When your feet hurt, when in long lines, when your feeling tired… simply remember your favorite things!  I can just hear Julie Andrews singing this to get me through the long week of Expo.  Now that we are all back to the office and hopefully recovered, it feels fitting to do just that! 

Favorite Thing #1:  Lab Tours

Natural Products Expo West is a unique event for us because it is local to our office, only seven miles from the convention center.  That makes it super easy and convenient to host Expo travelers for a tour and lunch the first few days of Expo week.  This year we were so pleased to have Larisa Pavlick of CHPA and Bill Chioffi with Nammex each visit separately for a lab tour and meetings.  In 2024, we would love to have you – yes, you dear reader – visit us pre-Expo!  Put it on your calendar now!

Favorite Thing #2:  More Alkemites

The other great thing about Expo being a local show is that we can have many of our Alkemist colleagues attend.  Typically, there are just four of us traveling to Vegas for SupplySide West but this year at Expo we had 13 of our staff members attending various events and/or walking the show floor!  It’s such an eye-opening educational experience for our staff to be immersed in Expo, even if only for a few hours. And it makes them even more dedicated to our work as industry quality gatekeepers.

Favorite Thing #3:  Like Minds

Last, but not least, one of the best ways to see many of my favorite people is through the gathering of like minds at the trade group events that Expo offers, several of which we co-sponsored.  Alkemist was there for the AHPA members meeting and reception, ABC Celebration, Coconut Coalition Reception, NPA meeting, UNPA meeting, and WIN networking event.  A highlight was seeing our self-confessed AHPA-holic Elan Sudberg re-elected to the AHPA board.