging. The combination of endless walking, dry desert heat and little sleep was really getting to me. Later I’d learn that many convention regulars pack humidifiers for their hotel rooms. I didn’t have one hangover the whole trip, but it didn’t matter. I was exhausted.
It was in this state that I returned to JCK and Luxury after the breakfast, determined to see a ton of jewelry. My feet were covered in a protective layer of band-aids and I was ready to roll–or at least I was determined to drag myself from booth to booth all day long. I’d already abandoned my plan to head to the Las Vegas convention center that day for the Premier show. I figured it was better to hit fewer shows and do them well then get just a taste of too many.
I sat on the floor briefly to consult the JCK map app and get my bearings. All of the benches were full of people resting and I remember thinking, “Okay, good, I’m not the only one struggling today.” I got up, walked a bit, and realized that I didn’t have my notebook with me. My notebook containing my notes about every single thing I’d done during my first time at COUTURE and JCK and takeaways so far. Every lecture, every booth, every random observation, gone. All of the quotes I’d written down at the panels I attended, gone. I returned to where I’d sat on the floor and it wasn’t there. So I made the hike back to the ballroom at the Venetian where the Plumb Club breakfast had taken place. A really nice staff member who was breaking down tables helped me look, but we had no luck.
Then, I visited one of the many JCK information booths to ask if there was a lost and found. What followed was a rather ridiculous back and forth journey during which JCK staff directed me to the Sands Expo security booth, the security booth people sent me back to talk to JCK staff, and on and on until I was ready to give up. After much confusion over what should have been a very simple matter, I was finally able to leave record of my missing notebook with security. (A note to the Sands Expo: your security staff needs work. Also, the security booth is left completely unattended more than it probably should be.)
At some point during all this, I took a walk among the booths and found Simon G., one of our bridal vendors.
At this point, I could have laid down on the floor next to the JCK DJ booth and gone right to sleep as thousands of people streamed by. Instead, I dragged myself back to the Mirage, grabbed some lunch to go, ate in my room and took a three-hour nap.
I woke up and got ready for my last night in Vegas. First, I had a GIA Alumni event at a restaurant called Yardbird. But by the time I got to the event, it was so packed I couldn’t hear myself think, much less talk to anyone. Walking across the room to get a drink and a cake pop was a challenge in and of itself. This was a bummer, but I was happy to see that their event was a success. Note to self: don’t arrive fashionably late to any future GIA alumni events in Vegas! I finished my drink, ate my cake pop and headed to dinner with the Zadok team.
Don’t ask me why you get two photos of an event I was at for 10 minutes. You just do. 
In the morning, I boarded my 6 a.m. flight back to Houston and passed out the entire time. It was an amazing, exhausting trip and although it didn’t go perfectly, I learned a ton. It was truly one of the coolest experiences of my life and I’m so grateful I was able to go.
I almost forgot– I did get my notebook back in the end! A few hours after I landed back in Houston, I got a text message from a woman named Caroline who works for Andreoli, a line we’ve worked with at Zadok in the past. She found my notebook at the show, saw my contact information inside and ended up giving it to my boss, who brought it back to me, along with a few lovely pieces of jewelry for the store. It’s a small world after all! Thanks again, Caroline.
COUTURE and JCK Takeaways
- Sustainability was the major theme of the show. A note to anyone out there who is, or could become, a jewelry customer: If you ask, you shall receive. Walmart began carrying organic products because customers repeatedly asked for them. Do you care about the origin of your diamonds? Does it matter to you where your jewelry was made, and by whom? Do you care about the carbon footprint involved to make that cute stackable band you have your eye on? Speak up. The industry will listen. It already has–thank God, or I wouldn’t be a part of it.
- Lab grown vs. natural diamonds: will one conquer the other? Can both coexist? Are lab grown diamonds for cheaper, less formal jewelry and are natural diamonds for more expensive, occasion-oriented jewelry? This remains to be seen. The industry can do as much marketing as it wants to, but at the end of the day, the consumer will decide.
- I have heard industry people say trade shows are dying. It didn’t look like it to me. But there are a lot of shows, and this was only my first time at COUTURE and JCK. I will say, as someone who paid her way to attend, going to a convention in Las Vegas is expensive (and I didn’t even have registration fees!) I spent 50,000 hard-earned airline miles on my flight and almost $900 on three hotel nights. That’s with the convention discount. And you have to eat, too. I admit I attended some talks because in addition to having interesting subject matter, there was free food. The Zadoks were kind enough to invite me out to dinner two nights, which made a huge difference. But for a small store, new designer, or a freelancer or blogger like me, it’s a big investment to attend one of these things.
- Jewelry people are fun. There is minimal snobbery and cliquishness at Vegas Market Week compared to what I’ve heard about New York Fashion Week from friends who work in or adjacent to that world. With that said, big time jewelry brands with big followings may not give you the time of day. But that’s okay. No one’s going to body-block you and stop you from entering their booth.
The biggest takeaway of all? I want to go back.