{"id":5096,"date":"2014-11-08T16:14:41","date_gmt":"2014-11-08T16:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blueeyedsun.co.uk\/blog\/?p=5096"},"modified":"2014-11-09T12:22:46","modified_gmt":"2014-11-09T12:22:46","slug":"ladder-club-seminar-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blueeyedsun.co.uk\/blog\/ladder-club-seminar-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ladder Club Seminar 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\"The<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Ladder Club<\/a> is an annual seminar to support new and aspiring greeting card publishers to climb the ladder to success in the card industry. It's organised by <\/span>Lynn Tait<\/a> and has been an incredible support to so many artists and new card publishers for many years, helping them to avoid the pitfalls that can cost time, money and a whole lot of heartache. <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n

\n\tI have enjoyed speaking at the event for the past ten of it's fifteen year history and have had the privilege of meeting and helping many wonderful new businesses during that time. Often the seminar has been regarded by attendees as a success even when they have decided not to become a publishers. For £48 and a day of their time some artists and photographers have realised that their passion is creating beautiful things and they choose to find other ways of generating income including licensing their work, partnering with businesses or simply selling their work in other ways. I have just returned from this year's seminars, which were two of the best to date and included some great speakers and many talented delegates. Here are some of my photos of the day and a brief summary of everything we went through.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\"Lynn<\/a>We had a fantastic turn out for the first day of the seminar this year, which is all about helping the delegates to take their first step onto the Ladder. Lynn Tait compered both days that began with an introduction to the Greeting Card Association<\/a> from CEO Sharon Little. Jakkie Brown from Max Publishing spoke about PG Live<\/a>, the Henries Awards<\/a> and how to make the most of Progressive Greetings<\/a> magazine's free editorial section called Innovations.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\"Simon<\/a>Simon King and Nicky Marshall from <\/span>Sherwood Litho Press<\/a> showed everyone how to prepare for and print litho on B1 presses and the technical issues involved with doing so. <\/span>Bob Short from <\/span>The Imaging Centre<\/a> took us all through the Digital Printing process which most card publishers these days use for short runs to test the market with their products. Both printers ran through the costs of getting started and the Ladder Club delegates were given useful information packs.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\"Mark<\/a>Everyone got to learn about the different substrates and boards they could print on in an entertaining talk from Mark Jessett at paper merchants GF Smith<\/a>. Julie Brightley from <\/span>Enveco Envelopes Plus<\/a> talked about how envelopes are made, what prices they start at and how to save money by using standard off-the-shelf sizes for your first greeting card ranges. Tracey Arnaud from <\/span>Progressive Greetings Live<\/a> talked us through the important things to consider when exhibiting at trade shows for the first time and how to get the most out of your trade fairs. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\"Lynn<\/a>Ladder Club alumni, Karen and Claire from Paper Salad<\/a>, spoke about their adventures in greeting card publishing and the things that new publishers must keep an eye out for before rushing into big deals with large multiple card retailers. <\/span>I had a few things to so say about my experience in the card business running <\/span>Blue Eyed Sun<\/a> and how to cope with wearing different hats whilst doing so. <\/span>Ian Bradley, a Midlands greeting card agent<\/a>, then gave everyone to gain an insight into how working with freelance sales agents can benefit their greeting card business.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\"Henri<\/a>The second day was a more advanced Ladder Club seminar. Retail expert <\/span>Henri Davis<\/a> spoke about how to approach large retailers in a very informative talk drawing on her experience of buying at the National Trust and WH Smiths. We also heard how best to approach retailers from Miles Robinson who co-owns a small chain of independent card shops called <\/span>House of Cards<\/a>. Finally, Chris Houfe, from Waterwells Distribution (part of the Great British Card Company<\/a>) taught us all the basics of brokerage and how to work with brokers to best serve multiple retailers. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tEveryone had a great time and all of those attending found the Ladder Club extremely useful and well worth their time. It was really interesting to see that almost everyone attended the meal the night before the second day event as more experienced publishers recognised the importance of this great networking opportunity. I look forward to seeing those who attended this year's Ladder Club at trade shows and other card industry events in the future. A special thanks also to Trudi who organised the day, to Jim for keeping us all on time and to all of the speakers who gave their time so freely.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tClick here to join the Ladder Club Facebook Group<\/a> (only open to attendees and Ladder Club alumni)\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFor those that attended the Ladder Club and want to know more. Here are some links to useful content on my blog:\n<\/p>\n

\n\tLooking Back from Perfect – How to achieve your goals<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tOvercoming the challenges of exporting abroad<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tOur top ten business tools<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAre trade shows still worth it?<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t10 Business Basics to get right before using social media<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\"The<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ladder Club is an annual seminar to support new and aspiring greeting card publishers to climb the ladder to success in the card industry. It's organised by Lynn Tait and has been an incredible support to so many artists and new card publishers for many years, helping them to avoid the pitfalls that can cost time, money and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[22],"yoast_head":"\nThe Ladder Club Seminar 2014<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A review of the Ladder Club Seminar 2014 for new and aspiring greeting card publishers. 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