It's The Experience

Okay, I have talked with my friends Tommy Mayne and Carl Segneri and have a pretty good perspective from the organizer's view point, which will be the subject of more postings. The undertaking is awesome, but runs so smoothly (planning is the reason) that most attendees never consider what it takes to keep them so unaware. But, what about the exhibitors? What do they go through to have the attention grabbing floor space everyone will be talking about years later? Remember the talking robot that wandered the show floor a few years ago, or the New Orleans jazz band leading everyone up and down the main aisles, or the Swiss Village recreation, the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, the Blues Brothers? They all make up exhibitors' efforts to make our visit memorable. Exhibits come in all sizes, shapes, and complexities. For that reason, I contacted another friend, John McDonald. As Immediate Past President of PES and GM of Marketing at GE John has been on both sides of the equation. The amount of resources committed to an exhibit is remarkable. At first glance GE's exhibit is a comfortable habitat for attendees. It will be about the total experience of thinking “outside the bowl.” Rumor has it there will be fresh baked cookies – that got my attention. Audio/Visual technology will be inclusive, but not intrusive. To achieve that goal, 50 to 60 people (engineers, designers, A/V experts, computer geeks, technicians, you name it) have been working on this exhibit for the past 3 or 4 months – that is a lot of man-hours. The entire exhibit (a 60'x60' space) was assembled and tested. It was then taken apart and packaged for shipment to Chicago. It comes together next week. I am going to see if I can get some more exhibitors to share their experiences. I'd welcome any and all comments.