October 2004
Profile: Belle of the Ball

When the 54-year-old National Home Show needed a fresh, new look, Christine Nattress eagerly tackled the challenge. After outfitting “the old girl in a new party dress,” Nattress is now watching her annual consumer show thrive as a must-attend event for more than 175,000 Canadians.

By Dawn J. Grubb

Christine Nattress relishes a challenge. The 39-year-old show manager’s keen ability to adapt to new industries has helped her thrive in the Canadian consumer show business. Whether it was hawking yellow pages ads, selling hunting and fishing exhibits or promoting boat shows, Nattress has consistently pushed herself beyond what she knew and tackled the task at hand. So when the opportunity to manage the National Home Show, owned by dmg world media, and give it a fresh,new look and feel presented itself, Nattress remembered a mentor’s words of wisdom — “Great love and great achievement involve great risk” — and jumped at the chance.

The task wouldn’t be easy. The 54-year-old show had continually grown over the years to become one of North America’s largest home and garden expos. It easily fills 600,000 square feet of Toronto’s National Trade Centre. Though it draws 700 exhibitors and 175,000 attendees during its 10-day run, management was concerned that doing the same thing, year after year, would eventually grow boring and people would stop coming back. Show surveys indicated that many attendees were only coming every other year, rather than annually. It was time to bring back the wow factor. At the same time, the management team worried that change might put off those loyal attendees who’d flocked to the show year after year. Would change damage the public’s perception or give the show the boost it needed? Nattress soon found out.

“We used to joke that she was an old girl who needed a new party dress, and we’ve worked hard to give her one,” says Nattress, Show Manager. “It’s been a challenge to change a Canadian tradition and breathe new life into the show, but we’ve dramatically changed the features, décor and, perhaps most importantly, the way people perceive the show.” (see sidebar)

A self-professed “home and garden fanatic,” Nattress finally feels at home in her dream job after a journey filled with unique challenges. After receiving her retail management diploma from Sheridan College in Oakville, Canada, in 1985, she sold yellow pages advertising before landing a sales position with the Canadian National Sportsmen’s Show, her first exhibition experience. Having never hunted or fished in her life, Nattress took on the role of sportmen’s expert for the hunting and fishing exhibit hall.

Nattress’ sales career flourished. She went on to sell shows for Reed Exhibitions, the National Marine Manufacturers Association and finally dmg world media in 2002. Working for these major Canadian show producers gave Nattress great insight into the inner workings of shows — from ticket taking and security, to exhibit sales and marketing. She credits this for helping her transition from sales into show management within just a few months of joining dmg. “I always think from an exhibitor’s point of view: How can I make it better for the customer?” says Nattress.

To make the National Home Show better for the customer, she and her team crafted a detailed 10-point plan for improvement initiatives and outlined specific deadlines for completion — the three-year plan will be complete in 2005. “We’re taking baby steps — we can’t make the changes overnight,” insists Nattress. “But we have manageable goals.” Some of these are as simple as changing décor, while others take more effort and planning, such as developing corporate sponsorships to bring in big industry names and TV personalities.

The goal is to keep attendees coming back and, according to show surveys, the show’s improvement initiatives have been positively received by attendees. Now, they know that if they come back next year, there will be something new and vibrant waiting for them.

However, the real secret to success, she says, is constant self-evaluation. “You must come through the door with an open mind and look at the show like you’ve never seen it before. Does the layout work? Is it easy to walk through? Can you find exhibitors easily? Is the content meaningful?” she says.

When not brainstorming ways to improve the National Home Show, Nattress collects old camera equipment and projectors and spends time with husband, Brett, and their toddler, Carter, as well as Brett’s daughters, April, 30, Caeleigh, 19, and Brittany, 16. The family also includes two golden retrievers, Jake and Yukon, and cat, Scooter. Balancing work and family is important to Nattress, who admits that her biggest challenge is time — both at home and at the office. Keeping mind of the big picture helps set priorities.

“I always go back to dmg’s mission of creating vibrant marketplaces, supporting our customers and bringing people together. I don’t think we ever fully achieve this — we’re always looking for ways to get better,” says Nattress. “But our challenge is always time constraints. Sooner or later we have to stop brainstorming and the practicality of running a show must take over.”