EXPO

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From the Pavilions and Project GRAMMY to the Ideas at Work Arena, Rocky Mountain Showdown and hundreds of exhibitors offering the latest products and services, the expo floor at The Idea Factory was abuzz with action this year.

For Becky Dunkin, corporate event planner for Earth imaging and information company DigitalGlobe, it delivered all that it promised. “I really enjoyed the trade show floor. I made a lot of new contacts,” she says. Of the at least 25 new contacts she made, she says, she’s already using 10.

Attendees got their first chance to experience the show floor’s innovative new setup as they packed into the Ideas at Work Arena — a large central space around which the exhibit floor was organized — to experience the first of three featured speakers. The Sneak Preview Party then commenced as a kabuki drop revealed the floor, which completely surrounded attendees, freeing them to experience it in a relaxed — if not subdued — environment.

Exhibitors pulled out all the stops this year, many of them working together in the new Pavilion format to create brand experiences for attendees. In Pavilion 7, for example, attendees were immersed in a Studio 54 atmosphere — complete with blaring speakers and go-go dancers — that gave them a chance to experience the individual and collective skills of a group from Atlanta: Amusement Masters, CCP Events, Tabletoppers Inc., EastCoast Entertainment and Atlanta Sound & Lighting.

Attendees who weren’t lining up to take pictures with the dancers or experiencing the other 12 Pavilions could peruse the exhibits, which showcased everything from the customizable candies of My M&M’s, to the latest catering and buffet items from American Metalcraft, to the services of national event design and production
firm SceneMakers.

Attendees could also check out the presentations taking place on the Idea Stage in the Ideas at Work Arena (for more information, see page 22) — or witness the beginning of Project GRAMMY (see page 24), Event Solutions’ partnership with The Recording Academy that had top event professionals competing in a reality-style contest to realize the GRAMMY brand in three different event spaces.

Project GRAMMY “truly energized the trade show floor,” says Branden Chapman, vice president of production and process management of The Recording Academy, who oversaw the competition.

Also energizing attendees during the Sneak Preview Party was the Rocky Mountain Showdown, which had attendees creating budget-friendly centerpieces under the direction of Ira Mitchell-Steiman, creative director of ME Productions, and David Halsey, floral director with The Meetinghouse Companies Inc. The centerpieces were then donated for use in a University of Colorado vs. Colorado State University alumni luncheon fundraiser.

For attendees, it was all just another way to get new ideas that would help them do their jobs better.

“I love what I do. I have a tremendous passion for it and I feel like in order to do the very best job I can I have to stay on top of what’s happening and see new ideas and new products and learn new things — and the only way to do that is to go to a conference,” says Lori Riggs, a certified meeting professional who is the director of conferences and special events for the Greater Omaha Chapter of the National Safety Council.

Riggs also attended Event Solutions’ 2004 show in Washington, D.C. Implementing one of the ideas she found there was one of the most exciting things she’s ever done, she says, and the 2006 show was equally promising.
“I got so many different ideas,” she says. “It was just wonderful. I think that it exceeded my expectations this year.”

Sneak Preview Party Sponsors

Photo-tech
www.photo-tech.com
Pepsi
www.pepsi.com

Rocky Mountain Showdown Sponsors

Fortune Products Inc.

www.fortuneproducts.com
Knud Nielsen Company Inc.

www.knudnielsen.com
The Meetinghouse Companies Inc.

www.meetinghouse.com
ME Productions
www.meproductions.com
Oasis Floral Products
www.smithersoasis.com
Syndicate Sales
www.syndicatesales.com