July 22nd, 2020 was the first ever Sweet Suite @ Home. Due to Covid-19, the in person event was cancelled. However, the organizers of this influencer event decided to use this cancellation as an opportunity to try something new and took Sweet Suite virtual! This worked out in my benefit, because originally, I wasn’t going to make the trek to New York City for this mini toy fair event. The move to a digital fair allowed me, and I’m sure lots of other out of towners, to attend and make connections with toy companies from the safety and comfort of our homes.

Now Entering The Digital World

This one day event was my first virtual convention. While you can never replicate the true convention experience via your wifi, the Toy Insider and their partners did a wonderful job making the whole experience user friendly and fun. Let me walk you through a bit of Sweet Suite @ Home. Basically, after logging in, you were welcomed into a bright and colorful expo hall with access to all the major sponsors and the doorway to the exhibit hall, which featured all the awesome toy companies that were in attendance.

Entering the exhibit hall, you could ‘walk through’ the aisles, stop by booths and hop into live zoom demos with the toy companies on site. I was nervous about the zoom meetings at first, but honestly, it felt really nice to connect with these brands in a personal way over Zoom. Most of my meetings were one on ones, even though I didn’t request them as such, which allowed me and the PR person to really interact.

Of course, the ease of the virtual world made it a wee bit harder for me to provide really good coverage as different companies had varying set ups. Some set ups just weren’t conducive to snapping good screenshots and, honestly, my brain was already trying to process so much that screenshots and notes were the last things on my mind! Many of the things you’ll see in the upcoming weeks here on the blog and on the YouTube channel, I saw at Sweet Suite.

A Few Notes

If any toy company reps are watching, a few things to note that will make it much easier for us attendees. Lighting is really important to good, clear video, so when making your virtual booth, consider adding some lights if you’re stuck in a room with little natural light. Also, we love seeing Toys in detail– that’s a perk of events like this. A few of the meetings had very wide shots on a lot of toys, which didn’t really make it easy to see the toys in any detail, so consider working on your camera set up to give us good looks at the toys you’re offering.

Finally, consider not using a green screen unless you are sure it won’t take away parts of your face, or worse, the product you’re pitching. It’s a bit distracting when the eyes of a doll or toy go in and out, because of the the green screen effect. Real backgrounds, personally, displayed the best during Sweet Suite @ Home. And please, please, please, remember to upload photos of the photos on display on the press center for those of us who need them after the event. So many vendors didn’t share photos in the press room, which is why I haven’t shown any product images here.

A Closer Look

Now that you have a bit of an idea of how Sweet Suite was presented, here’s a quick look at a few of the toys on display. As I mentioned, many exhibitors didn’t post photos in the press area, so you’ll see more from the show, I hope, after the Sweet Suite Swag Box arrives!

While Sweet Suite @ Home was definitely different than in past years, the show organizers did a great job of recreating the event for the virtual realm. You’ll see more coverage from Sweet Suite once the super awesome Swag bag arrives, which usually has a lot of fun samples of toys that were on display at the event. Stay tuned and Stay healthy!

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