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Whoa! The past ten days have been a whirl. It kicked off last weekend with the NACS Show in Atlanta and ended with the PMA Fresh Summit in New Orleans. Sandwich in a couple days in the office finishing up GHQ's November issue and you have yourselves a good and busy time. Traveling to trade shows is one of my favorite elements of the job - but not for the reasons that you may think (ahem, food!). Well, maybe a little bit for the reasons that you think (food), but they do not play as big of a role as you think. (Slow down; there is a lot of thinking going on in that sentence.) What keeps me buzzing at these shows is mostly people: The people. The passion. The products. Sure, samples of AWAKE's caffeinated caramel chocolate might have had something to do with my buzz, but talking to co-founder Matt Schnarr about the launch of their company was the real rejuvenation. The three co-founders were working together at a large CPG manufacturer when they decided they wanted to do their own thing. So they quit, identified a need in the functional foods trends and created an all-natural chocolate bar with the equivalent of up to one-cup's worth of caffeine, and hit the market. It boomed in Canada and the team is now sharing it with America's caffeine- and chocolate-loving  consumers. The founders were passionate and excited for their product - and for good reason. It was delish! Most consumer have no clue about the amount of thought that goes into their products. Take for instance Coca-Cola's new Sixer pack. The new package design fits better on in-store display racks as well as the refrigerator. But if you asked me what I thought on first look - I'd have just said it was sexy. Now, replace the beef jerky with carrot dippers and turn the Sam Adams' Oktoberfest-themed beer garden into the Bolthouse Farms outdoor farm boot, and PMA exhibited the same enthusiasm.