Natural Products Expo West is the world’s largest trade show for the natural, organic, and healthy products industry. This year it was at the Anaheim Convention Center from March 5 to March 9.

It was our first year attending Expo, and we were honestly overwhelmed on Tuesday, the first day we attended, which was a short day and only in the North Hall since the main hall didn’t open until Wednesday! We’ve rounded up a couple of tips that we gathered from other bloggers who have been to Expo before and a couple things we learned during the days we attended.

Before Expo

1. Register for badge early!
   Social media influencers/bloggers with 20k+ following can attend for free but need to register before a certain time. There is only 1 pass per outlet. But check to see the qualifications and email if you have any questions.
2. Look through exhibitor list.
   If there are any brands you want to meet with, make sure you know where their booth is! We downloaded the app beforehand and favorited the brands we knew we wanted to go to.

Tips for Expo

1. Wear comfortable shoes!
   You WILL be walking A LOT. So be prepared with comfortable clothes and shoes.
2. Bring a large tote bag or backpack for samples.
   Or find someone who is giving out tote bags immediately! You will get so many samples to take home, so you’ll need somewhere to store it all. A lot of the booths do give out tote bags, but if you prefer not to take home multiple, bring a large one from home!
3. Bring a portable charger.
   Well, we carry one anywhere we go already. But if you’re out there for hours and using your phone constantly to take photos and Instagram, it’s necessary! We like this one from Anker.
4. Bring business cards or make sure to get theirs.
   You’ll be meeting a ton of brands, so make sure to exchange contact information if you want to follow up after Expo to work with them.
5. Eat real food before starting, and don’t eat everything.
   Honestly, it’s super tempting to sample everything. Trust us, we’re HUGE snackers and we’d love to try it all. But your stomach will likely hurt because even though it’s healthy food, it’s a lot, and you’re going from sweet to savory to creamy back to sweet in a very short time. Some people took activated charcoal pills, digestive enzymes, etc. We didn’t, but we’re definitely thinking of doing so next time.Make sure to drink plenty of water. Also, if you need caffeine to get your day started, make sure you get some. Joanna had a major caffeine withdrawal the second day, and finding a coffee brand giving out large enough coffees took a little bit of time.
6. Don’t take all the samples.
   It gets heavy. Skip the drink samples unless you really like them. Try to take some break and drop off stuff at your car, if possible.
7. Best day to go for samples is the last day.
   We didn’t do this, but we heard this from a couple people who’ve been before. Since brands don’t take anything back, they give out more samples on the day their booth closes.
8. Have a very loose game plan…
   We realized quickly that having an actual game plan goes to crap pretty much immediately. If there are brands you MUST see, mark their booth on the app or on a map or set up a meeting, if that’s possible. But it’s pretty hard to make a game plan because it’s just so large and there are so many people and things to see.

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We honestly loved Expo and had so much fun! We can’t wait to go again next year. If you have any other tips, please feel free to leave them below!

J&G