Tired of impersonal e-mails that not only clutter e-mail accounts but can cause harm to your computer? You may not be the only one.

Despite a small decrease in letters transferred by snail mail each year, there is a small cult-following of people who prefer paper-cuts and stamps over passwords and attachment sizes. These letters tend to not only be more personal but give the recipient a more secure and binding document than an e-mail or text message.

For those who check their mailboxes outside more than their mailboxes inside, consider attending the National Stationary Show taking place at New York's famed Jacob Javits Center. It's going to be filled with national and international vendors who enjoy and work with paper tableware, custom calendars, greeting cards, invitations and much more.  

From May 19 (Sunday) to May 22 (Wednesday) be sure to grab your tote bag and fill it with the finest paper products. Registering is very easy (especially if you have a LinkedIN account) and there is even a "Newbie's Guide" to the National Stationary Show.

Many of the different trade shows we mention on the Trade Shows Blog don't need our help in getting people to walk through the door. The truth is that if you have a fun/entertaining spin on your industry trade show in a major city, you'll find that people would be willing to do whatever it takes to get there.

But if your trade show isn't much of a success, how do you get people to show up? And if it is already successful, how do you bring more people through the door?

As mentioned almost one month ago, the New York Comic Book Convention and Anime Festival will be opening its doors in just over one week. Since last year's festival brought in over 105,000 people, the trade show tends to not hurt too badly. But how to bring more people in and raise revenue?

The answer is simple: open the doors earlier. The folks at New York Comic Con are opening their doors at 7:00am each day to give early-risers a chance to see the inside of the Javits center and to get advanced tickets for autograph signings and much-desired photo opportunities. With all those scrambling to get spots on a line for later on in the day, opening hours earlier gives people a chance to explore the premises and get some shopping on. 

The idea can work with any type of industry. If your trade show is having a celebrity come in, consider signing a deal for him/her to do autograph signings. If your trade show is filled with experts, consider holding private Q&A meetings with experts before the doors open to the general public. It'll create more buzz for the trade show or convention while increasing revenue from vendors in-house. 

Vendors and companies that co-host a celebrity or expert can create promotional pens informing fans and industry members to go to a booth later in the day. 

You might think that if you've seen one pen, you've seen them all.  But those who attended last month's Philadelphia Pen Show know otherwise! 

The annual trade show, which takes place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, celebrates the convergence of history and pens, as evidenced by the show's tagline:  "Where history and pen lovers meet."

This year's event was sponsored by Visconti Pens, a Florence, Italy-based pen company, and was hugely successful.  According to the Philadelphia Pen Show's Web site, the tradeshow is "considered by many to be the third or fourth largest pen shows in the U.S."

Attendees had the opportunity to participate in calligraphy classes, sit in on educational pen seminars, and browse through collections of vintage fountain pens.  According to a press release, "This year's theme pen [was] the Istos Aracnis or 'Spider' Fountain Pen, a limited edition pen of 888 pieces that has a suggested retail price of $1,950."