Did you have a plan for who you wanted to talk to before you got there? Swag and raffles pull in people who want free stuff, not buyers, so you end up with a stack of cards from folks who have zero budget. The move is to skip the booth games and go find the 10 or 15 companies on the attendee list you actually want, then set meetings before the show even starts. We did that last year, booked 9 sit downs, closed 3 deals, and spent maybe a third of what you dropped. Next time do a laptop demo and a calendar link, not power banks.

Watched a finisher crease a whole driveway with a plastic trowel once and he just shrugged and said it was cheaper than a chiropractor. Honestly the joke is on me because I still lug around my steel ones like they owe me money. Now I hear Tulsa guy and I'm wondering if I've been doing it the hard way this whole time for no good reason. But plastic melting on a 90 degree pour sounds like a whole different kind of problem. Guess the real test is whether it's still flat when the sun goes down.