How often are Trade Shows? And where?

There are also shows on the east coast.

You can check the schedules at ISS Homepage

And at http://attend.nbmshows.com/

Darn!! Atlantic City is very close to me, but not until March and I was looking for something much sooner. I'm just impatient and anxious to get started. I'm really interested in starting out small with white t-shirts and basic pics or text that I can print on my computer, but don't know what machine is best for that. This forum is incredibly helpful but sometimes too much information gets confusing! Thanks again so much for this info tho, b/c I didn't find it in my searches.

There's also the NBM show in North Carolina in November: NBM Shows | Charlotte, NC |

The ISS Shows are definitely worth the trip though. Maybe you could head out to the Atlanta show this month: ISS Atlanta

ISS Atlanta will be a smaller show than Atlantic City, so it might be a good place to start looking. Vendors will probably have a little more time to talk. Atlantic City is a great show, but it's really busy. We've exhibited there for the part couple of years, and we're always run off our feet.